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My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

goodcheapandfast.com

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Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#281

Post by johnwdefeo »

tunesmith wrote: post #165
weisbaum wrote: post #141

Taking a look at your site, it seems quite clear where all your traffic went. You have a pretty great backlink profile compared to other affiliate sites ive seen but the content is incredibly thin. Based on this, me or anyone else who visits the site just sees an advertising site. There are no personal experiences with the products, the products are not related and the UX does not make the user want to continue explo…

I agree - I hadn't heard of the site, but after reading the OP's blog post I was excited to check it out. However, after finding a bunch of categories I was interested in and opening them in a series of tabs, I started to review them and was disappointed. It just felt like a long list of products, and I felt like it was putting more work on my shoulders, not less. The site needs more focus. Make some actual recommend…

Interesting. I've struggled with the balance of explaining my process vs. getting out of the way of the recommendations. And for that matter, how many products is the right amount to feature. The earliest iteration of the site only listed 3-5 products per category, which may have been an inadvertent sweet spot. I had hoped that my awards program would help people to learn more about my selection process: https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/articles/value-award-winner...

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#282

Post by daitangio »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #8

I’ve had similar experiences with other google products: My mom forgot her gmail password and no longer had the same mobile number for a reset, the secondary reset option was set to my email but would not send a reset despite this. We had a live session via thunderbird but there were no channels of support. Luckily we were able to register her old mobile number to achieve a password reset, thanks to a helpful phone p…

I set up my email server for reducing GMail dependency. It was a bit a pain because Outlook.com banned my address, but Microsoft offer mw a way to resolve the issue and now I am appy with it.

Now I use GMail as secondary email address along with my other emails, and avoid to use google docs.

On my home network I installed PIHole and it works quite well.

I live with no fear of banning and I am free to express my idea on my self hosted wordpress blog, and decide what to advertise in total freedom.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#283

Post by Mauricebranagh »

bilekas wrote: post #100

I'm sure you have a good idea yourself what is going on here, given you have some good experience in online marketing etc. Most likely, one or multiple of the algo's to determine value within results has been modified, which is a regular occurance. Has picked up the content on your site as not really beneficial / trustworthy for whatever the results are and so it has demoted your position. Given almost every page of…

Adding product and review markup might be a start.

But as you say its questionable what value affiliate sites have for the searcher which is why sites like Foundem's arguments against Google are weak - they just had freinds in teh traditional media / government.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#284

Post by johnwdefeo »

santoshalper wrote: post #196
tunesmith wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - I hadn't heard of the site, but after reading the OP's blog post I was excited to check it out. However, after finding a bunch of categories I was interested in and opening them in a series of tabs, I started to review them and was disappointed. It just felt like a long list of products, and I felt like it was putting more work on my shoulders, not less. The site needs more focus. Make some actual recommend…

I love and use wirecutter a lot, but I really enjoyed this site. He does not try to go the route of having an expert personally review every category (which is a great, high credibility approach). Instead he seems to just do the math finding the best rated items/average price. I find this more useful than another inferior wirecutter clone because it adds a data point. It's definitely something I'll keep in my toolbox…

Thanks! My intention was to complement longform content rather than going head on with it.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#285

Post by johnwdefeo »

creato wrote: post #193
s17n wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually really like the concept, as I understand it - a vetted shortlist of products worth buying in each category, with customer reviews distilled down to a brief summary (instead of a game-able star rating). Unfortunately I can definitely see how Google wouldn't be able to distinguish this from low quality affiliate spam. Also, I agree with "the UX does not make the user want to continue exploring the page they…

Do you really think this is vetted? There's no way this guy has actually tested all of these things. He's just reading Amazon reviews instead of you.

