Should I ABANDON My Website After the Recent Google Updates?
I’m gonna try to be quick today.
I’ve been asked this very question by 7 people recently (and SORRY!!! I haven’t forgotten any of you who I HAVEN’T responded to via PM yet, still 2 folks from September, SORRY!!! I’m useless I know, I’ll get there… eventually, LOL).
Okay, this is how I see it, so neither right nor wrong, just my opinion.
You Cannot Put That Pressure on Someone Else
(And NO, this is not me as a child, LOL)
Whether or not you should “abandon” your website MUST be completely a personal choice.
You simply can’t put that pressure onto another person.
Imagine if I say NO, and then your website completely dies over the next few months (it won’t), even though you carried on working on it.
Who you gonna blame?
ME!
Imagine if I say YES, and then you give up on that website and suddenly EVERYONE on the internet gets a huge increase in rankings and traffic (they won’t), and you’ve stopped working on that website.
Who you gonna blame?
ME!
It must be your decision, and yours alone.
Imagine if This Was an Offline Business
I view each and every website that I create as a totally different BUSINESS.
And this is how everyone should view their websites.
This is also why it is said that you should work on one website and one website alone UNTIL you see some form of success and can potentially start another website, and PAY people (outsource) to do some of the work for you.
Imagine this in an offline situation.
Would you start a gardening business, a hairdressing business, and a financial consultancy business all within a few months of each other, and then work on them on YOUR OWN?
Of course not, so the same applies to your online business (don’t start lots of different businesses if it’s ONLY YOU that can afford to work on them).
Staying with the offline business analogy.
If you hit a snag in your offline business do you immediately abandon that business?
“I’m giving up on my gardening business, I know I’ll start a hairdressing business instead”.
Or do you work at trying to solve these issues?
Sure, there may be a time to abandon both an offline and an online business, but this certainly should NEVER be at the first sign of trouble.
Life is about overcoming struggles (THIS is where happiness in life lies, a sense of achievement and a sense of fulfilment).
What Are You Going to Do if it Happens Again?
Let’s say you DO abandon your website due to recent algorithm updates.
You start afresh, full of motivation and you’re gonna make this work.
Then suddenly a few months down the line your NEW website also gets “hit” (remember it’s NOT a punishment, if you’ve lost rankings and traffic, someone else has gained them, this is simply Google saying, “I think these articles cover search intent better than yours”, and NO, Google doesn’t always get it right), will you abandon the second site and start all over again?
Basically, you could spend 2 years working on a website, seeing it get “hit”, starting a new website, the same thing happens, and you start the whole process over again.
Two years down the line you have 5 abandoned websites and a “new” one you’ve been working on for just ONE month.
I will also say that this can’t be good for your mental health.
Are You Really Interested in Your Niche?
I get it, the vast majority of people turned up at WA on day one looking to “make money online”.
Without any prior knowledge or experience you’re not entirely sure what this entails.
When you finally discover it’s about blogging (at WA, it’s NOT the only way to make money online btw) and realise you have to write the equivalent of 3-4 books a year for many years, well, it’s NOT what you thought it was originally going to be.
Still, you go with it, and you choose your niche based on “earning potential”.
So, in reality, you don't “love” your niche, you’re not “passionate” about it, so some “Google trouble” could mean that you simply can’t be bothered to continue with that website.
Why?
Because you only created it to “make money” you didn’t really have a great deal of interest in it.
A prime example of the opposite mindset is something I have seen Steve say (and NO, I’m not telling you which Steve, he knows, if he’s reading), but what a great attitude.
Steve got “hit” in the Helpful Content update, but his website is based around something he truly loves.
Steve’s solution, “I’m gonna up my YouTube and Social Media game”
Well Done Steve, took it on the chin, didn;t like it, got his frustration out, and then decided to “go for it”.
Another way to look at this entire business.
Affiliate Marketing is SIMPLE.
You need to get people to click on your affiliate link
That is it.
Do you really have to get these people JUST from Google?
Look, every single platform that you use for traffic generation, guess what? You have NO CONTROL over it.
How many people have been banned by Facebook?
How many people have seen Pinterest traffic dry up overnight?
Been locked out of YouTube?
It happens, you don’t control any of these platforms.
