Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
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Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#2I would be interested to know why Google has presumably identified this site as spam. Too many SEO gimmicks that have flagged the site?
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#3First you become value creating, then value extracting.
On a deeper note: Search is challenged. With the advent of first niche communities and now LLMs the traditional idea behind search engines is a left over from the 00s. Google need to earn by ads.
Retro Dodo probably need to focus on a niche community and retention over organic traffic like so many other small / indie shops.
Personally I use Kagi who are also in the business of disrupting them selves using LLMs - at least they have a business model that absorbs it.
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#4For a while now, I have been wondering what it is that a small search provider like Kagi can do to have such an advantage over the R&D behemoth Google, measured in terms of blocking garbage results. This is eye-opening:
>And to rub salt into the wound, it was discovered that Google is paying some media companies “five figures” to use their AI to automatically scrape content from other publishers’ work (who have paid expert humans to produce) and publish it as news twice a day on their websites.
For every one thing you hear about, there are nine you don't. Apparently, the difference in quality is about what Kagi is not doing.
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#5It's time to relaunch curated content in any form, directories, tagging etc.
2023 and 2024 has demonstrated handily that the entire web is at risk if we trust large corporations with everything.
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#6It's frustrating to see a post like this just blaming Google for their issues, when perhaps their reporting/reviews might be at fault? Many people who look up reviews for products reviewed by Retro Dodo often criticize the reviews for lacking substance or getting very basic facts wrong.
I know that I added them to my personal filter list when I found them providing mis-info or just click-farming off of unannounced products.
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#7Every site in the world considers the Google algorithm "fair" when they are highly ranked and "illegal" when they are not. Ultimately you are not owed a spot in their top 10. The answer is to find other avenues for marketing and not rely on a single corporation to act as a free funnel for user growth.
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#8The problem is not Google tweaking their algorithm causing large sites getting more traffic.
The problem is Google having 90% dominance on the search, without credible competition.
The problem is that Microsoft Bing never became a viable search engine.
With more diverse Internet, like it was 15 years ago, issues caused by one provider were inconvenience, not a death blow.
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#9I'll start by saying, I'm sorry this is happening to the retrododo team, I hadn't heard of them before this article (I'm not really intro retro games) but it seems like they make genuinely good and useful content for the community.
On the other hand, more and more these days I see articles & videos that I (possibly unfairly) summarize as "My content deserves to be prioritized by 'the algorithm' and $BIG_CORP is against me".
I'm not a full time content creator so again maybe that factors into the mentality - but I honestly don't understand why so many people seem to believe that their content not doing well by some arbitrary standard means some force is against them. To me it seems more like building your brand organically, publishing via "open" platforms (and yes, I'm aware that's getting harder and harder) and encouraging your supporters to interact with you on platforms you control would be much more sustainable than expecting 'the algorithm(s)' will provide you with your expected growth.
I don't even use google, so if I were interested in getting "the best arcade cabinet" as one of the examples the author used - I would actually be looking to either reddit, or gaming YouTubers or gaming sites I already use, which are the places I would expect to hear about Retro Dodo
Re: Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
#10[deleted]