My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero • Hacker News Board

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#331

Post by bryanrasmussen » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:19 PM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #230

_jal wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one reason I will not give out a phone number for the vast majority of services. If that means I can't use something, so be it. Building proprietary, impossible-to-understand Rube Goldberg mechanisms based on associations between accidental aspects of my life (location:phone number pairs, for instance) is not a security system, it is a design for randomly fucking me over. If your system is designed to fuck me…

"Building proprietary, impossible-to-understand Rube Goldberg mechanisms based on associations between accidental aspects of my life (location:phone number pairs, for instance) is not a security system." It is a system for building better profiles of potential targets for advertising. Gathering data is a means to improve online advertising services to Google's customers. The more data you volunteer, the more their on…

since the user agent is supposed to be locked (soon if not already) for newer agents, and Google is probably most responsible for this feature, you would think they did not detect new devices by user header changes?

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#332

Post by bryanrasmussen » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

dsnr wrote: post #258

_jal wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one reason I will not give out a phone number for the vast majority of services. If that means I can't use something, so be it. Building proprietary, impossible-to-understand Rube Goldberg mechanisms based on associations between accidental aspects of my life (location:phone number pairs, for instance) is not a security system, it is a design for randomly fucking me over. If your system is designed to fuck me…

> I would prefer to use something else, thanks. What is the alternative to Gmail? Genuinely interested. I'd be willing to switch if I found a future-proof email solution for both personal and business usage.

Protonmail seems to work pretty good for me, although I still have a gmail address as well.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#333

Post by praestigiare » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

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…

Yup: Make the site worse, fill it with fluff that Google wants, hide the actual useful thing you are doing.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#334

Post by nuker » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:28 PM UTC

dsnr wrote: post #258

_jal wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one reason I will not give out a phone number for the vast majority of services. If that means I can't use something, so be it. Building proprietary, impossible-to-understand Rube Goldberg mechanisms based on associations between accidental aspects of my life (location:phone number pairs, for instance) is not a security system, it is a design for randomly fucking me over. If your system is designed to fuck me…

> I would prefer to use something else, thanks. What is the alternative to Gmail? Genuinely interested. I'd be willing to switch if I found a future-proof email solution for both personal and business usage.

> future-proof email solution for both personal and business usage

Apple iCloud for personal use.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#335

Post by everdrive » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:29 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #147

tharkun__ wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a really really simple one (at least for your private life but if your company uses G-Suite, you always have the admin to take care of things you forget): Do not use Google! It's as simple as that. I have never had a Gmail account until an Android device sort of forced it on me, because I definitely didn't want to link things up to my real email address, so I just signed up for the whole thing. Do I ever use…

> Some of this obviously requires 'abstinence' and not having the same 'cool toys' as other people. I.e. if I buy lots of fancy apps that I actually rely on for my daily life, then loosing this Google Account will hurt. Pleco is a necessity for me, but it's not tied to the Google account. It has its own registration system. Same goes for WeChat. The Android Kindle app isn't really a necessity, but it's desirable. It,…

This is part of why I try to stay away from apps; once you become reliant, you're stuck. It's best if there's a desktop client, (and particularly one that is not bad for privacy, but usually these things work better on a desktop) since it will not keep you tied to a device or ecosystem.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#336

Post by dj_mc_merlin » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

johnwdefeo wrote: post #294

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google shifts their algorithm also in response to people gaming it. Affiliate websites (such as this one) have been gaming the SEO system with AI/India-written articles for a long time. It seems the dude is honest and writes the content himself, but it is obviously nearly impossible to tell them apart, so they all get the chop. Sucks for him, but perhaps we're all better off.

I agree with this in concept, but it has been a bitter pill to see my site overtaken by scraper/outsourced content that I consider to be pure spam. Google doesn't always get it right (regardless of my own situation).

I'd feel the same. I manage a SEO-driven website too and know the struggle. Sadly, some business practices go out of style. Good luck with this and your future endeavours!

