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Rethinking Traditional Blogging: Navigating Its Decline in the Age of ChatGPT and Google’s Restrictions

Disclaimer: This post is a rant about excessive restrictions for online bloggers. Given the importance of time-to-value, I feel it is worth noting the start.

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Do you enjoy blogging and sharing your passion with netizens?

Can’t wait to write about that cool new trick you discovered? Well, good luck.

You can post on your website, but no one will read it. Do you want to know why?

To begin with, you have to write in short sentences and make it readable for 9th graders. Apparently, all the 9th graders do is read blogs online. Using complicated vocabulary is considered bad “content.”

And then, you have to play Google’s SEO game. Did you research your topical authority? Did you set a topic cluster? Do you have enough LSI keywords in your blog post? What about an optimized meta title and meta description? Oh, do not even get me started on Core Web Vitals.

But wait, there is more. After you have done all that, you need now compete with all the SEO and Niche Gurus. They know all about backlinks, pumping out 10 AI articles a day and sharing Google’s Search Console’s screenshot on Twitter every 10 minutes (I am not calling it X).

The Hemingway App tells me that the previous line was too long. It says that all the 9th graders reading that line may have seizures.

I am sounding like a boomer and a failed blogger. Am I not? Haha, jokes aside, anyone who wants to share meaningful content is kind of doomed. Unless they embrace this new digital wave.

Writing Good Content is Not Enough

Writing good content is not enough in 2023 and going forth. You have to learn how to navigate the intricate rules that Google has set up. For good reasons, however, it is not feasible for most people.

It has been like that for a while now, but the introduction of Generative AI has made things more complicated.

Consider the SEO fundamentals guide set up by Google. Do you think Jane from Wisconsin, who wants to share farming tips, has the time to read all of that?

This is the sole reason a lot of people are turning to Video format. You don’t need to be an SEO Guru to shoot a video on your iPhone and upload it to TikTok and YouTube.

Why People are Turning Away From Blogging?

As I discussed in the last section, blogging takes a lot of time and effort for average people these days.

“About 90% of people quit blogging within the first 12 months or a few years into it “— Source

As a result, it’s assumed that many people start but eventually give up.

On top of that, you have to do a lot of research and learn a lot of new skills if you want to make money from blogging.

Affiliate marketing is that grave a lot of new bloggers go to die. When it comes to affiliate marketing, it’s not uncommon for new bloggers to struggle. Despite their best efforts, many find it difficult to generate the traffic and sales they need to be successful in this highly competitive space. From understanding the nuances of SEO to choosing the right products to promote, there are a number of factors that can make or break a blogger’s affiliate marketing efforts.

Moreover, videos can go viral quickly and people can ride that wave to become an influencer overnight. Videos tend to attract a significantly higher number of views compared to the pageviews typically garnered by blog posts.

They don’t require an SEO editor or content editor. They can go live, connect with their audience, and share their expertise or thoughts.

When was the last time you saw a blog post viral?

Beat or Join AI?

I know at the beginning of the post, it sounded like I was bashing AI, and that’s not the case at all.

I have been using ChatGPT and various AI-related tools every day in my workflow. Either generate content, summarize, shorten, expand, and more.

Is it possible for bloggers to offer more valuable content than AI-generated content? Most certainly.

In a recent video, Brian Dean from Backlinko said original content is still relevant. A lot of his listicle articles take more than 20 hours, which is crazy.

How do you even compete with that as a solo blogger? Don’t quit your day job just yet. You would need to write a lot of content for years before Google even sees you as an authority on the topic.

But do you want to? To be honest, it is so easy to spin AI content that most people are going to incorporate AI into their workflow.

People can/will generate outlines, do keyword research, and generate meta which will save a lot of time. Interesting times ahead.

Make Up Your Mind Google

If you have followed the drama around Google’s stance on AI content policy, they have flip-flopped on that

You can read the full guideline here but for the lazy folks like me TL;DR, generated with ChatGPT 😜.

Google sheds light on its stance towards AI-generated content, emphasizing the importance of producing high-quality, people-first content in the face of evolving search algorithms and spam policies. The post underscores the potential of AI to enhance creativity while cautioning against its misuse for manipulating search rankings.

Here is what they said in 2022 before Bard’s release.

Google’s previous AI Content Policy

Now they are also rolling out SGE slowly. I have a feeling in the future, Google will add more restrictions on AI content or come up with new guidelines. They want AI to assist with content creation, not necessarily generating new content, if that makes any sense.

Wrapping Up

What I’m getting at with all this gibberish and ranting is that Google ought to figure out a way to acknowledge and reward authentic bloggers, without dragging them through all this nonsensical hassle.

People are writing full-fledged blog posts and threads on Twitter because they get instant feedback.

They also introduced profit share for content creators. That has caused a lot of engagement in farming, but regardless, some people are making money.

Video platforms like Instagram and Facebook have surged ahead in terms of engagement. Moreover, these platforms provide various incentives for content creators. In contrast, what does Google offer aside from introducing extra tasks and obstacles for novice bloggers?

Remember Google+? At times, it seems as though all the recent additions from Google are simply a way of penalizing us for the failure of Google Plus.

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Kawsar Ali

Digital & content marketing manager & WordPress enthusiast