Ahrefs - The Google Update That Destroyed 4 Of Their Websites
Morgan and Sean, founders of Charleston Crafted, experienced a significant drop in their website traffic and revenue due to Google algorithm updates. Despite being featured as a Google success story, their site lost 75% of its traffic overnight. This incident underscored the vulnerability of relying heavily on Google for business success. Morgan, who had self-taught skills in SEO and content creation, initially found success by optimizing content for search engines, leading to substantial revenue growth. However, the algorithm changes forced them to reconsider their business model.
Morgan attended a DIY creators conference, learning strategies that transformed their business, such as implementing ads and SEO, which initially led to financial success. However, the September 2023 Google update severely impacted their secondary websites, leading to an 80% traffic loss. Despite these challenges, Morgan explored new strategies, such as focusing on e-commerce and diversifying content across subdomains, to mitigate the impact of future algorithm changes. The experience highlighted the importance of not relying solely on Google and adapting business strategies to maintain resilience.
Key Points:
- Google algorithm updates can drastically affect website traffic and revenue, emphasizing the need for diversification.
- Morgan's initial success was due to effective SEO and content strategies learned at a DIY conference.
- The September 2023 Google update caused an 80% traffic loss on secondary sites, highlighting the risks of platform dependency.
- Morgan explored e-commerce and content diversification to reduce reliance on Google.
- The experience taught valuable lessons in resilience and the importance of adapting business strategies.
Details:
1. 📉 From Triumph to Turmoil: Google's Impact on Traffic
- A business that was once highlighted as a Google success story suffered a dramatic 75% decrease in traffic and Google revenue overnight following a search algorithm update.
- Charleston Crafted, a small business, faced severe setbacks due to Google's search algorithm changes, perceiving it as a nullification of a decade's worth of efforts.
- Despite being acknowledged by Google, the business owner received no substantial guidance or solutions to recover from the loss.
- Google confirmed to the business owner that there were no faults on their part, yet failed to provide any actionable steps or explanations to rectify the traffic decline.
- To mitigate such impacts, businesses should regularly update their SEO strategies and engage in direct communication with Google's support for any sudden traffic changes.
2. 🔨 Crafting Dreams: The Rise of Charleston Crafted
2.1. Morgan's Background and Blog Evolution
2.2. Notable DIY Projects and Challenges
3. 🚀 SEO Awakening: Harnessing Online Potential
3.1. Introduction to SEO Concepts
3.2. Implementation and Results
4. 📈 Riding the Viral Wave: The Squirrel Table Success
- Leveraging a viral trend on TikTok, the business capitalized on the popularity of squirrel picnic tables to drive significant traffic to their site.
- The trend resulted in a substantial increase in email list sign-ups, indicating a successful capture of audience interest.
- The experience highlighted the potential impact of viral content on business growth, offering insights into traffic dynamics in 2023.
- During the peak of this viral trend, the business saw massive engagement, showcasing the power of aligning with popular cultural moments.
5. 💡 Pivoting in Crisis: Responding to Google Updates
- The business achieved a significant milestone by reaching $325,000 in revenue, half of which was from ad revenue, four times the amount earned in previous employment.
- Using a strategic approach, blog content was optimized for search-focused topics, leading to a replicable process that generated substantial income.
- A successful formula was identified for creating multiple niche websites, such as those focused on kids' toy reviews, kids' crafts, house plant care, and paint color.
- The key insight is the importance of capitalizing on successful strategies while being prepared to pivot when current methods become less effective.
- The strategy highlights adaptability and strategic foresight in maintaining and enhancing revenue streams in response to external changes like Google updates.
6. 😟 Weathering the Storm: Coping with Traffic Loss
- In September 2023, Google's helpful content update resulted in an 80% loss of Google traffic for three secondary websites, leading to an equivalent 80% revenue loss. This highlights the critical need for diversified traffic sources to mitigate risks associated with algorithm changes.
- Charleston Crafted was unaffected by the update, indicating that a content strategy focused on diversified engagement rather than solely on Google optimization can be more resilient to algorithm changes. This suggests the importance of developing content that caters to a broader audience and multiple channels.
- The significant traffic loss led to profound personal impacts, including financial stress that necessitated withdrawing a child from private school to manage tuition costs. This underscores the ripple effect of business challenges on personal life, emphasizing the importance of financial planning and resilience strategies.
- The emotional toll of the update included feelings of failure and despair, affecting personal relationships and mental health. This situation highlights the need for mental health support and proactive stress management strategies in entrepreneurship.
7. 🌐 Confronting Challenges: Google's Creator Summit Insights
- Charleston Crafted lost 75% of its traffic and Google revenue overnight due to Google's March core update, severely affecting their business operations.
- The business perceived itself as well-diversified with ad revenue, affiliate sales, sponsored work, and digital product sales, but the traffic loss revealed dependencies as digital product sales and brand partnerships declined significantly.
- Google acknowledged the issue during the Creator Summit, stating that the impact was more extreme than intended and assured creators they did nothing wrong, yet offered no immediate solutions or hope for traffic restoration.
- Creators learned that even if their sites reappeared on Google, they wouldn't regain previous traffic levels due to changes in search results and the addition of AI overviews.
- The experience highlighted the risk of business dependence on Google, motivating a strategic shift away from reliance on their platform.
- As a response, businesses are now looking to diversify their traffic sources beyond Google, focusing on building direct customer relationships and enhancing other revenue streams like social media engagement and email marketing.
8. 🔍 Strategic Evolution: Innovating Content and Audience Engagement
- Morgan and Shawn recognized the critical role of Google in their content strategy, focusing on topics that perform well on Google and utilizing search console data to guide their content creation.
- They strategically diversified their content by targeting popular themes such as paint colors, which resulted in high-performing posts like 'the best gray wood stains' and 'the best dark brown wood stains.'
- Their approach emphasized compounding growth by reducing reliance on a few high-traffic posts and mitigating risks associated with search ranking fluctuations.
- Revenue streams included Google, affiliate links, ads, and digital products, with 287 paint color palettes as a significant product generating $1,500 monthly.
- Despite low overall traffic, the subdomain attracted an audience with commercial intent, indicating effective targeting.
- A strategic proposal was made to relocate blog content to the subdomain, aiming to leverage the advantages of e-commerce and prioritize digital products over affiliate revenue.
- This shift aimed to enhance revenue by integrating palette promotions within content, potentially surpassing combined ad and affiliate earnings.
- The strategy focused on creating content that resonates with search engine users, ensuring relevance and engagement beyond mere SEO tactics.
9. 🌟 Emerging Stronger: Learning and Resilience in Adversity
- Building projects with detailed instructions can boost confidence in individuals, showing the importance of structured guidance for learning.
- Despite setbacks from Google's algorithm updates, learning to create content consistently and analyze data can be valuable skills that enhance resilience.
- Google's platform, although challenging due to dependency, provided a method for reaching a wide audience and a formula for content creation.
- The experience highlights the importance of diversifying traffic sources to mitigate risks associated with reliance on a single platform like Google.
- Offering a free SEO course for beginners on YouTube is an actionable step to help others learn from these experiences and gain skills in generating traffic.