Google Algorithm Updates - 2024 Ongoing Discussion

[Ryuzaki]

Continued from our Google Algorithm Updates - 2023 Ongoing Discussion

Nobody ever kicked this off (including me), I suppose, because it seems pointless. There's been quite a lot of volatility to the point where it's the norm instead of an update. But seeing as these threads keep everyone in the loop and create a lot of productive discussion, we should keep it rolling.

February 14th, 2024 - Valentine's Day​

Seems like a small, unconfirmed update rolled out. I saw a very obvious, even catastrophic, change in the number of clicks I sent to Amazon Affiliates for one single day, which is usually a give away. The day an update drops things seem to go bonkers for a short time, just scrambled eggs in the SERPs. Traffic didn't seem to suffer overall. Things seem most of the way back today in terms of affiliate clicks.

Cognitive SEO

Semrush

SERPmetrics

SimilarWeb

 

[Zoro]

Continued from our Google Algorithm Updates - 2023 Ongoing Discussion

Nobody ever kicked this off (including me), I suppose, because it seems pointless. There's been quite a lot of volatility to the point where it's the norm instead of an update. But seeing as these threads keep everyone in the loop and create a lot of productive discussion, we should keep it rolling.

February 14th, 2024 - Valentine's Day​

Seems like a small, unconfirmed update rolled out. I saw a very obvious, even catastrophic, change in the number of clicks I sent to Amazon Affiliates for one single day, which is usually a give away. The day an update drops things seem to go bonkers for a short time, just scrambled eggs in the SERPs. Traffic didn't seem to suffer overall. Things seem most of the way back today in terms of affiliate clicks.

Cognitive SEO

Semrush

SERPmetrics

SimilarWeb

I just want to say @Ryuzaki that I really really enjoy reading your valuable reports and thoughts about what is happening in the SERPs.

Any more thoughts on what the small update did?

 

[bernard]

Shots fired:

How Google is killing independent sites like ours​

And why you shouldn’t trust product recommendations from big media publishers ranking at the top of Google

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

 

[Smith]

Imagine a guy walking into the editor's office at RollingStone back in the '70s and saying "I've got a great pitch for you... the best air purifiers for pets".

He would have been laughed out of the building. His name would have been ruined. The rest of his life would have been spent mopping floors and plunging toilets at the local elementary school.

These private equity firms are in it for the money. God bless them. I don't see anything wrong with what they're doing... fuck it, they're doing what everyone else should be doing... playing by the rules of the game they're in.

The problem with independent publishers is that they're too principled.

And the reason independent publishers are principled is because it's the only tool they think they have at their disposal. It reminds me a lot of the "buy local" movement. Another lazy marketing tactic that attempts to pull on the easiest emotional lever possible instead of finding other ways to compete and win against big competitors. It's lazy.

These publishers don't see a path to compete with the "big sites" because they don't have the same budget or reach. So they try to find an easy emotional "look at me struggling" lever that people will have sympathy for... like a dog begging for food on the corner.

Yea, this kind of approach can work, though it depends on the niche, the trust you've established with your audience, and the level of wokeness that has penetrated your target market. Sell hammocks to hippies and you're all set. Selling air purifiers for pets? Maybe not. And frankly, for most people, I don't see this approach working.

Now, I'm not saying this site is lazy... they just produced an excellent analysis of the search landscape and the shitshow that we're all seeing in the SERPs. And it would be great if someone at Google reads this and says "Wow, they're right... we should change some things". But, they won't.

The problem I see is that most people think they're in the SEO business... when in reality, they're in business and SEO is their preferred channel... which means they can use other channels too.

"I earn affiliate commissions when promoting products through SEO articles"
"I sell consulting services through SEO articles"
"I sell physical products through SEO articles"

The business doesn't change. But the channels can and should change.

We know relying on one channel for all of our customers is stupid... but lots of us keep doing it, myself included.

But Google is just like RollingStone... they are killing the main asset that they have at their disposal. In the case of RollingStone, their asset was the idea that RollingStone was the source of all things cool. Dead. With Google, it was a trust that when you search a query, the algorithm will serve up the best results possible. Dead.

Action dictates priority. And the actions of both RollingStone and Google tell you they care about the money. They're going for the short-term cash grab... they don't care about the underlying asset.

No one thinks RollingStone is cool when they're writing about pet air purifiers and no one thinks the Google algorithm is serving up the best results when it's delivering copy-and-paste private equity-backed garbage from fake experts.

