The Rise and Fall of Independent Publishers
The Rise and Fall of Independent Publishers
How Google updates are changing the content game and publishers must adapt.
This is a long email. You may need to Read the Article Online.
It’s story time.
This article is not related to music - but rather to publishing and branding. So, if you are here for wedding music, feel free to bounce now. You won’t hurt my feelings. If you want to hear some of my business life lessons as an online entrepreneur, grab a glass of your favorite drink and cozy up under a warm blanket.
First, I debated writing this and wondered if anyone would care. So many business owners (positive and negative) have been affected by traffic rising and falling from Google searches. Then, I felt an obligation to tell not only my story but help others in making real-life business decisions. Besides, many others have the same story as I will share now.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Independent Publishers
Making Money from Blogging
A.I. Changes the Game
Google Updates
The Fall of Independent Publishers
The Future of Independent Publishing
Conclusion
Introduction to Independent Publishers
What exactly do I mean when I say an independent publisher? Well, think of bloggers. Bloggers regularly write content as a “web log”, or blog. These could be writers about traveling, food and recipes, health and fitness, finances, weddings, etc.
In 1999, a site called LiveJournal came to life. It was a space for a personal diary. It separated itself from other blogging services by offering users a completely open and customizable writing format, quickly bolstering its popularity.
Also starting in 1999 is a site called Blogger which enables its users to write blogs with time-stamped entries. It was acquired by Google in 2003. They saw the writing on the wall as they said!
By the mid-2000s, blogs were reaching the mainstream. In January 2005, a study was released saying that 32 million Americans read blogs. (Source)
Where are we now? The internet houses a whopping 1.9 billion websites, including over 600 million blogs.
Making Money from Blogging
How does a mommy blogger and every other content writer make money? Over the years, in the blogging industry, the easiest way to make money was to put ads on the blog. Visitors see the ads and site owners make money 24/7. This is one of the reasons for the growth in knowledge of SEO strategies.
There are four popular ad networks to make money:
Google Adwords - I guesstimate the average blog would get about $3 per 1,000 visitors with no minimum visitor requirements.
Ezoic - There are no minimum visitor requirements. I would guesstimate that the average blog gets about $10 per 1,000 visitors.
Mediavine/AdThrive(Raptive) - Minimum monthly visitor requirements were at 50,000 and 100,000 respectively. I would guesstimate that the average blog earns $25+ per 1,000 visitors.
Just for big-picture analysis. If a website received 100,000 visitors a month: On AdWords would make $300 per month. On Ezoic would make $1,000 a month. A site on a premium ad network would make about $2,500 a month.
Now, I have to use guesstimates because there are many factors like the industry. After all, the finance industry is at the top of the rates, and blogging about alcohol would be near the bottom. Plus, the number of ads, types of ads, time on site, and so on affect revenue per visitor rates.
Ad networks made it easy for website owners to make money. They didn’t have to sell a physical product, file sales taxes, and they didn’t have to worry about client support.
With ad networks, the goal of the blog owners was to write and write some more while optimizing their websites to rank in Google search results (SEO). Google would bring visitors to the website to see the ads and make money for both parties! I am making this sound easy but owners were also working to bring traffic from social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook) and many other tasks like hosting, design, content planning, etc.
Yes, some bloggers chose to diversify their income in other ways such as offering digital downloads, books, training and courses, physical products, and more. These were the smart ones who decided to build a COMPANY rather than relying on Google traffic and ads for all of their income.
A.I. Changes the Game
With the invention of A.I. writers, the blogging world has been transformed. Within a day, a website owner could create 100+ articles. Remember, A.I. content is taken from existing content - meaning A.I. does not bring anything new to published content.
AI-generated content is not original content and it lacks authenticity in publishing!
Google had to do something to combat this massive amount of content in their search results. This includes poor website experiences with lots of distracting ads, lots of A.I. content based upon content already written, and promoting useful and helpful content that offers “information gain” (valuable and unique content compared to existing web content).
Suggestions for higher rankings in Google in the age of A.I.:
Google is relying on E-E-A-T for website owners to rank in search results. Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. As an example, think of a wedding DJ. Does the website:
Have examples of their events in pictures?
Videos of events showing them and guests?
Are awards won by The Knot or Wedding Wire?
Is the business mentioned in local press articles and industry publications?
Is the business getting consistent reviews with high ratings?
Brand Authority. Building a business means that people are searching for your business name (brand), not just for the products and/or services you offer. As an example - think of Barnes & Noble. You want potential customers searching Google for “Barnes & Noble near me” or “Barnes & Noble best sellers” and not just broad searches like “best true crime books” that take you to the BN.com website.
