I noticed that a lot of blogs, YouTube channels and even small news outlets and lot of code repos stopped producing content in Feb-April 2024, did something specific happen ?

I am asking because I find it weird for nonprofit organizations and normal people to stop at the same time for no apparent reason.

  • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
    33·
    2 months ago

    There was a Google core algorithm update during that time as well as a spam update. Google had released what they called the “helpful content update” in 2023 where they are trying to reward well written content that gives users value (solves a problem, answers a query well, etc). This did hurt a lot of small and independent publishers. They have been making adjustments and putting out smaller updates.

    They are trying to get rid of the spammy crap in their search results that has popped up, but it’s Google and they constantly fuck things up.

    The update rolling out now is meant to help address meaningful content that hurt some of those publishers in 2023.

    Source: I am an SEO strategist for two major child care brands.

    • True@lemy.lolOPEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      That is most probably it, I heard about it but never connected the two things together.

      Thank you for your insightful comment.

      • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
        5·
        2 months ago

        You’re welcome. It could honestly be anything technical with a site like rendering issues or inadvertently blocking crawlers through robots directives, but I’m betting it has to do with the rankings, especially if you’re seeing them come back in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

  • Boozilla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Was there a change to YouTube’s algorithm and/or payment structure around that time? This is not something I pay much attention to. But content creators complain about it frequently.

    Not sure about the news or blogs. Unless their purpose was to drive traffic to their YouTube channels…?