Is it worth building websites anymore? (seriously)

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rdlzr77

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Seriously, after the three consecutive core updates I began to wonder if building websites is still worth it.

Unless you can build a huge authority site with absolutely great user experience and engagement, with thousands of branded searches etc, it seems like you're going nowhere. And even if you do it, you will take a hit (see it happening on my niche, with many sites, but they have been less hit - losing only 20-30%)

Let's put away spamming/parasites - even though this seems to be the only way, lol.

After 3 years of growth, one of my websites is down 5x. I was basically sent back to the beginning.

Links don't seem to matter anymore, content too. I did not manipulate my branded searches, so all I have is natural - not huge, but enough. Engagement can't be worse than the one on the competitors websites.

It seems that there's no room for new guys, everything will be taken by the old guys and that's it.
 
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rdlzr77 said:
Seriously, after the three consecutive core updates I began to wonder if building websites is still worth it.

Unless you can build a huge authority site with absolutely great user experience and engagement, with thousands of branded searches etc, it seems like you're going nowhere. And even if you do it, you will take a hit (see it happening on my niche, with many sites, but they have been less hit - losing only 20-30%)

Let's put away spamming/parasites - even though this seems to be the only way, lol.

After 3 years of growth, one of my websites is down 5x. I was basically sent back to the beginning.

Links don't seem to matter anymore, content too. I did not manipulate my branded searches, so all I have is natural - not huge, but enough. Engagement can't be worse than the one on the competitors websites.

It seems that there's no room for new guys, everything will be taken by the old guys and that's it.
Click to expand...
I like your mentality :D
Just a small tip from me:
When i started my website the niche that i was in was quite non-competitive (ofc there were the big authority websites on top, but the rest was full of web2.0 and small niche websites) i had roughly 10 competitor websites that were convering a lot of the niche, guess what? 4 years later there are roughly 3 of them still alive. The ones that died out had much better content than me, yet here i am, my website had a rough time with all the google updates but there was not a single update that 100% killed the website. This made me think that my competitors decided to quit their websites or just let them die.
Now the real question: Why invest money, time and passion into a website and then just let it die? I will never understand this. Whenver you reach a wall you need to get your sh1t together and find a way to climb that wall not stopping in front of it and wait for a miracle, cuz that miracle will most likely not coming.

Good luck.
 
Sites still work, but it's not just about links/content. It's about niches, angles, and user experience. If you're hit, analyze the winners in your niche. What are they doing differently? UX? Site speed? Content depth?
 
Yeah I agree, you gotta keep up with all of the automated techniques or else you're going to fall behind if you're relying on manual work.
 
At a time where the industry as a whole is changing with no clear sight of where it's headed, I would not advise anyone to start one.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You can always find an untapped niche and take advantage of it
Even better, build that site on an aged domain
 
nSnoopy said:
Just a small tip from me:
When i started my website the niche that i was in was quite non-competitive (ofc there were the big authority websites on top, but the rest was full of web2.0 and small niche websites) i had roughly 10 competitor websites that were convering a lot of the niche, guess what? 4 years later there are roughly 3 of them still alive. The ones that died out had much better content than me, yet here i am, my website had a rough time with all the google updates but there was not a single update that 100% killed the website. This made me think that my competitors decided to quit their websites or just let them die.
Now the real question: Why invest money, time and passion into a website and then just let it die? I will never understand this. Whenver you reach a wall you need to get your sh1t together and find a way to climb that wall not stopping in front of it and wait for a miracle, cuz that miracle will most likely not coming.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I am not going to let it die, but it went from a steady 100k-130k/month to 20k/month. I have two options: to continue pumping money into it and keep it up, or sell it. It has a lot of potential (we serve around 5-6 million views on other sites monthly, as widgets). But I'm tired of it, and honestly I want out.

Even so, starting a new site seems like a waste of time/money. Because my take on the future of "search" is pretty grim. There will be no more "search". Google will squeeze its brand, which will become more and more like a facebook wall, ads over ads, squeeze it until the brand will suffer, than reinvent it.

Google will answer questions directly (it already does, but it will be taken to a whole new level), while paying publishers for news (that already started), and this is pretty much all the content that we'll see. It will use Wiki content a lot and everything will be integrated into the SGE (search generative experience). Google doesn't need sites anymore. There are already too many and they know it.

I think this can happen in the next 3 years or so. You can't really build a brand in 3 years (not impossible, but very small chances of success). Big changes are coming. Of course, I could be totally wrong. I hope that.

