At the same time, Google’s algorithm updates can also be detrimental to a lot of bloggers because it could mean a significant dive in their search traffic. It’s all dependent on one’s niche and adherence to good SEO practices. In terms of the latter, Google’s only advice is to write with the reader in mind (take note, humans) and not the search engine.

Simply put, the content that we churn should be helpful to readers, they should match the search intent of users, and they should be structured in a way that is easy to navigate. With that, we bloggers should do away with content that is stuffed with keywords just to please Google bots and rank higher in search results.

The content written should be as natural as possible; reviews should be based on one’s experience; travel tips should be tried and tested by the writer; and articles should be evergreen – meaning the information should hold relevance regardless of the time or year.

In the past several years, I would say that Google’s algorithm updates have been favorable to my blog. My search traffic continued to increase over the years. My high search-ranking articles continued to enjoy first-page results. However, for the last two years or so, I was unsure of what changed during Google’s algorithm updates. 

My best-ranking blog posts began to slide down in Google’s search results. I updated my posts based on tips I read online, and they worked quite well for me because I was able to recover my search rankings. My blog traffic remained at a healthy level, and I was grateful because my income was steady. For the last few years, I have been paying for my son’s monthly school fees from my blog income.

Just the same, the time that I’ve been fearing most for my blog happened during Google’s last Helpful Content Update. My search ranking took a deeper dive, and no matter what I did to recover from the loss in rankings, I just couldn’t bring my rankings up again. My blog metrics, as shown by Google Analytics, were all down. I’m finding it hard to compete with similar blogs for the same keywords that I ranked easily before. 

My monthly blog traffic was halved, which all the more made me feel distressed. At this point, I’m not quite sure what to do next but to wait. If you came here looking for answers, I’m sorry because you will be disappointed. We’re in the same situation of trying to bounce back from the recent Google Helpful Content update.

Social media traffic is not helping either. First of all, I’m not very good with social media. Second, Facebook has been sending less traffic to links with posts in the last couple of years. The same is true for Twitter/X. And Pinterest remains alien to me after years of blogging and doing social media. If you have any tips for me, I’m very much open to them just to recover my search rankings and blog traffic.

Any blogger out there would be able to relate to my own distress. We’ve worked hard on our blogs; and put our heart and soul into it. I personally consider my blog as a living and breathing being; the loss of search traffic means that it’s unhealthy, it’s sick with no sign of getting better. It’s making me sad and taking away my inspiration to write.

Anyway, as I’ve said, I really don’t know what to do at this point. I feel like I'm back to square one. For now, it’s just a waiting game, which is probably the hardest for any rational human being.

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