Google Algorithm Updates - 2023 Ongoing Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
cmpty said:
I know we're in the middle of the rollout and everything could change in the next week but so far I'm seeing similar outcomes to @MrMedia.



Actually, my YOY gains are much higher (around 6x). But I implemented several "fixes" about a year ago after getting hit by a few too many Google updates. Basically, I went into full recovery mode. So I was starting at such a low base to begin with. But month-over-month gains are continuing in the +20% range a year later.

My biggest takeaway from the last year (and performance during the most recent updates) has been exactly what MrMedia said:



In fact, I'm investing more in content now than I ever have. I want to triple content production by the end of the year. Maybe SGE comes in like a wrecking ball.... but maybe it doesn't. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Also, I've seen a few people reference AI content. I've tested it but opted not to go that route. Instead, and maybe this is a backward approach in the age of AI, I'm using actual subject matter experts to produce human-written content. So far it seems to be working.

@MrMedia mind if I ask if you're generating AI content or human content?

And @smithy asked about DR. The site I'm talking about is a DR 45 site and it's getting similar results to MrMedia's DR 70 site.



And in terms of niche, it's heavy EEAT and YMYL.
Click to expand...
Do you spend time updating your old content as well?
 
MrMedia said:
Meanwhile...... Today I published just under 12k words of content across 2 websites and did zero investigation in the extreme subtleties of an algorithim update no one apart from G will ever fully understand.
Click to expand...
Must be nice to say and do this while its all good and rosy. I've seen most of your comments here and you seem to be living in a bubble that makes you oblivious of the realities.

You made an earlier comment about content velocity, and while i agree it can be helpful (for topical authority) it has very little to do with what's going on. Infact, if you think logically, content velocity is the exact thing Google is trying to combat. The sudden influx of mass/volume content on the internet means they can no longer trust everyone hence why they're giving more weight to big brands.

So unless you're mass publishing on a DR 70, 80 site, you're pretty much in the same boat as everyone, and your content velocity isn't going to save you long term.

Also, let's not forget that content velocity needs to be sustained for an extended period; or pretty much throughout the project life. You will eventually lose rankings the moment you decrease velocity or completely stop publishing. How many niches can you realistically do this for? Food, pets, travel, what else?

I'll say one more thing...Not that i support Google or anything, but participating and supporting dumb stuffs like what Spencer is currently doing is why they'll keep being ruthless with these updates:

qBTPAyD.png



How's this going to help or encourage people to build websites with real value? Its only encouraging the 270+ participants to SPAM GOOGLE for the next 6 months. DUMB stuff.
 
Encrypted said:
I'll say one more thing...Not that i support Google or anything, but participating and supporting dumb stuffs like what Spencer is currently doing is why they'll keep being ruthless with these updates:

qBTPAyD.png



How's this going to help or encourage people to build websites with real value? Its only encouraging the 270+ participants to SPAM GOOGLE for the next 6 months. DUMB stuff.
Click to expand...
Not sure why I would spend 6 six months of my life to make just $2500...
 
Encrypted said:
Must be nice to say and do this while its all good and rosy. I've seen most of your comments here and you seem to be living in a bubble that makes you oblivious of the realities.

You made an earlier comment about content velocity, and while i agree it can be helpful (for topical authority) it has very little to do with what's going on. Infact, if you think logically, content velocity is the exact thing Google is trying to combat. The sudden influx of mass/volume content on the internet means they can no longer trust everyone hence why they're giving more weight to big brands.

So unless you're mass publishing on a DR 70, 80 site, you're pretty much in the same boat as everyone, and your content velocity isn't going to save you long term.

Also, let's not forget that content velocity needs to be sustained for an extended period; or pretty much throughout the project life. You will eventually lose rankings the moment you decrease velocity or completely stop publishing. How many niches can you realistically do this for? Food, pets, travel, what else?
Click to expand...
The "bubble" is self made and it is great thank you.

As someone who has had a $400k website wiped out by G in the past I am well aware of the realities of this game. The difference between me and you is that I have moved on and built back better.

I accept the rules of the game, adapt and evolve.

Hope things get better for you in the future!
 
JOoa0ky said:
Not sure why I would spend 6 six months of my life to make just $2500...
Click to expand...
Because there’s little actual work involved. Not a single person, unless motivated by the attention they’ll get for winning, is going to massage the content with a human touch. It’ll just be an arms race to deploy the most shitty AI content possible.

These contests and case study sites these personal brand types do where they “lose” sites and money and even entire working techniques… they make it all back and more by raking in countless newcomers into their ecosystem and keeping them there. It ends up hurting everyone as @Encrypted pointed out, through attracting the Eye of Sauron, through predating on noobs, and by outting tactics, taking down someone else’s PBN, and so on endlessly. All to grow their personal brand.

And let’s not forget how easy it is to lie on the internet, hide your losses, exaggerate your wins, and make money on your celebrity and not your skill.
 
Mack D said:
Do you spend time updating your old content as well?
Click to expand...

All of the content on the website is either new or has been updated within the last 12 months.

But I started with a lot less content (~150 articles) so updating was a much smaller project. Now with an additional +1,000 articles and growing, it feels like a bigger mountain to climb.

So, I'll have to be much more selective going forward on what gets updated and when. My goal is to try and maintain this 12-month updating frequency for the most important content.

In my ideal world, I would like to have several team members dedicated fully to updating existing content while another team is responsible for new content.
 
cmpty said:
All of the content on the website is either new or has been updated within the last 12 months.

But I started with a lot less content (~150 articles) so updating was a much smaller project. Now with an additional +1,000 articles and growing, it feels like a bigger mountain to climb.

So, I'll have to be much more selective going forward on what gets updated and when. My goal is to try and maintain this 12-month updating frequency for the most important content.