Proxy Cake said:
Yeah I agree, you gotta keep up with all of the automated techniques or else you're going to fall behind if you're relying on manual work.
Click to expand...
This site I am talking about is fully automated. But even automation costs (API costs are pretty high for the volume I need, for example). Every other site I am planning to build will have some monthly costs which are not really small (even if fully automated).
 
rdlzr77 said:
I am not going to let it die, but it went from a steady 100k-130k/month to 20k/month. I have two options: to continue pumping money into it and keep it up, or sell it. It has a lot of potential (we serve around 5-6 million views on other sites monthly, as widgets). But I'm tired of it, and honestly I want out.

Even so, starting a new site seems like a waste of time/money. Because my take on the future of "search" is pretty grim. There will be no more "search". Google will squeeze its brand, which will become more and more like a facebook wall, ads over ads, squeeze it until the brand will suffer, than reinvent it.

Google will answer questions directly (it already does, but it will be taken to a whole new level), while paying publishers for news (that already started), and this is pretty much all the content that we'll see. It will use Wiki content a lot and everything will be integrated into the SGE (search generative experience). Google doesn't need sites anymore. There are already too many and they know it.

I think this can happen in the next 3 years or so. You can't really build a brand in 3 years (not impossible, but very small chances of success). Big changes are coming. Of course, I could be totally wrong. I hope that.


This site I am talking about is fully automated. But even automation costs (API costs are pretty high for the volume I need, for example). Every other site I am planning to build will have some monthly costs which are not really small (even if fully automated).
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If you feel that you can't continue working on it, then sell it.
Regarding SGE here is an interesting article https://searchengineland.com/how-se...val-augmented-generation-is-our-future-433393

I think you guys overreact to this whole SGE concept :)
I agree it won't be that simple anymore ( 8 years ago, you could create a spun article and blast it with 100k backlinks and you would get spot #1), but we need to adapt if we want to survive, at the end of the day this is what capitalism is about.
 
Doing business in the mobile industry makes more sense to me. After all, it is an item that people carry 24 hours a day. Website not moving :D
 
If you understand how SEO works, building websites that give good ROI is possible.

So, yes it's still worth making websites.
 
It has been this way for about 10 years now and yet I keep seeing successful sites that were launched in 2020, '21, '22 and some from '23 as well.
 
I understand your PAIN, OP.

All that work.

Up in smoke.

All that time.

Flushed down the toilet.

I get it.

But as painful as your personal situation may be, NOT ALL publishers share the same fate.

While some also got penalized, to be sure.

Many did not.

So maybe the title of this thread is NOT really for ALL publishers... Instead, maybe the title is FOR YOU.

But with some points of clarification.

What steps did you follow to build?

Did you follow a SYSTEM that is FUTURE PROOF?

Or did you do what other people are doing ("conventional wisdom") and got burned while others keep chugging along?

SETBACKS are better teachers than Success because they PUSH us to retrace our steps and become more self-aware

I know this might bring COLD COMFORT to you but.... it sure remains NECESSARY.

All is not lost.

Check every single piece of content on your site

Check how you link your pages together

Check with Google's Webmaster Guidelines

Do what you need to do...

One step... at a time.

I wish you nothing but the greatest success, OP.

Good luck and take care
 
blackbeans said:
I understand your PAIN, OP.

........

But as painful as your personal situation may be, NOT ALL publishers share the same fate.

While some also got penalized, to be sure.

Many did not.

So maybe the title of this thread is NOT really for ALL publishers... Instead, maybe the title is FOR YOU.

......

Good luck and take care
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll keep going or sell it - whatever seems more profitable in the coming months. Sure, I wasn't "terminated", but I'm far away from OK :)

Some did not get penalized, of course: skynews.com, BBC, Daily Mail, Youtube spam (lol), Reddit, parasite spam etc. Shall I continue or it's pretty clear what is going on? :))

I think the question is for the people with the same knowledge, financial power and skills like mine.

My feeling now is it will grow back and probably even more than before (75%), but it might take even an year of "wondering" on pages 2-5. I don't think I will lose all traffic. It can't be.

Thanks for the support, good luck to you, too!
 
Content will always be a viable way to generate income when done correctly. Like any business, you just have to learn how to adjust to the changes. Nothing stays the same. If you can't make the necessary adjustments when it comes to your business, you will always fail.
 
Surely, yes. Every year, it is getting harder and harder to promote the website in Google, but owning a website has many benefits, including publishing content online, having complete control over the platform, connecting with new people, and reaching more customers.
 
From what I have observed so far, SEO will become less relevant temporarily as companies build walled gardens around platforms and for that you need to penetrate those walls. The overall site promotion will stay the same and comment spam augmented with AI content generation will be the key to generating visits.
 
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