Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the death of SEO, murdered by Google AI Search…
If you’ve Googled anything lately, you may have noticed Google has integrated AI into their search results now. Within the last week or two, I received a “warning” email about the imminent rollout and what that might mean for content creators. Sadly, I can’t find the email, which I was sure I saved. But I call it a “warning” email because it mentioned it would likely result in a 20-30% decrease in traffic.
Every so often, Google changes its algorithms in order to both help user experience and better optimize ads and the revenue they generate. I distinctly remember the first time I fell victim to one of those changes. It was around 2015 and had to do with making sites https:// compliant. Those that weren’t wouldn’t rank in search results. For whatever reason, I struggled with my site’s change over and had to hire a pro to do it. My traffic tanked in the meantime.
I was ready to call it quits on Haunt Jaunts altogether back then. Everything had suddenly become so complicated. Blogging wasn’t fun anymore. Bad actors had forced security to become an issue. With the rise of Twitter, Facebook, and the like, it wasn’t enough just to have a blog anymore. You also had to have a social media presence to drive traffic. Until the social media sites, in an effort to retain users and their eyeballs to sell more advertising, changed their structure and algorithms not to favor posts with links. Which was circa 2022. (Give or take a year or two.)
It was 2022 when Google started making more algorithm changes that had everyone sweating. They didn’t affect HJ too much at first. A little. I noticed a slight drop in traffic, but I was still getting enough to reach the payout threshold for Adsense each month. That all came to a head last year when the changes caught up with me big time.
The Rise of Google AI Search and the Demise of the Little Guy
Two other things happened that also conspired to decimate my traffic, though. Everyone started using ChatGPT, and the Warner Bros. Discovery merger happened. The latter brought a screeching halt to updates from my Travel Channel liaisons, mostly because it brought a screeching halt to Travel Channel programming.
It’s a huge reason I fell into a funk last year. I’d worked since 2009 to build my site, learn SEO, grow my traffic, and just like that. Poof. It vanished. Now I had to figure out either how to bring it back or find something new to do. And I had to decide pretty quickly. The end of the year meant hosting fee renewal time.
I ended up renewing for three more years because I decided I wanted to pivot. Interviews, screenings, and reviews no longer served me. I’d been burned out on them for a while. It’d give me more time to make YouTube videos and finish the books I had started. My energy and enthusiasm returned, even though my site hits continued to decline.
I was prepared for that. I wasn’t concentrating on SEO content any longer. However, I wasn’t prepared for an even greater hit by way of this Google AI Search rollout. At my peak, I was getting 200-400+ views an hour. This week, I’ve been lucky to get 20. That’s not just a slight decrease. And it’s certainly way more than a 20-30% decrease.
Not Alone
A search about whether Google’s AI Search was impacting others led to me a video from Expose Ninja. I scrolled through the comments to find out if anyone had figured out a way to minimize the effects of Google’s search update. Not really, but I found a couple of comments I totally related to:
@renobrecords: “I went from 1500 uniques per day to 400. Very disheartening. :(.”
@Movie-Locationscom: “Thanks so much for for that. My traffic has halved in the last week and I noticed it was visits from the US that were down particularly (which is how I ended up here). Since I’m based in the UK, I can’t monitor how AI Overview functions. This is infuriating.”
But the one that burned me up was from @chicinspire because it made such a great point: “So Hiding the URL under a read more button is different from the thief. Only Google can come up with this stuff, and get away with it. If I stole someone’s content google would be the first on my website calling me out.”
Back during the 2015-ish Google change, I knew bloggers who had fared far worse than I had. Some of them employed models where they quoted large portions of certain articles and reacted to them. Even though they quoted and linked back to their sources, Google flagged it as plagiarism and essentially blacklisted their sites. That was that. Bye-bye traffic. My friends had to shut down their sites.
R.I.P.
Not all content creators will be affected by the Google AI Search rollout. Anyone with websites will be, though. So will writers. The consensus seems to be that SEO as we’ve known it is done-zo.
Well, it was fun while it lasted, especially because I actually made money from writing. Not a lot, but enough to pay site fees and have a little leftover. Unless that changes, Haunt Jaunts will cease to exist come 2017.
For now, I’ll keep this one going. It’s never earned a dime, but I wanted it for my author’s web presence. Which I’m still trying to manifest. The good news is, I’ve had more time to get back to editing my books, so I’ll start sharing more news on that front. Plus, this is where I come to vent and work out my troubles, which is a form of therapy. One that’s cheaper and less time-consuming than visiting a therapist. So, yeah, for now, this site will remain open for business.