I have been blogging for over five years, and I have seen my fair share of ups and downs. But nothing could have prepared me for what happened after recent Google Core Updates.
Google’s recent core update has had a devastating impact on many small and medium-sized websites, including my Replay Jutsu.
These updates have made it much more difficult for websites like mine to rank well in search results.
In the most recent update, websites have been completely shadowbanned, meaning that they are no longer visible to users in certain regions.
The core updates are designed to improve the quality of search results by rewarding websites that provide high-quality, informative content (at least that is what I have always heard).
However, after the September 2023 helpful content update, things have changed.
These updates have made it impossible for smaller websites that may not have the resources to compete with larger publishers.
Before the September 2023 update, I was working on 3 informational websites/blogs with my partners.
Those websites got hit and we decided to wait it out, we did make some changes, hired SEOs and developers to fix the technical issues, and we completely removed ads from those websites too.
We all saw plenty of posts to wait it out as there is a core update planned. So, we waited, and in March after the core update was released on 5th March 2024 our websites got completely destroyed and shadowbanned from every region.
My partners decided to leave this line of business as this was no longer sustainable, they made an exit. However, I decided to give it one more try, I created Replay Jutsu in March 2024 amid the Google Core Update.
It was a time of plenty for the gaming world, with blockbuster titles like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Palia, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 hitting the shelves.
So it was not that hard to grow a blog as I knew the topics to cover that were not being covered by any other publisher.
By May, I had reached an impressive milestone of 100,000 visitors per month, and Replay Jutsu’s growth trajectory showed no signs of slowing down.
Tools like ahref and semrush won’t show the accurate traffic since my content is based on the latest games and animes, and those tools update after 2-3 months and they determine traffic based on the ranking keyword volume.
However, after the announcement of Google’s August core update SERPs started showing volatility. While the blog’s rankings experienced a slight dip, the impact wasn’t catastrophic. I actually thought Replay Jutsu might actually survive.
15th August Google Core Update Rollout
The official release of the core update on August 15th proved to be a turning point. Replay Jutsu was hit.
The blog’s visibility plummeted, particularly in crucial markets like the US and UK. Everywhere else Replay Jutsu ranks exactly the same (normally).
It’s like Replay Jutsu has completely vanished from those regions, for example, let’s take the keyword “Defeat Mother of Life“.
The article does not appear in the USA region while the same article is ranked on the 6th position in India and many other countries.
So this is actually quite weird that Replay Jutsu completely disappeared from some regions while thriving in other regions.
Slide the image upwards to see both results.
So, now I am receiving traffic from tier-2 and tier-3 countries only, so you can say about a 40-50% reduction in our traffic because of the August Core Update. As USA and UK were our primary sources of traffic.
If you check our traffic on any tool like SEMRUSH, you will see we have lost about 80% of our traffic. The keywords in the USA region didn’t decline from the first page to the second, they have been sent to the 5th or 6th page and searchers never go to that page.
I have diligently followed Google’s guidelines and tried to maintain the standard of content. I am not saying I am an expert writer or I am a better writer than those big publishers dominating the search engine.
But at least I only write on the topics I personally know about. I only cover games that I personally play or mangas that I personally read.
Google’s lack of transparency regarding its algorithm updates has only made things worse for us small publishers.
It feels like being caught in a game with ever-changing rules, where the goalposts keep shifting each time with a new update.
User-generated content (UGC) platforms like Reddit, along with social media giants and established publishers, are increasingly dominating search results.
Reddit has reached 1 billion traffic after the recent core update according to the SEMRush. After the recent Reddit boost, if you upload even one-liner content, it shows up on SERPS dominating even the big publishers sometimes.
I don’t understand the logic behind this, if you publish the same content on Reddit (not even full content) it somehow becomes helpful but it is not helpful on your own website.
What types of Websites Show up on Google Search Results?
Before the Google August Core Update, I covered an article on The Boys, a theory-based article on Season 5.
It was ranked on the first page as this topic was not covered by anyone else at that time, I covered it after season 4 concluded.
The article was getting decent clicks and engagement and after ten days, I saw the clicks declined on that article, so I decided to check which competitor took over my article’s place. I was amazed to see, the type of articles that actually were showing up on the first page.
Check the results below.
So, I decided to reach out to the Google Search liaison about this issue on 26th July, I tweeted about this issue.
I got no response on this issue, so I decided to update the article, and even after updating the article, the article ranking didn’t improve.
Even after the August Core update, the same blogs are still ranking on the first and second pages and are not marked as spam while Replay Jutsu has been algorithmically penalized (I guess since RJ is shadowbanned in certain regions).
There is no way of finding the exact reason why Replay Jutsu disappeared from certain regions, as there is no manual action in the Google Search Console.
Gaming Niche and Reddit Gamer Community
Reddit’s gaming communities are a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, they’re great places to find helpful tips and connect with other gamers.
But on the other hand, they’re also full of trolls and people spreading false information. I do use Reddit a lot, so that is how I know about it.
And to make things worse, Google sometimes shows these unhelpful posts at the top of search results, even giving them snippets.
While some small publishers work hard to create accurate and useful content, they’re competing with a platform where even bad information can easily get more attention.
I am not against the idea of Reddit showing up on top results, but there should be a balance as well, in the gaming niche, YouTube Videos, TikTok Videos, Facebook pages, and threads all show up on the first page alongside Reddit.
Also when you open some of these TikTok videos, they just redirect you to the TikTok search results.
Big Publishers Hosting Their Content on Third-Party Sites
Another issue is that even though Big Publishers are already doing well on Google search. But they’ve found a way to take up even more space on the first page.
Some of these companies have their articles show up on other websites like MSN, Yahoo News, and IMDB.
