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Hello, fellow content peeps!

Last week, Google invited 20 publishers to its headquarters to discuss the HCU, Chat GPT released its search tool, and Reddit stock soared.

The past few weeks were like a highlight reel of my world this year.

I’ll give you some thoughts and catch you up, but first a word from our sponsor…

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It’s another Friday evening, and I’m pushing through to share some of my initial thoughts and observations.

So many people have reached out lately to tell me that this publication is their lifeline for what’s happening in content, and I thank you for that. I try to show up (somewhat weekly) and give a glimpse of what’s happening.

These past couple of weeks have felt like my entire year has played out in an ’80s movie montage. There’s been some highs, some lows but I’ve been reminded so many times why we’re still here.

I still believe in creatives. While the updates and news from the Google Summit have been tough to read, I still believe that we, as a collective group, will find new platforms to share our talents.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you will know that I lost trust and faith in Google quite a while ago (they broke the covenant with us), but this summit and the experiences of those who attended just solidified my experiences.

But, let’s have a look what happened, shall we?

Google invites publishers who have lost everything to the HQ to talk, and share their experiences.

This past week, Google invited 20 publishers who sites were absolutely demolished by the HCU to their HQ, and there is a lot of discussions happening right now on what actually went down there.

First, I will say — reading the accounts, the observations, the blog posts, Twitter threads from those who actually attended this session has been tough.

And, yet, it’s not surprising.

It’s been a tough year for publishers, who still hope the Google algorithm will change again.

I wonder if this is the time for more publishers to walk away completely. So many already have, and it’s not good for our world.

I wasn’t in the room. I feel that one thing Google did well was pick a few stellar publishers, and from what I’ve heard, they really stood up for all of us.

Reading through all the accounts of those who were there, I was inspired by the level of frankness, honesty, and quality of writing to be fair.

I’ll share some of the publications from the event, but here are a few truths I know for sure…

Great, independent publishers are closing up shop.

So many amazing indy publishers and content sites have been really trying just to hang in there this year, even if they had to downscale their teams.

I know of so many publishers, site owners that have had to dig deep into their own pockets to keep a minimal content publishing schedule.

Make it make sense.

This week, we saw another one. Giant Freakin’ Robot grew to a readership of more than 20 million a month, and now they have been forced to layoff their staff, stop publishing content.

You can read about that here:

There have been many, many amazing publications that have invested a lot to try to do all the right things, improve their content, restructure their site, and follow Google guidelines. Still, they have not seen any improvement in their Google traffic this year.

Many publishers have actually seen more hits and a massive decline in Google traffic after making all of these investments.

On the bright side, I do know a few publishers with newer publications that have seen some improvements in the past few months.

The reality: We still don’t have a solid, proven playbook.

Most of the publishers that attended the summit do not expect to see any recovery from HCU.

And, Google didn’t really provide this thesis differently.

This isn’t a content quality problem or an EEAT issue. Google does not know what quality content is, and that’s a problem.

The Helpful Content Update as we were led to believe would make search results better, and while we can continue to debate if search results are better, one thing I know for sure is that many of the publishers that were hardest hit were doing ‘all the right things’ and putting out some quality content.

Kylie is the type of creator we all say that we want, someone who has consistently produced first-hand, quality content.

A lot of travel sites got hit. Many see their insights, authentic images and experiences splashed across the search results in AI-overviews, with little to no attribution, links to their original resources.

We’ve known that our content has fed the AI-machines for a while, but it’s doubly cruel to be completely out of the loop, and then see your hard work still being served to users.

It’s easy to say ‘stop relying on Google traffic’, but Google is still where our people search. When Google traffic goes down, so do other sources of traffic.

If you’ve been here for a while, you know my thoughts on Google this year. But, it’s not as simple as saying, ‘stop relying on Google search’, or stop catering to Google.

I mean, search traffic has been some of the most valuable traffic for quite some time. When someone searches for something, and you get to quickly serve them an answer, a resource, or be there to help — that is magic.

Building other traffic streams is important, yes.

And yet, we cannot ignore the brutal truth that when Google traffic goes down, so can other sources of traffic.

If indie publishers cannot make a living creating content, we will lose many valuable human insights and experiences.

Creating valuable content that people will find, is useful, fresh and human takes real energy and talent.

I wasn’t in the ‘room’ with these creators, but I’m glad that so many of them let us in this week about their experiences. The effects of the HCU are still painful and long-lasting, and I can imagine that being in a collective group to rehash everything this past year was a brutal experience for them.

If you want to read some of the actual attendees’ experiences, here are some resources:

I would strongly encourage you to read some additional discussions from those who were actually there.

It’s a lot to absorb.

Chat GPT Search: We get links again, but there are some quirks.

I’ve been testing out Chat GPT search a bit. It feels like Bing.

The good news — publishers are showing up. Links are showing up.

The bad news — it still has some quirks. Some of the search results were confusing. I searched for a ton of different types of queries (from many different niches), and after about 30 minutes of searching, the results were getting mixed up.

Still. The results were fast. You are given the option to keep reading, dig into the publications and we are seeing some search traffic come directly from Chat GPT (so maybe people are clicking the links there?).

Still, it is too early to see if this will take over the search landscape, or put a dent in Google’s dominance. I know a lot of people that have never, ever used Chat GPT, or any AI tool. It takes time and some big things need to happen before this is a trusted go-to for the masses.

Things to Read, Watch, and Ponder

▶️ I’m all in on community this year, and what better to learn about getting started than from Erin Simmons, Managing Director of Women in Tech SEO? I’ve got this queued up to listen to this week. Check it out here!

▶️ Is Google forcing users to go to ChatGPT and Bing? Katie Berry shares her thoughts here. 

▶️ If you haven’t heard about the couple that sued Google and won, catch up on that story here.

▶️ Fellow friend and publisher Jake Cain talked to Jared Fallon on the Niche Pursuits podcast. If you want a real, first-hand account of what really went down, Jake doesn’t hold back. Great interview to watch here!

Thank you for being here and reading my thoughts. It has been so much fun reconnecting with a few of you these past few weeks. The newsletter format can be so one-directional.

I do have a few things up my sleeves when I get a few spare hours to figure it out (I’ll keep you posted).

I am also thinking of making this a bi-weekly publication for a while as I get on my feet with some new projects again. Of course, I’ll still be here to share everything I know and am working on, so we’ll see.

Cheers! Amy

Some Bonus Newsletters You’ll Love

If you want to get into the weeds on these topics, here are some newsletters that I read regularly that I think you’ll enjoy: