F Google. There. I thought about it. And then I typed it out loud.
So why F Google? If you’re a website owner and succumbed to using AI (hanging head a little here) then you were dinged – hard – by Google.
My AI usage began with Jasper (formerly Jarvis) about two years ago now. Then I tried ChatGPT, and I now use (and love) Claude. My use of AI has done a 180 since my Jaspering days. I’m not writing books with AI (anymore). Or using AI content for my websites. Nope. I now use AI just for ideas and help with meta descriptions, headlines, and the like.
While we all blithely flirted and asked ChatGPT everything and anything, we didn’t realize that our actions would kick us in the butt. How so? ChatGPT et al are taking “searchers” away from Google Search.
Ha. So what?… They’re getting their knickers in a twist. As you know, Microsoft’s ChatGPT ain’t Google.
WTH?
It’s kind of ironic that Google (and the others, to be fair) scraped all our sites (without our permission) and then Bard (now re-branded as Gemini) “offered regurgitated versions to us” for $20/mo. And then Google penalized us for USING IT? Again, WTH?
The penalizing ding algo was called the “Helpful Content Update” and millions of us small bloggers were hit. Our traffic was sliced in half – even quartered. The algo intended to weed out content that “they” deemed unhelpful to readers. But who’s to say that they know what we find unhelpful?
Hang on, yep, it’s Google. They know everything.
Google realized that if folks can just “ask Jarvis/Jasper,” or get chatty with ChatGPT, and use Claude to get answers (raising hand), then we don’t NEED to use Google Search anymore. TBH? What Google Search brings back nowadays is rubbish from Reddit (like that’s helpful, researched content? Nope, it’s just someone’s opinion for the most part). Or quotes from Quora? C’mon.
Most honest bloggers do their work. They research. They include facts (as they believe them to be and that’s a whole other “get-it-off-my-chest” blog post). Blog writing is a craft. Bloggers use citations where needed. OK, so those kinds of bloggers are still doing OK, and have highly-likely been accepted into MediaVine’s ad world. Or they use AdSense hoping to get a few cents from a few clicks. (Do I sound bitter? Sorry.) The problem with that is the page you get served up is flooded with so many ads, that you can’t find the content. I hate those kind of sites. I bet you do too.
But while I’m beating the bad-blogger drum: Many of their headlines are pure clickbait questions, with no answers provided in the content. They got you there, so you’d better click their ads… No, thanks.
So Why F Google?
Tides are turning, and we small bloggers are getting creative. We’re (re)turning to social sites more and more to get found. Social sites such as Instagram, Flipboard, Pinterest, et al. They’re gonna see a resurgence in user growth, I’m sure.
Because we small dogs can’t rely on being found anymore via Google Search (as they favor the Big Dogs and as stated, stuff on Reddit, and Quora), we have to make better use of the social platforms that are available to us. We have to get traffic “the old-fashioned way.” By being social – yes – and not relying on a keyword or two to get us on “page one” of Google SERPs. Ain’t gonna happen (anymore).
Longtail Keywords
In an attempt to get found, we tried longtail keywords. The thing is, it takes ten times longer to rank for it. By the time we’re found for it, the topic is probably outdated. So while I’m thinking “F Google” because they’ve “effed us,” we have to think smart. We still need keywords so we are found by other search means (and of course, use keywords that relate to our topic). Google has said we shouldn’t be hell-bent on using the same keyword umpteen times in an article, nor should we stuff secondary keywords in every sentence ad nauseam.
It should be “natural,” and “real.” Their smart algo can “understand” the meaning in our words far better than it used to. Semantics. Google gets it. LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing).
“Write like no one is reading.”
SupaBees
E.E.A.T.
Shouldn’t we be more concerned with writing content that tries to solve a problem? After all, when we use Google Search ourselves, we’re asking QUESTIONS to help us with a problem, right? We’re looking for answers.
What Google is looking for is content with EEAT.
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trustworthiness
Or for small bloggers without the above knowledge, is it a case of EEAT s**t and die? Many fear so. And that will weed out bloggers who wing it and use (or solely rely on) AI to fill a page.
Alt G Conference
A smart lady bogger-friend told me about the Alt G Conference. I managed to catch a replay and paid for the content the conference shared. Anne Moss talked about Facebook, Tony Hill shared his input on Pinterest’s best practices.
Also, Sammie Ellard-King shared his insights into using Instagram the right way (I bought that course!). In another video from the recorded conference, Michael Dinich (LI profile) introduced me to Flipboard. He runs a highly-successful blog “Wealth of Geeks.” Nice guy.
What the flippin’ ‘eck is Flipboard? I’d never heard of it. Michael says it’s been around for about six years, and is a well-kept secret (wink and a smile). It’s like Pinterest, meaning it’s board-related (they call their boards Magazines) and is a sort of blog-sharing-and-caring site. I love it. It’s free. But you need to use it the right way (don’t spam) and Michael and his team show you how to succeed.
Check out @SupaBees on Flipboard – that’s me.
The Alt G Conference also covered Google Discover. Haven’t watched the video about that yet. No doubt you have to be a Big Dog for that, too.
So there you have it. Some reasons to F Google and to get going with alternatives to getting found by Google Search. Let’s get busy.
This is one of the refreshing and honest explanation of what is REALLY going on with Google and their so called Helpful Content Update.
They keep telling us to write for our audience, not search engines. But then penalize us for not following a list of rules made up to satisfy the search engines!! WTF?
Nothing Google says or does makes any sense. Bottom line… Google is Pure evil ?.
And you’re right Susan, social media is the way to go nowadays to resurrect our sites. At least with social media we get found by real people who have real interest in our content.