In fact, there is only ONE form of traffic you have any control over, your OWN email list.
Perhaps, it’s time to start looking at alternative forms of traffic generation and literally sending everyone to a landing page to sign up to your email newsletter.
Get your best content on your newsletter and move forward from there.
Additionally, if you’ve got 100s and 100s of articles on your website, even if they are NOT ranking or getting you any traffic FROM GOOGLE, you still have a LOT of useful content for your audience.
Again, it’s just a case of getting visitors to those articles.
We talk a lot about building a BRAND at WA.
The best way to build a brand is to get the word out there, let people know who you are.
There are so many niche-related groups, Q&A websites, forums, communities, etc.
You don’t have to sell, sell, sell, you just need to get involved in conversations with NO ULTERIOR MOTIVE.
Trust me, I’ve spent as little as 3 months on certain forums, communities, Q&A sites, and I have NEVER promoted anything really, and seen thousands of monthly visitors from just a few months interaction.
But, if your conversations and advice are solid, people will visit your profile, people will visit your website, they will learn to trust you, and then you can provide “links” (in line with the platform’s policies that you're on).
Just as an aside, the site I have linked to in my WA profile gets anywhere from 300-500 WA members visiting it every month, and has done for years.
How active am I really at WA?
I have less blog posts than most people who’ve only been here for 6 months?
I may answer 1-2 questions per day.
And perhaps on a weekly basis I spend about 2 hours TOTAL in Live Chat.
And yet, I get all these visitors to a NON-RELEVANT (not Make Money Online or Affiliate Marketing related) website.
And not once have I asked anyone to visit that website, and not once have I “dropped a link” to that website.
Get involved in niche communities WITHOUT any ulterior motive, trust me, IT WORKS.
I went off on a tangent, didn’t I?
Hahahahahahahahaha!!!
Basically, if you’re NOT INTERESTED in your niche, and you simply created a website because you “WANTED TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE”, you won’t do any of the above because you have NO INTEREST in your niche.
Again, going back to an offline analogy, would you start an offline business in something that YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN?
Longer Than Usual Final Thoughts
Look, I KNOW exactly how many of you are feeling.
Been there, got the t-shirt and all that.
I KNOW the immediate feeling of absolute desolation.
I got “hit” in 2011 and 2012.
And I KNOW that the figures I’m about to tell you from last year are a LOT different for many of you, BUT IT STILL HURT.
One of my sites last year:
July 2022 - 200,000 page views
August 2022 (Helpful Content Update) - 140,000 page views
September 2022 (SPAM Update) - 56,000 page views
October & November = minor depression around the work I had put and what had happened, I did NOTHING - 42,000 page views
But, I followed my own advice from THIS “Recovery” Blog Post I wrote last year (delete articles that are pretty much redundant, either 301 redirect to something similar or 410 for permanent deletion - 224 articles DELETED).
Find out which articles lost the most impressions and clicks, check Google Search Console under PAGES and then QUERIES to see which keywords had lost rankings.
Rewrite articles.
If I felt an article was “good”, add an in-depth FAQ section.
I would use the People Also Ask and Related Searches found in Google from searching my primary keyword.
Each “answer” to an FAQ question was at least 200-300 words, and I typically have 5-7 FAQ “questions”
Add more images, infographics,and embed more videos.
I didn’t work overly hard at it, as I was still quite despondent.
But, I did this with at least 5-10 articles per month.
Guess what?
September 28th 2023 (after Helpful Content) traffic increased by 79%
HOLD YOUR HORSES
Spam Update, as of October 13th 2023, traffic dropped by 28%!!
Dammit!!!
I am seriously gonna dropkick Google in the Googles…BUT
October will still be my best traffic month in over a year.
So, working on it, NOT GIVING UP & ABANDONING THIS WEBSITE has started to pay dividends.
It ALL comes down to HOW MUCH YOU WANT THIS.
All I will say is, it is highly unlikely that if you abandon a website that it will “come back to life” (btw, this DOES happen, but not often).
You now have a decision to make.
Finally, give yourself a digital detox.
I do it all the time, but you NEED IT RIGHT NOW.
Do NOT use your computer for 2-3 days (can you even manage that? LOL)
For me, I also turn off my phone, I want no “internet stimulation” at all.
