Google's AI Search Update shakes up indie bloggers and creators
So, Google has decided to shake things up with its fancy new AI-powered search tool, leaving indie bloggers and creators like us feeling a little pissed off.
The Search Generative Experience (SGE) promises users direct answers to their burning questions right there in the search results. But guess who’s getting shoved to the bottom of the fucking pile? Yep, you guessed it we are.
Tech research firm Gartner predicts traffic to the web from search engines will fall 25 percent by 2026. Ross Hudgens, CEO of search engine optimization consultancy Siege Media, said he estimates at least a 10 to 20 percent hit, and more for some publishers. “Some people are going to just get bludgeoned,” he said.[…] People who rely on the web to make a living are worried.
This has me thinking about the future of this blog. A considerable amount of its traffic comes from Google searches. Over the past few years, that traffic has dropped off. However, it appears that Google search results will soon come to an end for small indie blogs. The only other sources of traffic for this blog are email subscribers and RSS. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing how many RSS subscribers I have. So, the question is: am I wasting my time and money continuing this blog? Buckle up, fellow indie bloggers and creators. We have some decisions to make.
If you follow this blog via RSS please let me know by sending me a message with the contact form. Thank you for being a reader!
Source: Gerrit De Vynck and Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington Post