18 min
How to Make Money Blogging in 2024 (New Trends) The Blogger Genius Podcast
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- Technology
Today I want to talk about how to look up from your own blog with fresh eyes to see the changing landscape and new trends. And then I want to share the best ways to pivot I recommend you start implementing now to grow your blog income.
The Changing World of Blogging
Is Blogging Dead?
The first question I get asked is “Is blogging dead?” And I’m going to say no, it’s not dead but the blogging world is changing.
Drop in Google Traffic
As you know I talk to professional bloggers all the time, in all different niches, and recently I talked to four who all lost between 70-90% of their site traffic during these March Google updates.
Now we all know that when Google pushes out updates we shouldn’t change anything for about a month to see where the dust settles, but I don’t think any of these bloggers have seen such big swings before. So to be honest they were all a bit shell-shocked.
Show Notes:
MiloTreeCart Book a FREE 20-minute strategy call with me MiloTreeCart Affiliate Program Catch My Party Anca from The Butter Table MiloTree Pop-Up App Join My Blogger Genius Email List Become a Blogger Genius Facebook GroupAll Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes
Subscribe to the Blogger Genius Podcast:
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Google's Influence and SEO
Shifts in Search Results
So the first trend I expect to see is a decrease in overall traffic from Google for publishers or bloggers who are creating valuable content using best practices. Will we all be losing 70-90% of our traffic, my gut says no. In my experience, when Google makes changes they typically don’t reverse course.
For example, when we launched Catch My Party, a lot of our users were Etsy sellers so we used their API and imported their products to our site, each product got a separate page. We did this for ease. We weren’t monetizing it. Google wasn’t seeing these pages as duplicate content so if people were searching for these products they could end up on our site. We were making really good affiliate income, the Etsy sellers were happy because of all the exposure they were getting, it was growing our traffic, and then one day it all went away. Google de-indexed those pages and that traffic and income were gone.
My point is that Google changes usually move in one direction. And what is Google facing right now? Existential threats. Remember, all they care about is people coming to Google in need information and end up finding it and having a good experience.
Recently though, the overall feel is the search experience has been deteriorating so Google has been making changes. Showing more results from Reddit and Quora. This is because they want answers from “real people.” Google has found that sites have been gaming SEO to make money with affiliate marketing, for example, and Google has been cracking down.
The Introduction of AI in Search
Plus how is google going to implement AI in search. They are calling this the Google Search Generative Experience or SGE. Google is working on what this is going to look like, but one thing Google has said is their SGE will quickly provide users with the answers they need and not necessarily direct users to other sites or content.
If their AI, Gemini, can give you better results on their GSE page than sending you off to a site they don’t control, you better believe they will do that. In fact, I think it’s already happening in the travel space.
Plus for successful bloggers monetizing with display ads, as 3rd party cookies get phased out, advertisers not being able to track visitors, there will probably be downward pressure on ad revenue.
Adapting to New Realities
I was on a call with a food blogger this past week and I started painting this new picture for her and she couldn’t believe what I was saying. She’s an old school blogger. She doesn’t really use AI in her and feels like her readers could definitely tell the diffe
Today I want to talk about how to look up from your own blog with fresh eyes to see the changing landscape and new trends. And then I want to share the best ways to pivot I recommend you start implementing now to grow your blog income.
The Changing World of Blogging
Is Blogging Dead?
The first question I get asked is “Is blogging dead?” And I’m going to say no, it’s not dead but the blogging world is changing.
Drop in Google Traffic
As you know I talk to professional bloggers all the time, in all different niches, and recently I talked to four who all lost between 70-90% of their site traffic during these March Google updates.
Now we all know that when Google pushes out updates we shouldn’t change anything for about a month to see where the dust settles, but I don’t think any of these bloggers have seen such big swings before. So to be honest they were all a bit shell-shocked.
Show Notes:
MiloTreeCart Book a FREE 20-minute strategy call with me MiloTreeCart Affiliate Program Catch My Party Anca from The Butter Table MiloTree Pop-Up App Join My Blogger Genius Email List Become a Blogger Genius Facebook GroupAll Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes
Subscribe to the Blogger Genius Podcast:
iTunes YouTube Spotify
Google's Influence and SEO
Shifts in Search Results
So the first trend I expect to see is a decrease in overall traffic from Google for publishers or bloggers who are creating valuable content using best practices. Will we all be losing 70-90% of our traffic, my gut says no. In my experience, when Google makes changes they typically don’t reverse course.
For example, when we launched Catch My Party, a lot of our users were Etsy sellers so we used their API and imported their products to our site, each product got a separate page. We did this for ease. We weren’t monetizing it. Google wasn’t seeing these pages as duplicate content so if people were searching for these products they could end up on our site. We were making really good affiliate income, the Etsy sellers were happy because of all the exposure they were getting, it was growing our traffic, and then one day it all went away. Google de-indexed those pages and that traffic and income were gone.
My point is that Google changes usually move in one direction. And what is Google facing right now? Existential threats. Remember, all they care about is people coming to Google in need information and end up finding it and having a good experience.
Recently though, the overall feel is the search experience has been deteriorating so Google has been making changes. Showing more results from Reddit and Quora. This is because they want answers from “real people.” Google has found that sites have been gaming SEO to make money with affiliate marketing, for example, and Google has been cracking down.
The Introduction of AI in Search
Plus how is google going to implement AI in search. They are calling this the Google Search Generative Experience or SGE. Google is working on what this is going to look like, but one thing Google has said is their SGE will quickly provide users with the answers they need and not necessarily direct users to other sites or content.
If their AI, Gemini, can give you better results on their GSE page than sending you off to a site they don’t control, you better believe they will do that. In fact, I think it’s already happening in the travel space.
Plus for successful bloggers monetizing with display ads, as 3rd party cookies get phased out, advertisers not being able to track visitors, there will probably be downward pressure on ad revenue.
Adapting to New Realities
I was on a call with a food blogger this past week and I started painting this new picture for her and she couldn’t believe what I was saying. She’s an old school blogger. She doesn’t really use AI in her and feels like her readers could definitely tell the diffe
18 min