How AI Is Destroying the Lives of Creators (Including Us)
Summary
TLDRJustin and Jess, full-time travel content creators, discuss the challenges they've faced due to recent changes in Google's algorithm, which has drastically cut their website traffic and income by up to 70%. Their blog relied on SEO, but new updates and the rise of AI-generated content are impacting their revenue. Despite the setbacks, they emphasize the importance of adaptability and diversification, now focusing more on social media, YouTube, and building a community. They share their struggles while remaining hopeful about finding new ways to succeed in the evolving content creation landscape.
Takeaways
- 📉 The Google algorithm change has significantly impacted the couple's income, reducing it by 60-70%.
- 🚫 They express concern over AI scraping content and copyright infringement, viewing it as unfair.
- 🌐 Their primary source of income was their travel blog, which relied heavily on Google traffic.
- 🔍 They utilized SEO strategies to drive traffic to their blog, aiming for top search results.
- 💸 Their revenue came from ads and affiliate links, with no paywall for their content.
- ❄️ A recent winter storm prompted a move inside, highlighting the couple's nomadic lifestyle.
- 📈 They experienced growth in their website traffic until recent algorithm changes.
- 🤖 The introduction of AI-generated results by Google, such as Google Gemini, has diverted traffic away from their blog.
- 📊 They foresee a decline in the quality of online content as reputable bloggers are forced to leave the industry due to financial pressures.
- 🌐 They acknowledge the need to diversify their income streams beyond reliance on Google's SEO.
- 💪 Despite the challenges, they remain committed to adapting and growing their brand across various platforms.
Q & A
What caused the drop in traffic for Justin and Jess's travel blog?
-The drop in traffic was primarily caused by Google's core algorithm updates, which negatively impacted SEO rankings for their blog. Additionally, the rise of AI-generated content in Google search results has reduced the need for users to visit individual blogs.
How did Justin and Jess make money from their blog before the traffic drop?
-They made money primarily through ads and affiliate revenue. Ads generated income each time a visitor scrolled past them, and they earned commissions from affiliate links when readers purchased products or services they recommended.
What are Google’s core updates, and how do they affect bloggers?
-Google's core updates are major changes to the search engine's algorithm, which determine how content is ranked. These updates can hurt blogs by lowering their visibility in search results, thus reducing traffic and income.
Why is the rise of AI-generated search results problematic for content creators like Justin and Jess?
-AI-generated search results provide users with quick answers without needing to visit blogs or websites, which reduces traffic to content creators' pages. This harms their ad revenue and affiliate link clicks.
How has the decline in their blog traffic affected Justin and Jess emotionally?
-The decline in traffic has been emotionally tough for them, especially for Justin, who expressed pride in their business. He admitted struggling with the situation and even felt like crying during the video.
What steps have Justin and Jess taken to adapt to these changes?
-They have started diversifying their content by focusing more on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. They are creating videos and engaging with their community to grow their audience beyond SEO-reliant traffic.
Why do Justin and Jess feel partially responsible for their current situation?
-They feel responsible because they relied too heavily on SEO for generating income and didn’t diversify their revenue streams sooner. They now acknowledge that putting all their eggs in one basket was a mistake.
What other factors besides algorithm changes have impacted their blog's revenue?
-Other factors include the shift in user preferences toward video content and the removal of cookies by Google, which will make ads less targeted and thus less valuable for advertisers.
What advice do Justin and Jess have for aspiring content creators?
-Their main advice is to diversify income sources and not rely on a single platform or strategy, like SEO. They also stress the importance of building a brand and being adaptable to changes in the content creation landscape.
How have Justin and Jess adjusted their business goals in response to the traffic drop?
-They are now focused on building community through social media and creating more video content. They aim to diversify their income streams and engage more directly with their audience to mitigate future risks.
Outlines
📉 Impact of Google Algorithm Changes on Content Creators
The video script discusses the significant negative impact recent Google algorithm changes have had on the income of full-time content creators, Justin and Jess, who primarily earned money through their travel blog. They reveal that their income has been slashed by 60 to 70% due to the changes, which have affected their website's visibility on search engine results. The creators express their frustration with AI scraping content and the lack of fairness in such copyright infringements. They explain that their success was built on search engine optimization (SEO), which helped their content rank highly on Google searches. However, recent algorithm updates have drastically reduced their traffic, leading to financial struggles. They also touch on the broader implications for users relying on search engines for accurate information.
