Just frustrated and venting.

[gatormark]

I don't know if I have ever been more frustrated in my 19 years of using Adsense. Every time my websites start doing well again, Something (Google?) pulls them back down even further. This has consistently happened over the past 2 years. I just don't know what to do anymore because I am constantly working to improve the content and quality of the sites, but it just doesn't matter anymore...even when you have one of the best sites in your industry.

[NickMNS]

IME, Google doesn't like change. I have two websites. The first one I last updated in 2018. The day I updated it, it tanked. I lost more than 50% of my traffic, despite the fact that new version was objectively better in every way. I took well over a year to recover the lost traffic. Well it's now 2024 and I haven't touched the website in any significant manner since, my traffic has grown in the order of 10x since the launch. By today's standard, the site looks like crap and could use some updated content, but I don't dare to touch it.

For my second site, also launched around 2018, due to the nature of the site I updated the data continuously, but I could never get the traffic to grow. Then Covid hit, and the niche died, so I stopped updating. But then the strangest thing happened, traffic began to grow, the website was in tatters, most of functionality didn't work, everything was out of date but traffic was growing (not fast, but any growth is good!). So I spent 6 month rebuilding the site and it is now objectively better in every way. Well a few days after the launch of the new website my traffic tanked by half.

The bottom line is that Google hates change. Stop working on your website for a while and see what happens. When you make changes, give it time before changing the changes. Google is slow and lazy.

[gatormark]

@NickMNS, you know, that has been the correlation. I am now determined to just leave my main site alone because everything I've done to make it better objectively has backfired in Google's eyes. However, my second website which I never touch got hit with this latest update. All of the lesser sites which I never touch have all gone down. It's literally not worth me putting any effort into these sites.

[universenet]

I don't know if I have ever been more frustrated in my 19 years of using Adsense. Every time my websites start doing well again, Something (Google?) pulls them back down even further.

@gatormark
this phenomen has name: Manipulations by google

[londrum]

that's my experience as well. if you do a big redesign, even if all the actual content is largely the same, then you're going to take at least a short-term hit.

it doesn't mean you shouldn't improve the site though. you've just got to be prepared for your traffic to drop until google have a chance to reevaluate it.

[gatormark]

@Iondrum

I don’t even make website redesigns. I haven’t redesigned my website in over 15 years. The changes I make have more to do with adding visual elements and enhancing my SQL queries so that what shows up on the page better suits the needs of the visitor.

[superclown2]

It's simple really. Google looks at your site, it's backlinks, it's uniqueness, or lack of it, and all their other ranking signals. Their algo then decides where it stands in the pecking order.

Make a major change and the site is re-assessed using, perhaps, different criteria than before. It may rise, or fall, as a result.

So the answer; if it is doing well, make minor changes only. If it isn't, by all means redesign it.

[explorador]

Every time my websites start doing well again, Something (Google?) pulls them back down even further

True. Been there, others have described the same, we are not alone.

For years diff people worth of trust have described how suddenly their sites earnings fluctuations changed to become estady-earnings no matter what, as if Google put a monthly limit to their earnings regardless of traffic, and it doesn't matter what they do, they can't overcome this limit. Every intervention with hard work shows only small increase on earnings, only to come back to the same average after that.

I've been there. I'm there. And if I do something like maximum effort, then I can see my traffic going up! more emails hitting my inbox, etc., but the earnings remain the same. I'm lucky if the earnings go up, and if they do, they become steady after 2-5 days back to where they were.

Long gone are the days where you could put a lot of effort on your websites and then see some direct (positive) effect.

[explorador]

Ah, yes, redesigns. Topic apart: you can do things that hurt more than help thanks to google eyes.

[gatormark]

@explorador

I think your answer is the correct one.

For years diff people worth of trust have described how suddenly their sites earnings fluctuations changed to become estady-earnings no matter what, as if Google put a monthly limit to their earnings regardless of traffic, and it doesn't matter what they do, they can't overcome this limit.

I have suspected Google's throttling over the past couple of years. Every time my website starts to make decent progress (with no changes on my end) there seems to be some external force that says, "You should only be making this much money. Let me ensure that, and direct traffic elsewhere."

This has happened to me a few times over the past couple of years.

[NeapTide]

Traffic throttling, adsense cpc/cpm throttling this all has been going on for years. If you own websites and your ads earning come from google they will make sure that you stay poor or get only enough money to pay your bills/rent.

Compared to webmasters, youtubers can actually make millions if their channel has grown enough and they have become influencers. Plus they can also easily make side money with direct advertising, promotional content and more. Pesky parasitic google has least control over there because most large youtubers are also posting their videos on facebook and making millions from there too. So due to rivalry youtube does not mess with your channel viewership much.

[gatormark]

It's happening again today. Good traffic the past few days, and now the pull back. Down 35% today.

[ember]

If you own websites and your ads earning come from google they will make sure that you stay poor or get only enough money to pay your bills/rent.

I make a very decent living from Adsense. Not what I once did, but more than enough to pay the bills. I'm not poor.

[oldog]

I strongly believe that a website that has green results ( passed the page speed test [pagespeed.web.dev...] can sink in Google.

[Edge]

I just don't know what to do anymore

Nor does anybody else.. I started publishing Adsense October of 2003. Initially my revenue was building until I peaked in January 2006 then the waffling began then a slow decent to where I'm at today.

Adsense still generates revenue that's worth it however I miss the peak days. It does not matter what I do revenue is stuck at the current average approximate levels. Traffic up traffic down, awesome content, new links, anything you can think of, etc..

Cold hard truth - nobody here knows what Google is doing behind the curtain. If your website is not fundamentally flawed - you're not the problem and don't expect any changes from google, advertisers, or whatever, etc...

I diversified my revenue streams years ago (membership dues for special content) and that was the best thing I did. I went that route because I knew relying on a revenue stream I could not change or control (Adsense) was a losing business model.

Just make sure your site is solid, promote your resources with integrity and diversify revenue sources. But, most importantly - seek solutions and don't get caught up in the complaining cycle of doom.

Now - get to work!