The landscape has changed.

Yea, my sites are still very dependent on Google. And frankly, that's a huge problem for all the reasons we already know about.

But, I'm continuing to build, expanding my sites, covering my topics, and becoming the most trusted source for information on the internet in my niche. But, I'm NOT doing all of this for Google... I'm doing it for my customers because, in the end, I believe it will help me make more money.

There's one quote that I keep coming back to as Google continues to demonstrate a lack of concern for delivering the best results...

"What if I told you... on my internet, there is no Google" - @CCarter (Traffic Leaks)

This quote from the Traffic Leaks course in DSCC was a big unlock for me...

Whether it's through traffic leaks, mastering social channels, affiliate relationships, or any other method of delivering content and selling to my ideal customer... I am trying to build with the idea that Google does NOT exist.

Instead, I'm building for my customers... and if Google wants to send some love my way, I'll take it. But I'm no longer holding my breath and praying that Google will recognize my amazing content. Google doesn't care. So I need to stop caring about Google.

Instead, I'm going to leverage the hell out of other channels, continue building a brand, drive traffic from a wide range of sources, and compete in every way possible... hand-to-hand combat. And funny enough, all of this should improve my SEO as well.

Here's hoping Google gets its shit together... but if it doesn't, I'll be fine.

 

[bernard]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I find that site boring looking and not really trustworthy.

I wouldn't put too much into those reviews, though they're probably ok.

That site has the same problem as so many other publisher sites: it has zero personality.

I've had sites that had personality and sites that didn't have personality. They can both work, but those that don't have personality (branding if you will) are much more difficult to attract the kind of links that Google wants to see.

When I'm recommending stuff here, it's not always what I always do myself, but what I understand is the right way to approach this business, right now.

If you want to make a review site to compete with the big boys, then you need to live and breathe a niche, you can't just be a "home consumer testing" websites, too broad, not enough personality.

There are actually smaller affiliate review sites doing very well. You can PM me if you want to see an example, don't want to bring attention to it here, but they're what I look to for a site that is instantly recognisable as a "for you, by someone like you" site. They're DR60+ and they have 600K traffic. As far as I can tell, it's a site started and run by someone like us, but there's no doubt as to their niche knowledge. They also tell up front that they're affiliate and they don't have social media. They did probably spend A LOT of money on advertorials, wikilinks, reddit links etc.

I'm saying it here: There's no business in being an all purpose review site. No one is interested in that unless you literally do high level laboratory reviews or you're an NGO or something.

I'll say something else: They're right that The Wirecutter is not a good review site. I don't trust them, their design is bad, their authenticity is low. The Wirecutter exists because they were large, first and bought by the NYT. They're not a good niche review site in 2024.

The "look at how unbiased we are" approach is not a winning formula in 2024. You need a real person, with real knowledge, real enthusiasm.

Can you make money in other ways as a review affiliate, sure, but that's hustling, those of us who were around 10 years ago never thought we were real business, we were hustlers. Maybe that mentality is lacking in those who got in the last 5 years. They think a blog is a business or a price comparison site a Saas. It's generally a hustle and nothing wrong with that, but treat it as a hustle then.

If you want to make a real lifestyle business, and I think that's the way to go, unless you base it on a gimmick/tech, then it's about being authentic, enthusiastic and participating. You don't have to post to Insta and all that, but you have to show in everything you do, that you're for real.

 

[BakerStreet]

we all know we should diversify traffic source from Google search and income from organic traffic, but how?

IDK about you but this is in my 5 year plan:

1. Have an upsell for a subscription. $150 for the one time product or $100 for the subscription. You choose. If you need to use it once a year, I already have your order for next year.
2. Make an app. If you download it, you can use it again for another order next time without searching.
3. Pitch for VC connections. A lot of b2b API deals are made because a VC invested in a company and then told the other company he invested in to use the api. It just takes a 10 slide pitch deck to do this.
4. Podcast. Do a podcast in your niche. You can get a sponsor later on.
5. Mailing list. You can monetize this too.
6. Localize into other languages and do content marketing there. Might still be Google traffic but it is diversified as it’s a new market.
7. Affiliate program. Make one and promote it to bloggers.
8. SEA run ads.
9. Make a useful widget or api for webmasters in your niche. A lot of platforms do this.

