Is Google Traffic Dying?

Hey there,

I hope you're doing well today! This week, I wanted to do something a little different.

I wanted to dedicate this email to a couple of questions from one of our email subscribers, Corey. I think they're great questions that are relevant to most of you and I'd love to let everyone get the benefit of the answers.

By the way, thank you for sending these in. I love to read the replies from y'all. It means a lot and is one of my favorite parts of this work.

So, let's hop right in with the hard-hitting questions from Corey.

1. "Do you think, given the Google HCU updates, it's still possible to achieve job-replacement income with a blog?"

Not only do I know it's still possible (there are a lot of people doing it right now), but I think it's still possible to way exceed your job's income with a blog.

All that the Google algorithm really showed us was that: as a business, you never want to put all of your eggs in one basket.

Let me get REALLY real here for a second.

Google, Meta, X (R.I.P Twitter), TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.... They don't give a f*ck about you.

They don't care about your business... They only care about THEIR business.

That's why we preach again and again that if you want to be successful as a creator, you have to recognize that ANY traffic source could be taken away from you at any time and the only way to ensure continued success is to move towards ownership of your audience that you get from these platforms.

This means getting people to your email list, communities, groups, etc., connecting with customers, and constantly funneling people from these platforms to YOUR BLOG.

Your domain is YOUR platform and if you ever want to make a consistent job replacing income you HAVE to find ways to "own" the attention of your audience in a way that it can't get taken away from you with algorithm changes.

This is what takes you from borrowing or "renting" your traffic to OWNING your traffic.

This is the only way to ensure sustained success and defense against the ever-changing algorithms.

2. "How long would you expect this [blogging success] to take?"

I think it's harder to say these days because I have seen people monetize on platforms like YouTube in as little as a month while others have posted for years.

Some creators who take a longer route with SEO can take as long as 12-16 months before seeing continued results.

It is easier than ever to gain attention and a following on any number of platforms, but harder than ever I think to build genuine connections with those viewers because there is SO MUCH content on the internet now.

There is no EXACT time to monetization, but I will tell you, there is ONE thing that sets apart almost every creator who makes money quickly from those who don't.

They have a product they love and they talk about it a lot.

This could be a Notion template, a digital course, a method you developed, a skill you like, a job you're good at, a software or code you like or made, etc.

Find something you either love to use and/or want to make, and then start talking about it wherever you can. Include a link to that thing in your bio and if you love it, don't be afraid to talk about it.

I always come back to this example because I think it illustrates my point so well.

Thomas Frank created a brand new channel called Thomas Frank Explains that was focused on JUST notion tutorials. He was into this and loved the product. Within a month or two he began selling templates he created and within 8 months (I believe) and really no "VIRAL" videos, he surpassed what he was earning on his other channel that had over 2 million subscribers.

He started making things he loved that solved his problems and really wanted to share it with everyone.

Your success will be directly correlated to:

Your passion for what you're talking about/selling/your mission
Your willingness to talk about that thing and put yourself out there (on any platform, including your blog)

3. "Would you recommend Google as the primary traffic source or use something else like Facebook or YouTube?"

Google SEO is still working for a lot of people. When everyone's traffic started tanking, ours was growing.

I think Google is still relevant for a LOT of people and I can tell you that it's something we're still heavily focused on.

But back to diversifying your eggs in multiple baskets... I definitely wouldn't stop there.

In our Six-Figure Blog Builder course, there is a lesson under "Scaling SEO Strategies" where I mention taking one piece of incredible content and then repurposing it into MORE content for other platforms.

THIS is the way.

Here are some example prompts you can use to turn a blog post into tweets, LinkedIn posts, or YouTube Scripts.

P.S. If you like these prompts, there are even more in the newest update of our Six Figure Blog Builder.

Also, it's important to point out that there are ALWAYS winners and losers. ALWAYS. Someone won in this update... MANY creators lost a lot of traffic and got crushed unfairly by Google, but many didn't.

We were really fortunate to be one of those businesses that won. In fact our Google traffic went up 200%+ since the update.

Create and Go's traffic since the Google H

That doesn't mean that we won't get hit and can't get hit, but it means it IS possible for Google to be a reliable source of traffic and to still find success with it.

We can still look at what is working and what has changed and extrapolate things other people are overlooking.

Take, for example, the fact that Google increased Reddit's traffic by a very humble 500 million (yes, you are reading that right).

Reddit's traffic spike since the Google HCU update

P.S. For my fellow big tech conspiracy theorists, they very conveniently did this and then announced a new partnership with Reddit, btw.

But conspiracy theory aside, this actually CAN signal to us certain things we can takeaway about Google's algorithm changes.

Let's break it down. What does Reddit consist of?

Real-life, human content (albeit ridiculous at times)
Unpaid contributions
Public conversations
Real opinions (positive and negative)

As much as a lot of creators like to play the victim, many of us know that the vast majority of content that was being created was by people who just understood the SEO game well.

There were people openly admitting that they were giving the top spot in their content to the best affiliate, reviewing products they never touched or even looked at, and so on.

We're guilty of some of this too, but we tried to correct and continue to move in what we think is the right direction, creating what you know and care about.

Did some bloggers who create INCREDIBLE content get hit too?

Absolutely.

But you can't focus on that or else you'll run yourself crazy.

Instead, you have to focus on what can be taken away from the changes, which may include:

focusing on fewer products overall and more deeply reviewing the ones you do focus on,
using real quotes and feedback from other creators and forums,
and always finding a way to create the most helpful content you can.

So, with all that being said... SEO will continue to be a main focus at Create and Go, but that is not stopping us from continuing to plan diversification into other social media platforms, and we definitely suggest you do the same.

Thank you again for these questions, Corey, and I hope all of you got some value from these.

Quote of the Week

Austin Kleon in his second book from the "Steal Like an Artist Series" and one of my all-time favorites "Show Your Work!"

"Teaching people doesn’t subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it. When you teach someone how to do your work, you are, in effect, generating more interest in your work. People feel closer to your work because you’re letting them in on what you know."

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