Everyone jumps to such quick conclusions days after an update.
This is what I found after weeks of…
💪 Analyzing my experiment sites.
💪 Analyzing the tons of sites that have been deindexed from my site’s backlink profiles.
💪 Reading tirelessly on social media about those affected and what they were doing.
💪 Reading in forums about how specific niches were affected and
💪 Reading in private communities.
It takes time, and you need multiple data points since some people are dishonest and think their content is helpful when it’s actually not. You also give time for the update to roll out enough to better understand the full impact.
That said, here are some things I think will be important in how we grow websites in the future.
Content Frequency
Yes, uploading hundreds of pieces of content is an easy way to get on Google’s radar.
I think by now, we understand this because of all the AI content produced.
But one thing I don’t see many discussing is the devaluing of sites that have not created content for a while.
It’s been a thing for a while that, obviously, rankings don’t last forever, and your content needs continuous upkeep, but that was on a page level.
I’m seeing the devaluation of entire sites that became too complacent about their current rankings and decided to continue riding that wave, which is now being wiped out.
This is mostly for smaller sites that seem to get less than 50,000 pageviews per month, but that is just from my sampling.
The majority of sites don’t get to 50K pageviews a month, so this is not an insignificant number.
Also, it seems that a general timeframe was 8-12 months of no new content.
Display Ads
There is a saying in the niche site space that there is an attack on niche sites but I think it’s more so an attack on Ad Management platforms like Raptive, Mediavine, and Ezoice.
It seems like Google is targeting sites that integrate with these platforms.
It’s tough for Google to keep up with all the content produced regularly, so it is leveraging these platforms to spot bad actors.
Many bad actors rank sites as quickly as they can and use these platforms to quickly earn monthly revenue for as long as they can.
Then, once discovered, they rinse and repeat.
If you use ads, you should now consider your sites to be under the same scrutiny from Google as YMYL sites.
If you use these ad management platforms, you are being watched, and unless you provide “more value,” your site is at a higher risk of being devalued.
Start with fewer ads and no ads that scroll the page with the reader.
A little less revenue is better than no revenue.
Create Separate Accounts For Everything
Gone are the days when you should feel comfortable having all your digital assets under one Gmail for your GSC and GA accounts.
It seems like Google is getting better at finding those things that connect all your sites together.
A common theme I saw was that site owners would have a site that is purely AI or Programmatic SEO and produce tons of content that’s likely considered unhelpful that got hit by the update.
Soon after, their main site was also devalued even though they were using no AI and “best practices” and had other referral sources such as YouTube or social media.
This is dangerous because, time and time again, we see sites that we’d consider quality sites get hit for whatever reason. Having any other digital assets at risk just because they are connected to your same accounts is dangerous for your portfolio.
Create a separate Gmail for all your digital assets to keep your Google products separated.
If your website is connected to the same hosting account, it may be a good idea to spend a little more and get individual IP addresses for each for an extra layer of separation.
Google is taking the “One bad apple WILL ruin the barrel” approach to your portfolio.
Let me know your thoughts on this and if you have seen similar?