🔄 Google's Algorithm Updates and the Shift to AI
The script continues with a discussion on Google's core algorithm updates, which were previously beneficial to the creators but have recently caused substantial drops in their traffic. The creators explain that reputable content creators like themselves are being adversely affected by updates that seem to target articles with many affiliate links. They also address the rise of AI-generated content through Google Gemini, which provides immediate answers at the top of search results, thus diverting traffic away from blogs. The creators express concerns about the accuracy and quality of AI-generated content and the potential long-term effects on the availability of high-quality content online. They mention additional factors contributing to their reduced traffic and income, such as the shift towards video content and changes in cookie usage due to privacy concerns, which affect ad relevance and revenue.
🚫 Acknowledging Dependence on Google and the Need for Adaptability
In this section, the creators acknowledge their over-reliance on Google's SEO for their income and recognize the need for diversification in their revenue streams. They admit that Google is not to blame for changes to its algorithm, as it is their responsibility to stay competitive and relevant. The creators empathize with other bloggers who have been hit harder by the changes, some of whom have had to let go of their staff or leave blogging entirely. Despite the challenges, they remain optimistic about their ability to adapt and grow their income through other channels. They highlight their focus on building a community and expanding their presence on social media platforms, which has provided some cushion against the recent algorithm changes.
🌟 Embracing Change and the Future of Content Creation
The final paragraph sees the creators reflecting on the necessity of being adaptable in the ever-changing landscape of content creation. They advise anyone interested in entering the field to be prepared for frequent changes and to diversify their revenue sources. The creators express their determination to continue growing their brand across various platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, to ensure a more stable future. They encourage viewers to engage with their content through likes, shares, and comments to support them and other content creators. The creators end on a hopeful note, suggesting that the current challenges might ultimately lead to positive changes and growth in their business strategy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Google Algorithm
💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
💡Passive Income
💡Affiliate Revenue
💡A.I. Scraping
💡Google Gemini
💡Content Creation
💡Algorithm Updates
💡Diversification
💡Social Media
💡Adaptability
Highlights
Google algorithm changes have significantly impacted content creators' income, cutting it by 60 to 70%.
A.I. scraping and copyright infringement are major concerns for content creators.
Content creators rely heavily on Google traffic, which has been rapidly changing.
The importance of search engine optimization (SEO) for driving traffic to blogs.
Content creators earn money through ads and affiliate revenue, with no paywalls for readers.
Google's core updates have negatively impacted many full-time bloggers.
A.I. generated results from Google Gemini are replacing organic blog content in search results.
The quality of content on the internet may decline as reputable bloggers lose business.
The long-term effects of A.I. on content reliability and the internet's information quality are concerning.
The shift towards video content and the impact of cookie privacy changes on ad revenue.
Content creators are not blaming Google for algorithm changes but are adapting to the new landscape.
The necessity for content creators to diversify their income sources due to algorithmic changes.
The importance of building a strong social media presence to mitigate algorithm changes.
Content creators advise against starting a blog due to the current volatile online environment.
The need for adaptability and flexibility in the content creation industry.
Engagement from the audience is crucial for supporting content creators.
Content creators are focusing on building a brand and community across various platforms.
Transcripts
it's frankly been really hard to see one change from a Google algorithm
set us so far back.
To be honest, it's probably cut our income by like 60 to 70%.
Really? Yeah. Yeah.
S***.
That's not good.
I don't think A.I. scraping and taking publishers
content and regurgitating it, when it's blatant copyright infringement,
I don't think that's fair.
The last couple months have been really hard for me.
I, um- I don't want to cry...
I'm Justin.
I'm Jess, and we are full time content creators.
And until recently, we've made about 95% of our income from our travel blog,
and we drove traffic there through Google,
but unfortunately, that's changing real quick.