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#337

Post by Fjolsvith » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

mackrevinack wrote: post #255

solstice wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I use Teddit.net for Reddit, Newpipe for Youtube and one of the nitter.net instances for Twitter. All the content without the clutter and fast, as well as a lower temptation to get into flamewars etc. (In Newpipe you can subscribe to creators' channels, see the comments and their other videos. You just can't comment from there.)

freetube is another youtube alternative if anyone is more of a desktop user, and invidious is web based

FYI, freetube.com is NSFW

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#338

Post by TeMPOraL » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:52 PM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #230

_jal wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one reason I will not give out a phone number for the vast majority of services. If that means I can't use something, so be it. Building proprietary, impossible-to-understand Rube Goldberg mechanisms based on associations between accidental aspects of my life (location:phone number pairs, for instance) is not a security system, it is a design for randomly fucking me over. If your system is designed to fuck me…

"Building proprietary, impossible-to-understand Rube Goldberg mechanisms based on associations between accidental aspects of my life (location:phone number pairs, for instance) is not a security system." It is a system for building better profiles of potential targets for advertising. Gathering data is a means to improve online advertising services to Google's customers. The more data you volunteer, the more their on…

Ironically, Google likely has enough data that they could conclusively prove you are who you say you are and own the target account, just by looking at your Chrome's telemetry for the past 10 minutes...

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#339

Post by bartread » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

On a much smaller scale I've seen similar strange/hard to explain patterns with a site I run. It's really only started getting any traffic at all in the last 12 months or so, and it's now a few hundred sessions per day, up from a handful per day a year ago. (Granted, I don't invest a whole lot of time in it.)

Some fluctuations are explainable: a bit over half my traffic is from the US, so you can clearly see the effect of Thanksgiving. Most of the rest of my traffic is from the UK, western Europe, and Australasia, so holidays such as Christmas and New Year stick out like a sore thumb.

But sometimes I've seen pages disappear from the search index, or be heavily deranked for a week or two, before popping back up again. Often this has happened after I've published a (relatively speaking) large amount of new content to the site, but sometimes it's not easily explainable.

I also, every few months, get "invalid traffic" warnings in Adsense, even though the majority of my traffic is organic search traffic that Google itself is sending me. Generally revenue will drop to zero for a week or two before climbing back up, and shortly after the warning will disappear. Every time this happens I check Google's policies and sometimes have to fix the odd problem. Mostly though, I have no idea why this happens.

The site makes so little revenue it doesn't even cover its own hosting costs so it's not a big worry. However, I do see the potential for it to earn more were I to invest more in it. Still, I've realised that I'd have to be out of my mind to rely on Adsense revenue from this website as my sole source of income.

I'm not complaining at Google for this - any money the site earns is a bonus and, as I say, at the moment it doesn't even cover its own hosting (which at least keeps my tax return simplier). Still, if I were going to build some sort of indie business around it I'd have to think pretty hard about ways I might be able to get multiple channels for revenue. Unfortunately, like goodcheapandfast.com, the reality is that the source of every one of those streams would likely originate with organic search traffic.

Re: My Google Traffic Has Fallen to Zero

#340

Post by johnwdefeo » Tue, Jan 05, 2021, 1:56 PM UTC

thrownaway561 wrote: post #303

I worked for a marketing company for 3 years and can see what is making your traffic fall: https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/articles/best-cloth-masks You will get dislisted because you are profiting from a pandemic. get rid of this content. https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/articles/best-bourbons Alcoholic content is a huge red flag and will cause blocks and delisting. get rid of this content. once you remove the cont…

Thanks for the response. I created best bourbons page for fun after my traffic had collapsed, so that can't be the culprit.

I redirected the cloth mask page to the CDC's website. It was something that I created at the behest of friends and family members (and then forgot about). It's worth noting that I did not profit from that page when masks where in high demand. (In the early days of the pandemic, I actually spent a good chunk of time trying to wrangle available PPE and get it into the hands of first responders. I had a big moral issue with the publishers who were profiteering by selling consumers things that they didn't need at the expense of those who did.)

Didn't consider a homepage link from the footer, but it's a fair point. Added.