I typically spend these days reading, walking, going to coffee shops, and hanging out with the family when they all get home.
And WRITING WITH A PEN AND PIECE OF PAPER. Nothing much, just getting my thoughts out onto a page (for those of you who “journal” you’ll understand).
I have no idea what is going on in the world, I have no idea what is going on with my websites, I have no idea what is going on at Wealthy Affiliate.
And guess what happens?
My mind is so clear, the clarity of my thoughts amazes me, and I suddenly realise that life isn’t as bad as I thought it was, and then I'm raring to go again.
It is so much easier to work on something from a positive mindset than it is from a negative one.
At this moment in time most of us “hate” Google, some may even “hate” this business, there may even be those who “hate” Wealthy Affiliate, and there’s definitely some of you who “hate” me (don’t worry, feeling’s mutual, hahahahahaha!! j/k).
I’ll ask you again..
How Much Do You Really Want This?
PROVE IT!!
Thank You For Reading
Partha
Recent Comments
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Just one question though, as you mentioned in a previous post to wait until the end of this month to change anything. If by now no traffic has gone up again, it will probably stay at this level? ( I did have 4 automaticly published while in Africa, so it's not like I 'Stopped' blogging for it.
And if you remember well, I had been updating almost all of my older posts, so personally, I think I do need to go take the Pinterest route now some more and contiune Youtube when I'm back home.
But focus on my second site for blogging now, as I have so much original stories to tell, and I think I'll use booking.com for some affiliate marketing. If those personal experience posts won't do wel on Googe, I don't know what wil anymore (personal stories that you don't find on google, own pics and videos, et..)
Hey Lizzy,
Aaaw, look at those zebras.
Yep, the likelihood is that traffic is unlikely to change now.
That being said, because the Spam update and Core Update only ended this week on Thursday and Friday respectively, there may be a few changes.
BUT, unlikely.
There have been quite a few people saying that they got "hit" in HCU, but have seen an increase (especially in impressions, this usually means that you now have more keywords ranking, but they may not be ranking very high on page, e.g. position 8,9,10, as impressions have increased, but clicks have stayed the same) after the the Spam and Core updates.
But, in truth, the likelihood is that things won't "change" now until the NEXT HCU (there was one in December last year, but I reckon that the next HCU will be towards the end of the first quarter of 2024), and if you've made necessary changes.
So, going by that theory, you've kinda got about 5-6 months to "change" whatever you think (based on articles that have lost impressions, rankings, and clicks) in the current HCU.
I would also check your GSC to see if impressions have changed.
More impressions means more keywords ranking, which is a good thing, and gives you something to work towards.
But yeah, still diversifying traffic is the best way forward, it can't be good for your mental health to solely rely on Google, and then go through this 2-3 times a year.
Partha
Go after it to turn your site around. Adapt alternate ways to build traffic. There are plenty of avenues to get around.
Blaming Google never helps.
In or out of your niche?
Thank you, dear Partha. I loved your short and quick post with everything one needs to build a business online.
For sure, all of it. I think that an interest can change over time as well. And my interest in miniatures and dollhouses actually got less, because of getting "free products" that needed to be assembled for a review, products that I probably wouldnt have bought myself.
But I thought would be perfect for my audience, as they are "real reviews" while I actually prefer to work from scratch and from my imagination, like my troll- treehouse.
So I was getting kind of bored with the niche which wasn't the intention.
I have decided to keep that website though, but only have the most work done for it by ChatGTP for mostly informational posts and only review the products that I like myself. So that will give me lots more time to work on my Africa site
By the way, today we didnt get charged by an elephant , but the opposite, met a gentle one that came to say hello and just gently touched my hand.
Heaven.. 💚
Nice Partha!
It's like you're talking to us in person.
I like the idea of detoxing from the social media. It would be a big challenge for everyone. Including me.
When I'm tired or feel that I can't do anything productive, I lie down to just relax, or to sleep if I can, but more often, I just relax for a few minutes, and when I get up, my mind starts working again.
Marita
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Very interesting, I had aioseo and recently deleted it because I had no connection for about a week. So I went and got rank math as a new seo. My traffic has dropped a bit and You have real good ideas about things that I was reading. I had no seo for a week and along with the updated Google lost traffic. I will look into ideas you were saykng.