So, when you search for something, you might see their original article and the same article on those other sites, all on the first page. This means they get 3 or 4 spots instead of just one.
Especially in the gaming and entertainment niche this is happening. Big companies take up 3 or 4 spots, and then the rest are filled by YouTube, Reddit, and other social media.
It’s hard for smaller websites to get noticed at all because of this since they will end up ranking on the second or third page of Google Search. You can check the example below:
How Much Revenue I Lost?
Before September 2023, each of my websites was generating about 800-900$ monthly, but what’s done is done, I am not going to discuss that.
I’m talking about my new website, Replay Jutsu. It’s focused on good content, and it was making me around $200-300 a month.
I just partnered with PlayWire, hoping to make more money, but then the Google update happened, and it really hurt my website.
PlayWire ads aren’t running yet because we’re still setting things up. Right now, I’m only using AdSense ads on my site.
Since the Google update, Replay Jutsu isn’t getting any visitors from the USA anymore, so I’m making a lot less money.
Before this update, I used to earn about $10 to $15 every day.
Am I the Only One?
No, It’s just you are hearing about the recoveries more than the destroyed sites which keep on declining even more.
I am going to share two sites, one was affected by the helpful content update and the other one was hit by the March Core Update.
Both sites are run by people who are experts in their niches.
Readysteadycut
They got hit hard by the Google update that focused on helpful content. And they’ve been doing this kind of work a lot longer than me, their website is 7 years old!
So, for 7 years Google thought their website was helpful to people. They never had any problems with Google’s updates before. But suddenly, Google decided their website wasn’t helpful anymore, and it never recovered.
ReadySteadyCut writes about movie reviews and explanations. I’ve read some of their stuff, and it’s really good. If you like TV shows and movies, you should check them out.
According to the Google August Core Update Blog:
This latest update takes into account the feedback we’ve heard from some creators and others over the past few months. As always, we aim to connect people with a range of high quality sites, including small or independent sites that are creating useful, original content, when relevant to users’ searches.
Google said in their August update announcement that they want to help people find good websites, even small ones that make original and useful content.
But if that’s true, why hasn’t the blog I talked about gotten better? It’s been getting worse since the September update, and even the August update hasn’t helped.
A lot of people claim that authority or backlinks are the issues here, if you don’t have enough backlinks you will get hit (SEOs claim this, not Google), but the above blog has been mentioned by Vox and BBC so they have pretty decent authority and backlink profile. Even so, they’re still being hurt by Google’s changes.
Respawn First
Respawn First has been cited by some really big publishers that cover content related to gaming, Now, I know that does not mean they have extraordinary content, but if you are a gamer, you can simply go to their website and be the judge of that because I found their content to be helpful.
They have lost a ton of visitors over the past year, and things haven’t gotten better with any of Google’s updates, even the latest one in August.
What Type of Blogs Recovered in Google August Core Update?
No one, not even the most experienced experts, can explain why some blogs got better after Google’s August update.
Some blogs made big changes, like hiring experts or deleting old content, hoping to improve. But other blogs didn’t do anything at all, and they still got better.
It’s really confusing. If Google says they want to show helpful content, how can a blog that hasn’t changed suddenly become helpful again? It doesn’t make sense.
It does raise a question is Google Search Algorithm flawed? I’m no expert, but if two websites are basically the same and one gets better while the other gets worse, that seems like something’s wrong.
Two websites, Retro Dodo and HouseFresh, spoke out publicly about how Google’s updates made them disappear from search results.
HouseFresh writes hands-on reviews about air purifiers – their content is definitely helpful, but they still got hit hard.
Many big websites also complained, because they were experts in their topics but got punished, while other big websites that just copied reviews got better rankings.
Recently, Retro Dodo and HouseFresh started getting noticed again in search results, so that’s good news for them. But I’m not saying Google helped them on purpose just because they complained. There are other websites that also got better without saying anything or making changes.
It all seems very random. Google’s advice to “write for users, not search engines” is confusing, because it can be interpreted in many ways.
Is Blogging Sustainable Now?
Informational Blogs like Replay Jutsu, are facing an existential crisis. The constant algorithm changes and the dominance of social media sites on search results made it increasingly difficult for them to thrive.
Being shadowbanned makes things even worse. With every Google update, things get tougher. You could be writing for years, and then suddenly Google decides to hide your website. You might get back to normal a year later, or you might not.
Lots of blogs have had to shut down or cut back a lot because of this. The future of Replay Jutsu, and countless other informational blogs, hangs in the balance.
What’s Next For Replay Jutsu?
To be honest, I’ve lost hope. I’m not going to shut down the website, but I’m not expecting much from Google anymore.
I’ll keep writing gaming guides and manga reviews. I still get some visitors directly and from social media.
If you like my content, you can follow my subreddit to stay updated.
I’m not sure what to do next. I enjoy writing, and I also have experience making games. I don’t know if I should try to make writing my full-time job and apply to write for big publishers, or if I should go back to working on games.
If you’d like to work together or want me to write something for you, send me an email at masabfarooque@replayjutsu.com.
I can write about role-playing games, real-time strategy games, first-person shooter games, TV Shows, anime, and manga.
Final Words
There are tons of examples of websites that have great content but still got hurt by Google’s updates.
The scary thing is, even if you survive one update, the next one might get you. It doesn’t matter how good your content is. It’s not a question of if you’ll be affected, it’s when.
I have plenty of examples where spam content shows up on the first page of Google search results. So if you think Google’s updates are making search results better, think again.
Are things really improving, or is spam taking over while the people making good content are getting shadowbanned?
I know Replay Jutsu might not get as much traffic as some bigger websites, but doesn’t everyone deserve a chance to be found on Google if they’re working hard to make good content?