We share a lot of the highlights on our YouTube channel and our social media
showing us swimming with manatees and hiking up Havasu falls.
But in reality, we do a lot of working behind the scenes,
and there's obviously some lows like what we're currently experiencing.
Beyond that, it also impacts everyone that uses Google
or search engines in general.
So we just kind of want to share our experiences on the publisher side.
So, you know, what to expect via your search engine.
Yeah, if you search for things on Google, the changes that impacted us
have pretty huge ramifications on you, the people who are actually
searching for information and not just as it relates to travel
content for your vacation to Hawaii, but for pretty much everything.
So taking a step back, I think it's kind of important for us to explain
how we make money via our website.
I think we need to move inside.
There's a- There's a pretty big winter storm coming through.
So I think we're going to relocate to inside the trailer.
Ooo it’s so nice and toasty in here.
All right.
We started our website in 2018
and we actually started to take it seriously in 2021.
By 2023 we were able to scale it to receiving over 2 million
annual visitors a year by using something called search engine optimization or SEO.
That's essentially just a fancy term for a really wide set of strategies
that help search engines find your content and rank it highly.
Think of if you search for a term things to do in Bozeman,
Montana, us as publishers,
Our goal is to basically have the number one result in Google.
If you search that term.
And we got really really good at that particular set of strategies
and were able to write a bunch of articles and rank highly for them. The way
that we made money is one, through ads, So all of our content was free to read.
There is no paywall, we get earn a fraction of a penny
every time you scroll past an ad on the page.
Also through affiliate revenue.
So sometimes we would recommend a tour or product or service,
almost always something that we paid for, bought or use ourself.
And if we recommend it and you click on a link and buy it yourself,
we get a very small commission at no extra cost to you.
So between those two things,
that's how we made the majority of money from our blog.
But obviously that only worked if you were coming to our blog
and reading those pages in the first place.
That was really our sole strategy.
And frankly, good SEO was the strategy of almost
all successful blogs for the past forever, really.
For decades. That's how it's always been.
And it's been really nice because we don't have to do
a lot of brand deals we don't have to, like, partner
with other companies and try to sell their stuff.
We usually pay for all our own tours, all our own travel ourself.
We only recommend things that we love and we use.
And it was really nice
because we could go somewhere or do something and capture photos about it,
and then we could wait months before we wrote a blog article about that
and once just wrote something and published it, we'd just forget about it.
Eventually, it would make its way up to the top of the page on Google
and it would just kind of passively make income
and we could focus on the next thing that was on our priority list.
So this has been very attractive to us because let's say we have a period
in our life where we need to slow down for a little bit
because of a medical issue or there's some family emergency...
We have the ability to I mean, really effectively just stop
producing content altogether for weeks or months at a time and still be making
the same amount of money that we did the day before.
Unfortunately, what we weren't doing
was building up our profile- Jess: Social media.
Yeah, building up social media.
And that's really kind of something that you and I
started to focus on at the beginning of this year.
Well, I guess a little bit last year, thank God, because if we hadn't,
we'd be in a much worse position So really, our sole strategy
with our website has just been focusing on driving traffic via SEO.
Unfortunately, that's really changed in the last couple of months.
One thing that's been a huge change is Google's algorithm.
Without getting too technical, they essentially have
these things called core updates.
They used to have them maybe twice a year or even once a year.
And honestly, they usually benefited us and helped their content rank more highly.
Yeah, there's a lot of blogs out there who use these bad tactics to try to game
the system by making sure their content shows up when it's really not helpful.
Or maybe it's being paid
for behind the scenes and they're not indicating it is such.
And eventually Google gets wise to that and blocks their content
altogether, and that ends up helping us because we're reputable and
we try to make sure that we write good content
that is- Jess: helpful and from first person experience.
In the recent months, though,
there's been a couple really massive core updates that have hurt
pretty much all of the big bloggers that kind of this is their full time job.
We're not aware of anyone that has not been negatively impacted by it.
There was one in October that cut our traffic by 30%
and fortunately we rebounded.
Unfortunately, there was another one in March
and it cut our traffic and thus our income by about half.
Honestly, it seems to be targeting
articles that have a lot of affiliate links in it too.