 

[Smith]

The rate of change in online marketing is insane right now. I don't know what you're selling/marketing but if the tactics you outlined are working in 5 years, I'll be shocked.

But why are you outlining a 5-year plan? You can build whatever you want in 5 months, hell you can probably do it in 5 days...

You can mass-produce content today in most major languages... the same goes for video content. AI has made this possible.

Here's the road map:

Don't just launch a podcast. Instead, use AI to write an outline for what you're going to talk about, record it for video and audio simultaneously, and now you have a podcast and a YouTube channel.

I agree with you about foreign languages... so flip that video content into five major languages AUTOMATICALLY and publish across five separate channels. @CCarter shared tools that make this possible in one of the AI-related threads.

Don't forget to AUTOMATICALLY transcribe the original video, and post it on your website.

Then have the site AUTOMATICALLY translate that original post into multiple languages, auto-posted across your correctly structured multi-lingual site. @Boy has covered how to do this in detail, which plugins, subscriptions, etc.

After you get a baseline of revenue from whatever you're selling, hire one of the many services that will take your long-form video and cut it into shorts. Have them post it across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This is possible TODAY. No need to wait five years.

It's not even hard to do. It just takes planning and coordinating the right tools and plugins, and then the most difficult part is just executing for a long enough period with high-trust content so you become a recognized voice in your niche.

It's even easier to do when you're starting from scratch because you don't risk negatively impacting existing content from mass publishing multi-lingual versions of existing pages.

As for other traffic sources...

through traffic leaks, mastering social channels, affiliate relationships, or any other method of delivering content and selling to my ideal customer... I am trying to build with the idea that Google does NOT exist.

 

[Darth]

It reminds me a lot of the "buy local" movement. Another lazy marketing tactic that attempts to pull on the easiest emotional lever possible instead of finding other ways to compete and win against big competitors. It's lazy.

These publishers don't see a path to compete with the "big sites" because they don't have the same budget or reach. So they try to find an easy emotional "look at me struggling" lever that people will have sympathy for... like a dog begging for food on the corner.

I don't agree with this. I doubt that website has been sitting on its hands since September, with the only thing they have done in response being to write that article.

Also, "buy local" isn't lazy, it's smart. If someone is doing that solely, sure, that's lazy. But every publisher I know hit by Sept updates is doing everything they can.

 

[Smith]

I don't agree with this. I doubt that website has been sitting on its hands since September, with the only thing they have done in response being to write that article.

Also, "buy local" isn't lazy, it's smart. If someone is doing that solely, sure, that's lazy. But every publisher I know hit by Sept updates is doing everything they can.

That's my point...

All of these publishers are doing everything they can to get back into Google's good graces... And THAT IS lazy. It's lazy thinking, lazy strategizing, and lazy marketing. The game has changed.

Every time there's an update, Google is waving its arms saying "I don't give a fuck about small publishers." And small publishers keep waving back saying "Please Google, won't you love us like you used to?"

Instead, publishers need to be listening to what Google is telling them... "Go find other sources of traffic. We're not going to float your business like we used to."

... that doesn't mean ignoring SEO. It means diversifying traffic sources. If the Google fairy waves her wand and decides to send some traffic your way, all the better. But Google is no longer a reliable source of traffic that anyone can exclusively build a business off of...

And yea, I agree "buy local" is smart when it's paired with other tactics that position small businesses/publishers etc against larger competitors in a way that they can outperform... but just slapping "buy local" on a storefront isn't a marketing strategy, it's a cry for help.

 

[BakerStreet]

The rate of change in online marketing is insane right now. I don't know what you're selling/marketing but if the tactics you outlined are working in 5 years, I'll be shocked.

But why are you outlining a 5-year plan? You can build whatever you want in 5 months, hell you can probably do it in 5 days...

You can mass-produce content today in most major languages... the same goes for video content. AI has made this possible.

Here's the road map:

Don't just launch a podcast. Instead, use AI to write an outline for what you're going to talk about, record it for video and audio simultaneously, and now you have a podcast and a YouTube channel.

I agree with you about foreign languages... so flip that video content into five major languages AUTOMATICALLY and publish across five separate channels. @CCarter shared tools that make this possible in one of the AI-related threads.

Don't forget to AUTOMATICALLY transcribe the original video, and post it on your website.

Then have the site AUTOMATICALLY translate that original post into multiple languages, auto-posted across your correctly structured multi-lingual site. @Boy has covered how to do this in detail, which plugins, subscriptions, etc.