Real People. Google wants to know who the author is and whether they have the knowledge to write about the topic. Do they have social media profiles such as LinkedIn showing their education and experience, along with their certifications and skills?
On the flip side, I also want to mention how small publishers can use A.I. ethically. Independent publishers can leverage A.I. tools for optimizing productivity (e.g., editing and formatting like Grammerly) without sacrificing authenticity. A.I. tools like Gemini and ChatPGT can help write outlines for more in-depth analysis. Just don’t copy and paste from what already exists. Use your brains and offer information gain.
Google Updates
Starting in September 2023, there was a series of helpful content updates added to Google’s ranking algorithm. Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) is a search algorithm update that prioritizes high-quality, helpful content over quantity and SEO-optimized content. The HCU aims to improve the quality of search results by rewarding websites that provide value and align with user intent.
Yes, that is true but there have also been other updates to search result pages.
Note: You can see all official Google updates on their Google Search Status Dashboard.
The rise of Reddit. Reddit negotiated a $60 million deal with Google to use its content for training AI models. Reddit was ranked about the 70th most popular website before the deal. Now it ranks #3 (as reported by Lily Ray). Google is choosing to show Reddit answers to many informational searches as it sees people responding to questions on Reddit as having real experience and knowledge on the topic.
The rise of forums and discussions. Many searches now include forum discussions in search results. The screenshot above shows the discussions and forums section at the bottom.
A prime example is the WeddingWire forum. Their forum has exploded in traffic and keywords ranked in Google since the September HCU update. According to Semrush, their forum has gone from about 50,000 visitors per month to 750,000 monthly visitors. Plus, the number of ranking keywords from the forum rose to over 800,000 from 230,000.
The rise of brands. Think for a minute that you are looking for deals for traveling to Las Vegas. When searching you are shown two websites. The first is jackstravelguide.com (made up) and the second is expedia.com. Which one would you trust more and click on? Expedia of course. This is why brands continue to get increased rankings because they get the clicks. They also get searches under their brand name - such as “expedia las vegas deals”.
This is one of the main reasons I promote my podcast as “Wedding Songs Podcast” because it is its own brand. I also promote this newsletter as the “Wedding MusicLetter”. The hope and goal is that people search for the brand names.
Studies have been done analyzing the HCU updates. A recent study concluded that the HCU was about the demand for your brand. (Source) This means that every business should be working to build their brand AND their product/service.
The Fall of Independent Publishers
So, Google released the HCU updates. Some sites rightfully were wiped from Google search results. Well, some of the drops to our website I have to say are justified as I created playlists outside of our wedding topic.
So many content and technical updates have transpired on my site since September 2023 including updating articles to be more helpful and unique, purging all articles outside the scope of wedding music, etc. As you can see from the chart below of our Google search impressions and clicks from search, you can guess when the September update hit the site. Yikes! What is also gutwrenching is no recovery is seen as of yet.
As I said in the title of this article, it is the fall of independent publishers. Here is another wedding-themed website/blog. It is seeing a slight recovery from the August 2024 update but nowhere where it was.
The HCU updates have decimated many independent publishers' search rankings. I chose not to share the website for privacy concerns, but I could share many charts like this not only in the wedding industry.
As a publisher, it would be foolish to think a complete recovery will be returning any time soon. Many publishers have and will go out of business.
One website that has been vocal about its Google search rankings falling unjustly is Retro Dodo. They even wrote about it here. Retro Dodo is the ultimate hub for you to learn about retro gaming news and to find the best retro gaming products for you to collect. Retro Dodo has recovered a tiny bit from the latest August update but looks to be only about 10-20%.
Another website publicly challenging Google’s updates is HouseFresh as their website is dropped from search results. They wrote about their situation here because they human-tested all of their air purifier reviews.
Will publishers be okay just making money from ads on their website? A case study of 2,398 websites with Mediavine ads was completed in August 2024 (read here):
81% of Mediavine sites lost Google traffic since Oct '23.
For losing sites, the average decline was 55%.
Of these, 20.6% saw some "recovery" (>5%) with the Aug Core Update.
Even worse, more sites lost traffic than won after the August Update, ~30%.
Independent publishers also face a huge challenge against big brands in search. People stick with those who they know, like, and trust. This case study by Glen Allsopp of Detailed wrote about 10,000 product review search results. The findings? Of the top 100 websites overall, just 4 were independent brands. The winners?
These big publishing companies increase the challenge for many small publishers trying to get seen in Google search. FYI, Brides.com is also part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family for wedding industry readers.
