Is Google Trying to 🔥 Blogging

Hi Reader,

I was wading through the Google algo leak the other day.

Like many bloggers and content publishers, my traffic is down big-time.

I wanted answers.

I found this gem.

The search algo is ranking blogs and content websites based on click-through rates.

In other words...

If more readers click through to a website and on its content, Google will send more traffic to the site or blog.

Sounds sensible... in theory.

Then, I waded into the search results and found them stuffed with unhelpful AI overviews, random cat articles, air purifier and mattress reviews from Google's friends at Forbes and Reddit.

The problem of lousy AI content even got picked up by the BBC, which described the problem as “an extinction-level event” for content businesses.

Content businesses laying off writers and editors as a result.

How can a content publisher or blogger get more clicks if they don't appear in search in the first place?

Travel writer Katie Caf Travel asked GoogleSearchLiason about this clickthrough issue on X.

Should she publish articles that Google will rank or focus on off-site efforts, i.e., getting social media traffic?

The GoogleSearchLiason X account said content creators should "focus on doing whatever they think is best for their readers."

At first...

That struck me as nothing more than a Kevin Costner Field of Dreams answer:

If you publish great content, they will come.

Building a content business on hopes and dreams isn't a strategy.

But the X account described what great content sites look like today.

"Great sites with content that people like receive traffic in many ways. People go to them directly. They come via email referrals. They arrive via links from other sites. They get social media mentions."

And then the X account laid a more sensible content strategy :

So, if you're starting a writing or content business, invest in multiple traffic sources.

The word email perked my attention.

I've been following a few content publishers who are killing with Facebook and Pinterest traffic. The advertising RPMs from Pinterest are glorious.

I’ve also invested time and energy in sourcing traffic from our social media overlords.

But that's still traffic that our social media overlords can turn on or off like a tap... or even replace with AI content.

(Both Facebook and Pinterest are experimenting with AI content generators.)

Relying on search traffic for a blog or content website is a fool’s errand today.

By all means, play the social media game and the search game.

I intend to.

But consider this:

What do most people look at every morning before work?

Email.

What do most people check on their lunch break?

Email.

And what do most people read at the end of the day?

Email.

It’s the best way to write to readers and present your offers… without worrying about AI or some algorithm change.

Email is also the best method for selling books and growing your writing business. Google can never take that away from you.

On that last point, my friend Cary Richards writes about how to dream big with your writing business in his new book Beyond the Page.

You can download it here.

Write on,

Bryan Collins