After you get a baseline of revenue from whatever you're selling, hire one of the many services that will take your long-form video and cut it into shorts. Have them post it across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This is possible TODAY. No need to wait five years.

It's not even hard to do. It just takes planning and coordinating the right tools and plugins, and then the most difficult part is just executing for a long enough period with high-trust content so you become a recognized voice in your niche.

It's even easier to do when you're starting from scratch because you don't risk negatively impacting existing content from mass publishing multi-lingual versions of existing pages.

As for other traffic sources...

It’s five years because I want to execute it right. For example, for multi lingual content, I realize that AI can translate well and give you factual content but it doesn’t understand the human factor and your branding. So I need to hire a writer who will resonate with the clients emotions and issues via text in their cultural context. A plug-in can’t do that and this will differentiate me from the sites using ai. This content is an investment and will still be good 10 years from now. I’m not going cheap. I’m doing it right the first time.

For the podcast I want to hire an entrepreneurial host who has experience in the field. Then he’d be a paid host to run the podcast for my brand. He’s engage with experts on discussions. The recordings will be useful for awhile. Again, it is an investment of three years IMO before the podcast takes off. It takes time and money to execute right but once it’s good it’s classic and timeless.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I get why a lot of you guys got hit by HCU. You’re not learning either.

 

[Smith]

Sounds very principled.

A plug-in can’t do that and this will differentiate me from the sites using ai.

AI and plugins can't do it yet... Chat GPT 5 is around the corner. What will it be able to do? What about Chat GPT 6?

This content is an investment and will still be good 10 years from now

Wrong. If you're trying to drive traffic, you need to be updating constantly. I've heard a lot of experts say every piece of content needs to be touched every 6 months... others say 3 months. I've never heard anyone say that content will still be good in 10 years. This is the internet and you're not writing a classic novel.

It takes time and money to execute right but once it’s good it’s classic and timeless.

Springsteen didn't become the Boss overnight. He put in the reps. If you want your podcast to become a classic in whatever niche you're in, just get started. Consider the first 100 episodes your warm-up... throw away content... this is how you get good at your craft.

I get why a lot of you guys got hit by HCU. You’re not learning either.

Wrong again. Google is turning up the dials on the algorithm to try and fight spam content pumped out by AI-laden affiliate sites with zero authority, trust, and expertise.

Unfortunately, thousands of small legitimate publishers who built their businesses off the back of Google traffic are caught up in the mess. And these legit sites are now being forced to pivot and find other sources of traffic.

I personally do not use any AI-written content on my sites. Zero. Not because I'm principled... fuck that. I've tested AI content and will continue to test it as it improves. I don't use AI content because (for now) AI continues to pump out incorrect information about my niche... and I care more about delivering accurate information to my users and customers than I do about mass-producing pages.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Agreed. But I wonder how many "Romes" have been meticulously planned over the years, never to see the first stone laid?

Listen, all I'm saying is you can use the tools available to you to put your plans into hyperdrive. If you have local language experts to review and edit content, use them. Use whatever resources you have. But use them now!

The ground is shifting underneath us in real time... if you don't feel a sense of urgency you're not paying close enough attention.

 

[CCarter]

Mailing list.

We all know my thoughts on most of this. I'll just say this: everyone needs to be building a mailing list for their businesses, domains, websites, and personal brands.

2nd best is social media followers.

Those 2 groups will buy from you faster especially if they bought from you before.

On-top lets say I have no mailing list, I can approach people with newsletters and pay them to get immediate exposure to their list.

sense of urgency

There is a fantastic book by John P. Kotter called "A Sense of Urgency", I've talked about it on here, there is an audiobook version. If you read it you can truly see why some businesses fail and others survive.

Most business put in red tape and processes that slow them down, which you can't afford in the internet age.

People act like they have forever to execute, they don't. Their competitors are push content daily, and these clowns are sitting on the sidelines doing keyword research. It's no wonder they fail.

Everyone needs to move with a sense of urgency, especially businesses competing online.

 

[BakerStreet]

Sounds very principled.


AI and plugins can't do it yet... Chat GPT 5 is around the corner. What will it be able to do? What about Chat GPT 6?


Wrong. If you're trying to drive traffic, you need to be updating constantly. I've heard a lot of experts say every piece of content needs to be touched every 6 months... others say 3 months. I've never heard anyone say that content will still be good in 10 years. This is the internet and you're not writing a classic novel.