Why do I keep mentioning Google? Well, they own about 90% of all searches worldwide and 88% in the USA. (Source)
The Future of Independent Publishing
Publishers are being challenged by competition from larger companies and challenges in monetizing content beyond ads. Here are a few ideas to survive.
Be a brand and sell something.
Publishers can no longer be just informational. They need to be transactional - meaning selling something. As shared above, this could be training, courses, products, digital downloads, etc. Side note: If you are selling something, one of my favorite reads is Eli Schwartz’s Product-Led SEO philosophy.
However, websites must own their audience. The best way to do this is through a newsletter that solves potential customers’ problems. Something that they want to get in their inbox. This way you have a direct connection to customers. You do not own it on social media either. You need to live where your customers are. A helpful customer research tool to use is Sparktoro.
You must build your business’s footprint. This really goes for any business. More on this soon.
The need to diversify traffic and revenue.
An analogy for publishers is the journalism industry. According to a study by Amazon Web Services researchers, around 57% of all web-based text is currently estimated to be AI-generated. Journalists are getting laid off and let go of their jobs. As a change of course, they are going to paid newsletters to share their insights on platforms such as Medium, Patreon, Substack, and Beehiiv.
Sell products! If you are a gardening blogger, sell your own gardening tools and seeds. If you are a food blogger, sell your own cookbooks.
Sell services! If you are a travel blogger, create your own private tour company or guide company. If you are an informational blogger, you have the knowledge others need so start paid consultations, webinars, and training courses.
Where else can you get visitors into your ecosystem? Being mentioned by other related publishers, social media your customers use, apps, podcasts, etc. Get your name and brand out there. Consider platforms like Pinterest, YouTube, or direct traffic strategies like content syndication (Medium, LinkedIn), podcasting, or influencer partnerships.
This is not easy. It’s hard. But publishers must think of themselves as businesses and not just writers.
Identify profitable product opportunities that your readers would purchase and need. You can also set up e-commerce channels with the help of WooCommerce for WordPress websites or Shopify.
What am I doing? I started this newsletter in May 2020 and turned on the paid option in January 2021. I interviewed other wedding pros on the Wedding Songs Podcast to grow my knowledge while showing my expertise. I have written wedding music planners. One for engaged couples called the “Wedding Music Planner” and one for wedding pros with the latest edition titled the “Wedding Songs Planner”. A new edition titled “Wedding DJ Songs Planner” is set for a November release. All books are available on Amazon.
Build a community and your ecosystem.
There is a saying that I keep top of mind that people subscribe to a newsletter for the information but will stay for the community. Building a community is essential for any business’s survival. Raving fans are what keep the doors open most days.
Some of the strategies for having an engaged audience are interactive content (polls, questionnaires), live Q&As, and personalized communications such as 1-on-1 meetings. You can also pursue a Slack channel, Facebook Group, YouTube channel, Discord channel, and others for getting followers to share ideas. Just keep in mind that the platforms that you are on are rented property and you do not own your audience.
For inspiration, here is a list of the top music-themed paid newsletters on Substack. Full disclosure - This newsletter is sitting at #68.
Be a Niche Expert
My biggest tip is to be a niche expert. Stick to what you know and be a category pirate! I plan to stick with wedding song topics only. (Yep, this article is a one-off but I think my readers would enjoy knowing some of the “behind the scenes” of the publishing industry. Lastly, solve a problem. If you can do that, people will love you.
Success!
I want to give you an example of a few bloggers who have seen success.
Epic Gardening - Sells his own garden seeds, supplies, and tools. Their online footprint is huge including a podcast, Discord group, shopping store, and active YouTube channel.
Another great source of inspiration is the Niche Pursuits Podcast. They have many success stories along with money-making ideas to diversify your income.
Conclusion
If you want to stay up-to-date with what Google is doing, follow their Twitter/X account Google Search Central. Many SEOs are offering false information. However, the 3 SEOs I trust in the SEO industry are Lily Ray, Cyrus Shepard, and Glenn Gabe.
Think about your own website and how it is affected by the increase and decrease of traffic from Google. Do you rely too much on it for new customers?
One example I see now is many DJ, band, and photography websites ranking for wedding song-related searches. But, are these really bringing new customers? Plus, are these articles diluting the overall topics of your website and preventing you from ranking for local searches such as “Las Vegas photojournalistic wedding photographer”?
Finally, fewer and fewer people are actually reading blogs. They are watching videos, listening to podcasts, etc. and online businesses need to adapt. The days of writing content to be discovered through Google to make money from ads are over for small publishers. It’s time to reinvent your business!
Have you had any experience with Google updates or relying too much on Google traffic, or what the future will look like? Please share in the comments.