Blogging is not the same, and the tremendous shift in the SEO world is killing niche blogs. AI has been everywhere, and as it looks like, a random dude posting on Reddit can rank higher than a top-notch and high-quality blog post written by an expert. So is it even worth starting a new blog in 2024? Depends.
The current state of Blogging
I’ve been blogging for over 15 years, and ironically, I started this blog at the beginning of 2024. In all those years, I’ve never seen SEO experts and bloggers so furious about the current state and the future of blogging. Google has “killed” many good blogs by making changes to the way content is ranked (known as Helpful Content Update or HCU), and while they say they made all of those changes to improve the overall quality of their results, many have been reporting the exact opposite.
There were hundreds of times that I heard people saying that blogging was dead, but it never actually died, did it? If it was, you wouldn’t be here now, wouldn’t you? But it has become harder and harder to start a new blog and actually make money out of it, and it’s even more difficult now to rank in higher positions, even if you’re an expert at what you do. Nowadays Google seems to be overloaded with posts from Reddit and Quora, and niche blogs specialized in what they publish are nowhere to be found.
But it’s not just about ranking in good positions, it’s about making money with them too. Take Google AdSense for example, many are reporting that their revenue has dropped by a lot, and I can relate to that too. Many of my clients have been reporting huge drops in their rankings and earnings, and they haven’t made any important changes that could result in that. So what’s happening? Google, that’s what. Or at least, that’s what most SEO experts believe as of this moment.
It seems like the world’s biggest search engine is trying to kill the one thing that made it great from the beginning: Quality content and niche blogs. It’s been so difficult to rank the last few years, many of the bloggers that I met from their blogs are now on social media platforms sharing videos rather than writing. A few have even migrated their blogs from WordPress to Medium or LinkedIn, trying to bring some good traffic back to them, thanks to the algorithm update vanishing them from the results.
But let’s take a moment and have a quick look at some full-time bloggers running their blogs for more than a decade, and who lost both their traffic and saw their earnings decrease after the HCU update. Those are independent publishers, and many of them rely on their blogs to pay for their rent. Some may say that those blogs didn’t actually provide any quality out of their content, and that was my first thought also, but I beg to differ: I’ve seen many great-written articles that were accurate losing their rankings after the HCU released.
Here’s an interesting screenshot (and one of the many being posted on social media platforms lately):
Some may say that the problem here is relying on Google as the main source of traffic, but the thing is, organic traffic is crucial for every publisher, and as long as Google is the number one search engine, many will rely on it. People are mostly using Google to get answers, not social media platforms. And if someone uses TikTok to search, they won’t get any well-written articles, only videos, and not everyone has born a vlogger. But even if you did, and went with videos, it’s still difficult to drive people from platforms such as TikTok or Instagram to your website, even with thousands of followers – and no, I don’t like begging people to visit my profile and click on the link.
On the other hand, I like reading, and many times I don’t watch videos or listen to any podcasts. I want a good, well-written, and accurate article, and Google is killing that. So much so, that I actually started using Bing as my default search engine, and I won’t lie, it’s pretty good. It kinda reminds me of the good old days when you could find useful content – although it’s not perfect by any means.
But most people don’t use Bing (yet), they use Google, and thus most publishers rely on the search engine to get organic traffic. This makes many bloggers stop trying, and as most of them aren’t SEO experts, paying for SEO services can become pretty expensive, especially when they are unsure about the future of their blogs. In a time when a publisher loses its rankings and its revenue has dropped dramatically, spending even more money may be a difficult choice, especially if they’re not sure that those services will make a difference.
Blogging vs. Vlogging and making money from your articles
All of these are driving people away from blogging, and videos are becoming more and more popular.
Then again, comparing blogging with vlogging in 2024 is not that difficult. A good example is my brother, Flaco Jordi, who you may already have seen doing live videos on TikTok, walking on Santorini Island and talking with people. In less than a few months, he started making small amounts of money from the platform, raised more than 13K followers, and he’s doing even greater with every new live video he starts. He’s now going all-in on YouTube, sharing his content to more platforms. Taking a look at his numbers and comparing them with a travel blog that we made almost two years ago, just one video can surpass all of the blog’s all-time traffic. Crazy!
Just for the sake of the argument, most bloggers already know that there’s a low chance that they can make enough money in the first year. This means they know they have to invest at least 12 months of work without expecting anything in return.
It makes you think if spending all that time writing, some may even spend years, only to find out that one day, after a new HCU has been released, your content has vanished from search results. Not only that, but I don’t trust AdSense anymore to make money, as I’ve seen my own earnings drop without any notices, without any problems, and without making any changes, and that’s frustrating. Should I keep displaying ads? Should I lock most of my content in a subscription/paywall? Hey, maybe give email marketing another try, right?
Making money from your blog is more difficult than ever before, and most publishers already know that. Times are changing, and as they do, content creators will have to find more or new ways to generate income from their work. The best and fastest way to do that is Affiliate Marketing, as you have higher chances of someone clicking and buying a product or service rather than having thousands of visitors so your ads can generate enough money. Don’t expect to get any sponsors or advertorial requests in the beginning either, as your new blog won’t have any strong backlinks from similar and related websites.
Blogging Statistics for 2024 and good rankings
But not everything’s bad, many have seen big increases in their daily traffic, and their rankings are looking better than ever. For those blogs, some will say they strictly follow E.E.A.T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), which is absolutely crucial these days, while others say it was good luck that it’s going to run out after the next HCU. Apart from all of that, some also started to report that they got their rankings back after a while, meaning that Google may restore the ranking of some websites, depending on the content they host.
Based on Web Tribunal, there are more than 600 million blogs out of 1.9 billion websites worldwide, and based on Social Media Today, 77% of internet users still read blogs. Need more proof and reason? Statistics show that blogging is far from dead, and as long as people are still consuming articles, new blogs will surface and many publishers will get known for their unique voices. Plus, as long as you don’t use AI-generated content, you’ll have far more opportunities to rank higher and avoid getting hit by an upcoming algorithm update.
Then again, if you’re not looking at making money and you’re focusing on just writing and publishing your own stories, blogging is a great way to do that. And if you’re looking at generating income from your content, remember that 50% of bloggers publish weekly or several times per month and whoever publishes the most, is most likely to report “strong results”, based on Orbit Media.
Is Blogging dead in 2024?
With all that in mind, I don’t think blogging is dead, and I don’t think it’s going to die anytime soon. Ironically, it’s even easier nowadays to start a new blog, and companies such as Hostinger let anyone start within a few minutes. CMS platforms, including WordPress, Ghost, and others, are making big improvements and there are thousands of plugins, themes, and tools that you can use to make your content even better and easier to manage.
But if you’re thinking of going all in, meaning that you want to work as a full-time blogger and make enough money from your blog, I suggest you start by researching first. Take as much time as you can, explore what people are searching the most in your niche, and focus on providing exactly that, but with a hundred per cent accuracy. And maybe, just maybe, look for more sources and ways to generate traffic, rather than focusing only on Google.
As for me, I will keep writing, as being a blogger was always my passion. But videos are on the way, and I will be focusing and investing lots of time in creating them, just to make sure I have another type of content ready to take over in case an update ruins my rankings.
If you’re new to blogging, here are two tutorials that will help you start easier and faster than ever before:
If you already own a blog or working as an SEO expert, what is your opinion about the current state and the future of blogging and SEO? I’d love to hear all about your personal opinions, experiences, and thoughts.