Springsteen didn't become the Boss overnight. He put in the reps. If you want your podcast to become a classic in whatever niche you're in, just get started. Consider the first 100 episodes your warm-up... throw away content... this is how you get good at your craft.


Wrong again. Google is turning up the dials on the algorithm to try and fight spam content pumped out by AI-laden affiliate sites with zero authority, trust, and expertise.

Unfortunately, thousands of small legitimate publishers who built their businesses off the back of Google traffic are caught up in the mess. And these legit sites are now being forced to pivot and find other sources of traffic.

I personally do not use any AI-written content on my sites. Zero. Not because I'm principled... fuck that. I've tested AI content and will continue to test it as it improves. I don't use AI content because (for now) AI continues to pump out incorrect information about my niche... and I care more about delivering accurate information to my users and customers than I do about mass-producing pages.


Agreed. But I wonder how many "Romes" have been meticulously planned over the years, never to see the first stone laid?

Listen, all I'm saying is you can use the tools available to you to put your plans into hyperdrive. If you have local language experts to review and edit content, use them. Use whatever resources you have. But use them now!

The ground is shifting underneath us in real time... if you don't feel a sense of urgency you're not paying close enough attention.

I have a team of 13 working for me using ai. You confused me for one of those mental masturbator, wannapreneurs. How rude!

As for planning the methodology and hiring the right people and installing the right culture, this takes time and you can’t rush it. Money can’t fix a bad team or bad culture. A good culture that enables employees and equips them with means can take on more challenges than one person ever will. 1+1=3 as the comedian eddy griffin says.

And as for LLMs being able to know my branding or my audiences emotions, I doubt it but this is due to me having a deep understanding of branding. To me a brand is a tribe. People wear Nike because they want to be apart of Phil Knights top athletes club. LLMs will never know what it means to belong and that’s why they’ll never do branding.

 

[Ryuzaki]

March 2024 Core Update & Triple Spam Update​

Elizabeth Tucker, the Director of Product Management, shares that:

• "Unhelpful content" will be reduced again by a whopping 40% visibility
• Low-quality & unoriginal content produced at scale is targeted (programmatic & automated content)
• Sites that host low-quality 3rd party content (guest posts / sponsored posts / parasite SEO) will harm your main site now, even if on sub-domains or sub-folders
• Expired domains that are purchased and repurposed with the intention of boosting search rankings of low-quality content are now considered spam

This update is "more complex than our usual core updates" as it makes changes to multiple core systems. "There will be more fluctuations in rankings than with a regular core update, as different systems get fully updated and reinforce each other."

The Helpful Content Update is now a part of the core updates, meaning that there won't be separate updates for it any more. You'll only get updates to the HCU during core updates. They claim the classifier runs constantly, but they also said Panda was in "ever-flux" which never appeared to be true.

I think the real gauge to be watching here is the community response to what should be a monstrous update. Will there be an uproar and a lot of conversation or does it even matter any more to enough people? We'll see!

 

[bernard]

Google are crashing and burning. Slay expired domains and what happens? Linkspam is back on the menu.

 

[wikibum]

Still waiting on a new HCU update to fix the mess the old one created lol

 

[BakerStreet]

I'm not that upset about these new updates. It's creating a barrier to entry for SEO, which is something that is good if you benefit from it. If not, it makes sense why you're sour.

As for the actual update itself, you must ensure that all webpages on your site give visitors a good user experience for whatever search intent they had. It didn't say you can't use those things anymore. It says you can't use it, when the UX is bad. If you can ensure quality while scaling AI content, good for you! I've seen a few domains winning big time like this.

As for me, I'm eager to see how my market turns out a year from now. One competitor got hit hard by October's update, right after they got a 12 million Series B. If they take another pounding from this new update, their investors are going to be hurt! These guys are product guys and have no idea of SEO. Their head of SEO is a writer with no SEO experience (lol). Another competitor went from 600k/month to 160k/month. Those guys are blackhat guys and have no idea how to write good content. They're fucked too. My site's on the up and up but no profitable yet. I'm excited! We took 1 month practice to have the writing team hone their writing skills and it's paying off. Our average time on site on SimilarWeb is 4 minutes while the competitor's time on site is 1.5-2 minutes! Whoot!