So to be honest, it's probably cut our our income probably by like 60 to 70%.
Really?
Yeah. S***. That's not good.
So that's one thing that's changed.
Another big one is A.I. and you've probably noticed if you've been
searching on Google on your phone or computer for the last few months,
that instead of seeing results at the top, you now see
A.I. generated results from Google Gemini.
So basically it's looking at the entirety of the Internet and it's coming up
with an answer using AI that it thinks you want to read.
And while this is sometimes helpful,
it hurts us because instead of people actually going to blogs
and reading things that we write,
they're just looking at those results that are presented at the top.
Now, we're not anti-A.I.
I use A.I. occasionally for different things in our creative process,
but a lot of times A.I. content is just wholly inaccurate.
Another huge issue that I think we see because we're involved in the space,
but I don't think it's readily apparent to people who use search engines
as that a lot of these big reputable bloggers who have exceptionally
talented writers and photographers and pay for this great content,
they're all losing their business and they're moving over to something else
and they're just not supplying
the Internet with high quality content anymore.
Google is
only as good as the existing content that exists on the Internet right now.
And we're starting to see more and more
AI generated results that are inaccurate or maybe outdated.
And I think the long term effects are going to be that people who are writing
content for the Internet are going away, and I'm just really worried
about the quality of content that's going to exist moving forward
and how the specific lack of content is going to feed AI.
And we're just going to get
increasingly less and less reliable results on the Internet.
There is also a couple other factors without getting too long winded, a couple
that I'll touch on is, people are moving more towards video content like this.
And then another layer
that I'm really not going to get into because it's very technical is cookies.
I'm sure you've seen cookie banners when you've went to various websites,
especially if you've been on European websites.
Cookies are a way that Google and other third parties can effectively
track your activity across the Internet, which helps them serve ads
for products and services that you would actually be interested in.
if you've ever been watching like streaming platforms, like Hulu
we’ll always comment on how annoying it is that we'll get video
ads for medications that don't apply to us or something like that.
And that's because they just don't have any idea who we are.
And over the course of the next year, Google is going to start slowly
getting rid of cookies because of privacy concerns,
which means ads that are presented to you are going to become less
and less relevant to your interests. You're still going to get ads.
There's not going to be as relevant to you anymore.
Right.
So now advertisers are effectively going to be willing to pay a lot less
because the users that are getting served those ads are
may not be even interested in that particular product.
So all of that being said, there are a ton of different things
that have basically cut our traffic and thus are income in half.
And to be honest, we know that there are things coming down
the pipeline that are going to make it even worse.
Frankly, we don't really know what has caused
such a significant drop in our traffic.
And that's the same for other large bloggers
who have been in the industry for decades.
Something massive changed recently and we get very vague
release notes on the updates for the Google search engine.
But something I think it's important to call out here.
I think this is partially our fault for- Jess: Oh, 100%.
Justin: ...for putting all of our eggs in one basket.
this is a very appealing strategy to be able to write content,
rely on SEO, and just make passive income.
It's hard to blame Google
because all of this traffic was given to us by Google.
some of you watching might actually be surprised to hear from us
that we don't really feel like Google is to blame for it-
To be clear, I want to be very clear here.
Some things I don't think are fair.
I don't think A.I. scraping and taking publisher’s content
and regurgitating it when it's blatant copyright infringement,
I don't think that's fair.
However, Google changing their algorithm to favor whatever they want to favor,
We have no control over it and we have no right to be upset-
And frankly, it's their responsibility to do that.
I mean, they're competing with other companies like Tik Tok
who make video content, and they want to make sure that they're relevant.
And when people search for things that people keep coming to Google
and it's their responsibility to listen to their audience
and to make sure that they keep generating content or favoring things
like short form videos at the top of the feed as opposed to blog posts,
if that's what people actually want to see.
Fortunately, we're not hurt nearly as bad as some other bloggers.
People who have, you know, dozens of writers
have had to let go of all of their staff at the same time and have had to leave
blogging entirely in the last couple of months to go pursue
a different career or go back to their old career.
So this is a pretty massive change.
