50% traffic loss - what should you do?

Oh no, not another commentary on the latest Google update? This Google doozy is impossible to ignore. It seems to be a big one. Plenty of sites are losing lots of traffic. Nobody seems to know why. And no, [Google's blanket algo update statement]( doesn't help. Never has. --------------------------------------------------------------- -PAID AD- ​ ​ Your site needs content, but spending hours drafting, editing, and interlinking takes far too long. Most agencies are expensive, and freelancers are inconsistent. Plus, managing a team of freelancers can be more difficult than writing the content yourself! But there’s another solution: [EasyWriter](). We’re an affordable content agency that drafts, edits, and polishes high-quality content for your website, blog, or business. Here’s how it works: - Place an order and send us your content request. - Wait a maximum of 7 days for all projects up to 25,000 words. - Receive your polished and proofread content, ready for posting! With our team of 100% native English writers at your beck and call, your content is in safe hands. Forget the headaches and long hours drafting content yourself or sifting through freelancer proposals. Instead, make your life easier and your business better with EasyWriter! ​[Order now]() with coupon code Fatstacks for 10% off any package. ​ ​-END PAID AD- DISCLAIMER: The above is a paid ad. It is NOT an endorsement or recommendation by me despite the Fatstacks code used for the coupon discount. EasyWriter paid for the ad space. I have not used the service. I cannot comment on it one way or another. --------------------------------------------------------------- When you lose 30%, 40% or 50%+ of your traffic it's impossible to know what to do. Do you stay the course? Bail and focus on another site? Without a crystal ball, there's no way to answer that with any certainty. Over the years, I've experienced sizeable traffic drops with my biggest site as well as smaller sites. My response is to stay the course. I'm glad I have over the years. In fact, my biggest site is down 50% from its traffic peak one year ago. While this traffic loss wasn't an immediate hit from an update, it's still a sizeable loss. What's more annoying is I've published hundreds, maybe thousands of articles since last year. That didn't help. I tell myself I would have less traffic had I not published all that content to make me feel better. Maybe there's truth to that. Maybe not. I'll never know. Here's the one year traffic snapshot: ​ ​ 108K users per day was the record a tad over one year ago. Last Friday's traffic came in at 55K users. That's a big loss over the course of one year. What am I doing about? I keep publishing. I continue going after long tails. I spend time improving older content (probably not as much as I should). It's business as usual. In fact, I continue to put the most time and money into this site because despite the traffic loss, I believe in it. The content is decent. There are many more keywords to target. Overall, the site is better today than it was one year ago even if traffic doesn't reflect that. One of the most compelling reasons that keeps me working on sites that are losing traffic is the fact that traffic ups and downs are perfectly normal. I take considerable solace in the fact the biggest sites on the web suffer the same losses. Check these traffic snapshots out: ​ ​ ​ ​ Both of the above sites didn't stop publishing when they lost traffic. They continued. Those huge sites had massive traffic drops at various times. The following site is interesting because it's the dominant brand in its industry. It sells print subscriptions as well. ​ ​ I'm not saying it doesn't suck losing traffic. It sure does. I'm also not saying that you should definitely keep working on a site that lost traffic. However, if you believe your content is good and your site doesn't run afoul of any Google TOS, chances are there's hope in the long run. Maybe you're thinking right now "but Jon, it's easy for these huge sites to keep going because they're still getting millions of visitors every month. That's not the case for me." It's a valid point but keep in mind these larger, brandname sites have some serious overhead. They aren't as nimble as we are. Okay, that's not exactly apples to apples. That's not the point our hypothetical reader is making. Trust me, I know what the point is. It's particularly poignant for for those who do this full time and have living expenses. A 50% drop in revenue can have serious consequences such as not making rent or mortgage payment. I know all about it. I lost 50% of my revenue from the 2012 Google Penguin update. Before that update I was just making enough to survive. I was forced to increase my freelance marketing work. That got me by the next couple of years. I didn't like it but I did it. If you write, jump in the freelance writing market to make ends meet. Or do some SEO for small businesses. Make some websites for small businesses. If you publish niche sites, you have skills that can pay the bills. Wait for the update data to come out before making any decision We really don't know what this update targets. It takes a few weeks for our SEO colleagues to collect data and publish it. Even then, they're guessing. Is this a Medic-like update? Probably not but that update was informative once the smoke cleared. It was also draconian because it was game-over for some popular niches. I don't know what this update entails. Wait, then decide what to do. As an aside, I don't know for certain why my traffic has dropped 50% over the course of a year. My hunch is it's a mix of Covid coming to an end, more competition and probably older content that hasn't been updated. I have control over only one of those three factors. Yet, without a doubt I'll carry on with the site. In fact, I'm doubling down. I'm putting more time and money into it than ever. I'll end with this interesting tidbit that might help you between the single vs. multi site strategies. I asked my Mediavine rep whether the highest earning MV pubs focus on one site or have several. She said the highest earning pubs focus on one site. She went on to say there aren't many high-earning pubs juggling more than one or two sites. MV has some seriously high-earning pubs. While my rep didn't give me numbers, I'm pretty certain we're talking $250K per month and up... way up all from one site. I have to admit that response got my attention. I own a lot of sites. I like having lots of sites but it's hard to ignore when one of the best ad networks says the highest earners focus on one site. That's it for now. Jon ​ PAID ADS: Please note that this newsletter contains a PAID AD in it. It's a sponsored ad. 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