 

[Smith]

"... more complex than our usual core updates ... There will be more fluctuations in rankings than with a regular core update, as different systems get fully updated and reinforce each other."

Just read the article linked. Are you quoting another source/article here as well? Would love to get the whole picture.

It will be interesting to see how much of the "new policy" that takes effect on May 5 gets wrapped up in the March 5 spam and core updates currently rolling out.

My site's on the up and up but no profitable yet. I'm excited! We took 1 month practice to have the writing team hone their writing skills and it's paying off.

Are you monetizing through products/services? If so, are you also leveraging paid channels or are you only focused on SEO for acquisition right now?

 

[bernard]

As for me, I'm eager to see how my market turns out a year from now. One competitor got hit hard by October's update, right after they got a 12 million Series B. If they take another pounding from this new update, their investors are going to be hurt!

Yeah, this is how SEO used to be back when Google still had "Don't be evil" as their mantra.

I'm interested to see what happens to SEO if interest rates remain high. A lot of players in the SEO industry are VC leveraged and has spent a lot of money. Might not take that much for it all to come crashing down.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Just read the article linked. Are you quoting another source/article here as well? Would love to get the whole picture.

Search Engine Land claims to have spoken with Elizabeth Tucker.

They also published this today, which adds more details from "Google's Spam Explainer", whatever that is. Here's the highlight quotes (with my paraphrasing) regarding how the documentation changed:

• Google changed from describing links as "an important factor in determining relevancy" to just "a factor" (removed the word important)
• “Creating low-value content primarily for the purposes of manipulating linking and ranking signals.” Guest posts & PBNs, I'd say.
• Manipulative links now includes "any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.” Emphasis here on "outgoing" aka selling links and going buckwild with anchor texts.
• More details on "expired domain abuse" include:
  • Affiliate content on a site previously used by a government agency
  • Commercial medical products being sold on a site previously used by a non-profit medical charity
  • Casino-related content on a former elementary school site

 

[bernard]

More details on "expired domain abuse" include:

• Affiliate content on a site previously used by a government agency
• Commercial medical products being sold on a site previously used by a non-profit medical charity
• Casino-related content on a former elementary school site

Stick closely to previous topics?

 

[Steve Brownlie]

Stick closely to previous topics?

That's what I always used to do in the old days and they still caught me on one of my most profitable domains lol. I'm not sure why this is 'new' - it's like they really cracked down on this ages ago and I guess then just 'let it go'? and now they're caring again? Or just FUD because they can't fix it? There used to be so much of that in the old update era from them. We'll find out I guess - who wants to buy some expensive aged domains and test for us

 

[bernard]

Yeah expired domains are hit and miss and if miss, they are way worse than a fresh domain.

 

[chubes]

More details on "expired domain abuse" include:

• Affiliate content on a site previously used by a government agency
• Commercial medical products being sold on a site previously used by a non-profit medical charity
• Casino-related content on a former elementary school site

Lol, if anyone can read this and think that these don't sound like sketchy strategies in the first place. If I did something like that, I would not expect to make money for long. I would feel like a bandit getting away with something, and I'd have it on a separate server far away from my legitimate businesses.

I found one that was built on a real 90s band's expired domain and filled with affiliate and ad spam trash content. Super misleading because it was presented like an official band website until you look closer.

I think the real gauge to be watching here is the community response to what should be a monstrous update. Will there be an uproar and a lot of conversation or does it even matter any more to enough people? We'll see!

I think a lot of people already lost much of their income with the updates in fall 2023. Now 6 months have gone by and nothing has happened.

On my site - Hundreds of new articles published. Website fully enhanced, forum added, sped up, cleaned up, DA90 legitimate links built. Hundreds of hours spent on optimization. No change.

Meanwhile, my AI site without a single word written by a human, that is only 6 months old, is growing by the day.

I do think it's plausible that we are witnessing the beginning of the end for this tech giant.

It's got to be really hard for them to sift through everything and move the good stuff to the top when there is just an endless amount of trash. Throw in corporate greed and...

 

[Politico]

Affiliate content on a site previously used by a government agency

Lmaoooo I've seen this in the wild (YMYL niche) and was so jelly

I'm not sure why this is 'new'

I swear SEO is just a hamster wheel in a temporal sense. I think our current SEO timeline is an infinite loop that manifested when the large hadron collider fired up pre panda/penguin and opened a hole in the fabric of SEO space-time