In my ideal world, I would like to have several team members dedicated fully to updating existing content while another team is responsible for new content.
Click to expand...
I prioritize my updating task list ranked by urls in position 4-10 and then sorted by search volume. Works well.
 
MrMedia said:
I prioritize my updating task list ranked by urls in position 4-10 and then sorted by search volume. Works well.
Click to expand...

I took a similar approach last time around. But I've since implemented a new site structure (reverse silo) and was thinking of prioritizing the supporting pages first regardless of where they land in the SERPs (obviously leaving 1-3 alone), followed by pillar content. Basically trying to build some momentum to help the pillar content rank higher/faster after it's updated. No idea of this will have an impact but it sounds right to me.
 
cmpty said:
I took a similar approach last time around. But I've since implemented a new site structure (reverse silo) and was thinking of prioritizing the supporting pages first regardless of where they land in the SERPs (obviously leaving 1-3 alone), followed by pillar content. Basically trying to build some momentum to help the pillar content rank higher/faster after it's updated. No idea of this will have an impact but it sounds right to me.
Click to expand...
Might work. When I do it my way I see rankings respond almost immediately. Freshness is a power move and although it is super trendy at present it always has been.
 
The pain is real. Last 6 months :D
Y7Sy393.png

I was just in the process of polishing the site for the Mediavine application :wink: was at about 55-60k visits and growing before the HCU.

It's time to accept the rules of the game, adapt and evolve. :smile:

This comes to mind:
1. Remove all "not-so-good" content (about half, or 100 posts)
2. Edit and improve "good" content (the good content is actually very helpful, but the writing can be improved.
3. Publish more "great" content consistently for the next few months (+100-200 posts)
4. Hope the Bing will beat Google

Now the question for more experienced webmasters: Should I wait for the update to finish, or should I start immediately?

(I already deleted 5 out of 190 posts total)
 
Marelli said:
The pain is real. Last 6 months :D
Y7Sy393.png

I was just in the process of polishing the site for the Mediavine application :wink: was at about 55-60k visits and growing before the HCU.

It's time to accept the rules of the game, adapt and evolve. :smile:

This comes to mind:
1. Remove all "not-so-good" content (about half, or 100 posts)
2. Edit and improve "good" content (the good content is actually very helpful, but the writing can be improved.
3. Publish more "great" content consistently for the next few months (+100-200 posts)
4. Hope the Bing will beat Google

Now the question for more experienced webmasters: Should I wait for the update to finish, or should I start immediately?

(I already deleted 5 out of 190 posts total)
Click to expand...
Get stuck in now. Little point waiting. Could be another update the minute this one ends
 
So looks like it's just back to work and accepting there's now a little less pie. Nothing you can really do with info queries that now have user content sites preferred. I hear freshness, I wish it was that easy and we could just say one variable did it. One of my portfolio sites I had just finished updating and improving 150 articles, it also got hit. Freshness isn't going to save you when google says out loud their trying to surface usercontent.
 
Last edited:
The amount of effort you guys will go through to not explore different traffic sources is astounding. I published traffic leaks over 10 years ago on Wickedfire, not even BuSo. Why refuse the future where users are telling you the content they want? (Video). At some point... I mean jesus - the writing is on the wall.
 
Ryuzaki said:
Because there’s little actual work involved. Not a single person, unless motivated by the attention they’ll get for winning, is going to massage the content with a human touch. It’ll just be an arms race to deploy the most shitty AI content possible.

These contests and case study sites these personal brand types do where they “lose” sites and money and even entire working techniques… they make it all back and more by raking in countless newcomers into their ecosystem and keeping them there. It ends up hurting everyone as @Encrypted pointed out, through attracting the Eye of Sauron, through predating on noobs, and by outting tactics, taking down someone else’s PBN, and so on endlessly. All to grow their personal brand.

And let’s not forget how easy it is to lie on the internet, hide your losses, exaggerate your wins, and make money on your celebrity and not your skill.
Click to expand...

So sad...

CCarter said:
The amount of effort you guys will go through to not explore different traffic sources is astounding. I published traffic leaks over 10 years ago on Wickedfire, not even BuSo. Why refuse the future where users are telling you the content they want? (Video). At some point... I mean jesus - the writing is on the wall.
Click to expand...

Indeed, my website is like -50% or more at this point... But yet the youtube channel looks absolutely pristine.

Should probably shift full gear towards YT.
 
Marelli said:
The pain is real. Last 6 months :D
Y7Sy393.png

I was just in the process of polishing the site for the Mediavine application :wink: was at about 55-60k visits and growing before the HCU.

It's time to accept the rules of the game, adapt and evolve. :smile:

This comes to mind:
1. Remove all "not-so-good" content (about half, or 100 posts)
2. Edit and improve "good" content (the good content is actually very helpful, but the writing can be improved.
3. Publish more "great" content consistently for the next few months (+100-200 posts)
4. Hope the Bing will beat Google

Now the question for more experienced webmasters: Should I wait for the update to finish, or should I start immediately?

(I already deleted 5 out of 190 posts total)
Click to expand...
Number 4 is badly needed. Although not necessarily beating, if Bing can come closer to Google traffic, organic search traffic risk will seriously decrease. At least people won't lose almost 90% of their traffic overnight because of an algo update
 
CCarter said:
YouTube is last century. YT is 10 years ago man. Tiktok is where it is at:


I swear, in 10 years you guys will be like, "I guess it's time to try TikTok."

Even the old guy in the video is admitting how far behind he is.
Click to expand...

I question how long TikTok will be around... it's already being banned for federal employees in multiple states. The sentiment seems to be anti-chinese technology.

Honestly, I'm really not sure why the US Govt even let it get to this point. Nonetheless, I fully support complete ban and removal of TikTok from all western nations.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back