I've never claimed to test products, but I do consider my selections to be highly-vetted: https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/about - There is around 2,000 hours of research behind them. The trick (from a UX standpoint) is deciding how much work to show when the spirit of the site is to be dead simple.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#286

Post by XCSme »

santoshalper wrote: post #196
tunesmith wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - I hadn't heard of the site, but after reading the OP's blog post I was excited to check it out. However, after finding a bunch of categories I was interested in and opening them in a series of tabs, I started to review them and was disappointed. It just felt like a long list of products, and I felt like it was putting more work on my shoulders, not less. The site needs more focus. Make some actual recommend…

I love and use wirecutter a lot, but I really enjoyed this site. He does not try to go the route of having an expert personally review every category (which is a great, high credibility approach). Instead he seems to just do the math finding the best rated items/average price. I find this more useful than another inferior wirecutter clone because it adds a data point. It's definitely something I'll keep in my toolbox…

How is the list better than going to a shop and filtering by reviews/price?

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#287

Post by johnwdefeo »

santoshalper wrote: post #197
creato wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think this is vetted? There's no way this guy has actually tested all of these things. He's just reading Amazon reviews instead of you.

No, specifically I think he does not do any manual vetting or reviewing. I think he essentially gets a ton of products in a given category, then takes the average review and price and runs some kind of formula to find a value sweet spot. I've done this same thing dozens of times myself in excel and it's kind of cool to see someone do it systemically. Combine this with something like wirecutter that does vetted review…

The manual vetting that I do revolves around discarding real-yet-unhelpful reviews (which aren't easy to spot algorithmically). E.g.

Off-Label Usage - Customers rate a portable jump starter 5-stars, even though they have only used the product to charge their smartphones, not to jump start a vehicle.

Self Validation - Customers rate a carbon monoxide detector 5-stars because they feel a sense of relief and validation that their purchase will protect their families.

Customer Service Uprating - A 1-star rating is later updated to 4- or 5-stars because the manufacturer offers the customer a replacement product (and suggests altering the review).

Misunderstanding - A customer leaves a negative review because he or she didn't read the product description carefully and is consequently disappointed with the product.

Ideology or Spite - A positive review is paired with a negative rating because the customer disagrees with the business practices of the manufacturer (e.g. It's a great product, but Widget Corp. is a POLLUTER!).

Wrong Model - A review for one variation of a product is lumped in with reviews of another version of the product. (Hard drive failure rates can differ by 900% depending on the size of the drive.)

Wrong Product - A product page is repurposed by a seller, thereby mixing the reviews of one product with a completely different one. E.g. A page about a protective phone case contains reviews about a wireless charger.

Shipping Issues - Customers leave negative reviews because their packages arrived late or damaged in a way that reflects negatively on the shipping carrier, not the manufacturer.

Joke Reviews - A customer uses his or her review as a platform for comedy. Sexual wellness products, or those that are gender-based, seem to be disproportionately affected.

Empathy or Pity - A customer has a bad experience with a product, yet he or she leaves a positive rating (typically, 4-stars) because "someone" might like the product.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#288

Post by johnwdefeo »

s17n wrote: post #211
santoshalper wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, specifically I think he does not do any manual vetting or reviewing. I think he essentially gets a ton of products in a given category, then takes the average review and price and runs some kind of formula to find a value sweet spot. I've done this same thing dozens of times myself in excel and it's kind of cool to see someone do it systemically. Combine this with something like wirecutter that does vetted review…

I think the key difference between this and the Wirecutter is less that the Wirecutter looks at fewer products (although that might be true) and more that the Wirecutter model is for an expert to form their own judgements about what is important whereas this guy focuses purely on deriving a consensus from the user reviews without using any priors or first party research.

That's exactly right.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#289

Post by johnwdefeo »

johnofthesea wrote: post #267
weisbaum wrote: post #141

Taking a look at your site, it seems quite clear where all your traffic went. You have a pretty great backlink profile compared to other affiliate sites ive seen but the content is incredibly thin. Based on this, me or anyone else who visits the site just sees an advertising site. There are no personal experiences with the products, the products are not related and the UX does not make the user want to continue explo…

>increase the word count, add more photos It seems that thanks to this policy of Google most cooking/recipe sites are full of fluff. Not always 'more content' means the content.

Yes! It would be easier to write 500 word blurbs than a meaningful 50 words. I despise recipe sites for this reason. So much "content" gets in the way of the actual content. The recipes in my favorite cookbook are around 100 words on average, yet if they were published online, I doubt they would rank.
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