It appears that Google’s recent algorithm and spam filter updates have had significant repercussions for many smaller websites, causing drastic drops in traffic and potentially threatening their viability.
One such case is Gisele Navarro, an Argentine who runs the HouseFresh website with her husband, specializing in air purifier reviews since 2020.
HouseFresh, known for its honest and comprehensive product reviews without ads or soft-selling, relied heavily on Google search referrals for traffic. Prior to the update, they ranked highly and received about 4,000 daily referrals from Google. However, after the update, their visibility plummeted, leading to only around 200 daily referrals.
Navarro expressed frustration over the lack of transparency in Google’s ranking algorithms, a sentiment shared by many in the industry. The sudden drop in traffic has been so severe that she’s been advised to consider shutting down the site and starting anew with a different domain name.
The update has also unsettled the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) community, which thrives on understanding and optimizing for Google’s algorithms. The latest changes have caused confusion and speculation among SEO experts, as they scramble to decipher the new criteria that determine website rankings.
Overall, while Google’s updates aim to improve search quality by targeting low-quality content, the unintended consequences for smaller, niche websites like HouseFresh underscore the challenges and uncertainties of relying on organic search traffic in the digital age.
Google told AFP in an email that its update was designed specifically to give users “fewer results that feel made for search engines”.
“The only changes we launch are ones that our experiments have shown will meaningfully improve results for people. And we do believe that these updates have been helpful,” Google said.
Yet Navarro showed in a widely shared blog post in May that people searching for product reviews were increasingly being fed ads and content that appeared to be AI-generated or SEO-maximised.
– ‘Tough market’ –
Following Google’s recent algorithm and spam filter updates, some websites have experienced significant changes in their search rankings. Google defended these updates by emphasizing the importance of user-generated content from platforms like Reddit and Quora, stating that people often seek to learn from others’ experiences and that rigorous testing ensures results are helpful and of high quality.
However, not everyone has benefited from these changes. Staff at a European news website noted that their articles were now frequently outranked by less relevant content from Reddit. This shift has led to a decline of 20 to 30 percent in Google referrals for the news site, prompting concerns about potential cutbacks due to decreased traffic.
Independent publishers are particularly feeling the impact, describing the situation as a serious challenge in an already competitive market. Many are now exploring alternative strategies to reduce dependence on Google search.
For instance, some are focusing on newsletters, podcasts, or other methods to attract and retain audiences outside of traditional search engine rankings.
Additionally, a fintech news outlet executive, who spoke anonymously, highlighted that competitors are increasingly relying on SEO firms to purchase traffic, reflecting the broader industry’s response to the evolving search landscape shaped by Google’s updates.
“We don’t do that but it’s getting harder to hold that position as those sites didn’t fall anywhere near as much as ours after this Google update,” they said.
Navarro, who has had to reduce her staff drastically, has pivoted to video reviews and newsletters to try to reconnect with her audience.
And despite her experience with Google, she remains an optimist about the web.
She has been heartened by the many messages of support, and an uptick in referrals from alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo.
“The entire knowledge of humankind is on the web — and that’s worth something,” she said.
“I don’t want to give up on it just because Google is broken.”
