HouseFresh, a small, independent product review website that was consistently outranked by major publishers and blamed Google, lost 91% of its Google traffic after the March 2024 core update.
In a new blog post, “HouseFresh Has Effectively Disappeared from Google Search Results: Now What?,” Gisele Navarro highlighted the ongoing issues with Google's product search results prioritizing “affiliate-focused SEO content” from big media brands, what she's learned from it, and what the future holds for the site.
Why we care. There's been a lot of outrage about Google trying to crush websites and industries following the March 2024 core update, and more outrage is set to come in the form of Google's new reputation abuse policy, which goes into effect after May 5th.
A bunch of keywords. Large media brands (Dotdash Meredith, Forbes, etc.) use a tactic called “keyword swarming” to dominate Google search results while flooding the web with low-quality content.
- Meanwhile, the watered-down remnants of legacy brands (such as DeadSpin and Money) are churning out commercial content (including AI-generated content) aimed at squeezing any remaining brand value out of them while also increasing affiliate revenue.
Traffic loss. HouseFresh also revealed how much traffic it has lost since October.
- “Since October 2023, we've gone from welcoming 4,000 people every day from Google search to just 200 people. And of those 200 people, most people are adding 'HouseFresh' to their search to find us.”
Google doesn't have to pay for HouseFresh's traffic. Navarro acknowledged that “Google owes us nothing. Just because we exist or because we say they should doesn't mean they're entitled to search traffic.”
- She also accused people of “gaslighting us into thinking our content isn't useful enough for our readers” (although from what I've seen, this was honest criticism, not gaslighting).
History repeats itself (again)SEO pioneer Mike Grehan recounted a similar experience that occurred at a search conference in Florida in 2003, shortly after Google had made a major update:
“Many of those in attendance felt that Google was trying to kill their businesses.
A guy loudly explained to a packed audience that he'd been number one in Google search results in his field for two years and that business was thriving, but after an update, his name no longer appeared on the search results page at all.
I suggested that maybe he shouldn't have staked everything on this revenue stream to stay in business, and that he should go to Mountain View and visit Google. [Larry] When Page or Sergey Brin show up at the front desk, he should walk up to either of them, get on his knees and kiss their ass, “because he's been giving you freebies for two years!”
Google's Florida Update: 20 Years Since the SEO “Volcanic Eruption”
None of this is new. People have been complaining for over 20 years that Google is putting them out of business, and while it doesn’t make HouseFresh feel any better, the reality is that Google is under no obligation to give you traffic, rankings, or a livelihood.
What's next for HouseFresh? Navarro promises to be “relentless” on every platform wherever it makes sense. Sound like diversification?