And while we've been hit pretty hard,
we haven't been hit nearly as bad as some other people have.
So our goal this year was to basically replace
our income from our old corporate jobs with our income
from our website and other content And we were on track to do that.
But obviously, unfortunately, with our income
being cut more than half, that isn't going to happen.
But we are lucky in that we're still definitely making enough money
to live off of and we have a relatively clear path
forward of how we intend to kind of grow that income in other areas.
For those of you watching who are invested in us
and our story and our success, it's not all totally bad news.
Fortunately, Jess and I really, uh-
Every year we set a goal for ourselves and this year
it was really about building community and making sure that we're
getting out there in the social media platforms.
It was something that we weren't
focusing on a lot in previous years, frankly, because we just didn't have to.
But we knew we didn't want to place all our eggs in one basket.
We've seen so many bloggers who said, don't worry about social media,
don't worry about Tik Tok or Instagram or Pinterest.
just keep on with your SEO strategy and you can retire on that in a few decades.
And we just never felt comfortable with keeping all of our eggs in one basket.
So I'm really glad that last year we started to focus on creating videos
like here on YouTube, and it's been really great to
start building that community and start making short form videos as well.
Reels on Instagram and Facebook.
Definitely follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
Well, all the links are below.
Yeah.
So anyway, I think if we hadn't been focusing on that
for the last year, I think we'd be scared pretty s******* right now.
I mean, I'm going to be I want to be very transparent like this...
The last couple months have been really hard for me.
I don't want to cry. I was very proud of myself, of how we scaled our business.
And it's frankly been really hard to see
one change from a Google algorithm set us so far back, especially
when it's this business that I was so proud of,
but I'm proud that we are going to continue to grow it.
And that, I mean, I think especially in this world,
you have to be adaptable and flexible and willing to pivot,
and that's just what we're going to do.
And I really wouldn't be surprised if a few months or a few years
from now we look back on this moment and we'll be really grateful
that this happened.
This is the motivation that we needed to make sure we diversify
how we make our money and not just get it all from
one source of revenue
I think if we have one piece of advice, if you are interested in becoming
a content creator or really having any business is to diversify,
especially with the content creation space,
I think that having a brand moving forward is going to be really important
and that's something that we're just going to be laser focused on, on growing
a community, having kind of a consistent message across a variety of platforms
and hopefully creating more content on YouTube and Instagram
and still our website to help you travel better.
very frequently.
People will ask Jessica and I if and how they should start a blog. And
I just I'd hold off for a little bit.
Fortunately, our blog and other streams of revenue
are giving us enough money to live comfortably on right now as it is.
So I'm confident that we'll get back to a good spot.
Jessica is unbelievably talented.
She writes some incredible articles and her videos are also exceptional as well.
So I have no doubt that we will get back to a good place
But we- Justin is also amazing as well.
And does lots of good things on YouTube.
I wasn't fishing for that,
but we just wanted to make sure that anyone watching this
that was interested in getting into content creation in general understands
that, you are beholden to other algorithms.
And even in our case where we own our website
we still are beholden to search engine algorithms that drive traffic to it.
it is definitely a ever evolving landscape.
The goalposts are always moving and if you want to get into this career,
you have to be someone who is adaptable and comfortable with changing frequently
because that's just the world that we live in
And to be totally transparent, I am not that kind of person.
And I have really been having a rough couple of months.
But I think it's important in this career just to be open,
flexible and understanding that there are going to be times of change.
So with that, you'll be seeing us on YouTube
and Instagram and Facebook a lot more than you used to.
And we're hanging in there if you want to help us
and other content creators the best thing that you can do is engage.
So leave a comment, Share something that you think
is interesting, hit that like button. Subscribe.
it really, really, really helps people like us who do this for a living.
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for watching.
And if you're not already, please follow our journey
from Key West to the southernmost point in the US all the way up
to Tuktoyaktuk, the furthest north you can drive in North America.
And until next time.
Our next video will be a little bit more cheery, we promise.
Yeah. Okay, bye.
So in summary, not all hope is lost for us, but...
Oh no... You know, it's
not good when you're ending a YouTube video with “not all hope is lost for us.”
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