This week’s podcast kicked off with a narrative we’ve coated extensively previously, however now it’s hit the mainstream press. Bloomberg simply printed a bit titled “Google AI Search Shift Leaves Web site Makers Feeling Betrayed” — and it places the highlight squarely on Google’s Internet Creator Summit held again in late 2024.
Should you’ve been following our podcast, you already know the gist. Google invited round 20 small publishers to its campus — of us who’d been hit laborious by the Useful Content material Replace and the updates that adopted. The thought was to listen to them out, perceive their ache factors, and (presumably) make adjustments in order that high-quality, unbiased content material creators might as soon as once more rank in search.
Since then? Crickets.
Now Bloomberg is telling that very same story, with a nationwide lens. It’s not simply the search engine optimization and content material group speaking about this anymore — it’s the broader world beginning to see simply how far-reaching these algorithm shifts have been.
Watch the Full Episode
Google Promised to Assist Small Publishers. Then Nothing Occurred
The Fallout from Google’s Guarantees:
- Creators like Morgan McBride (who we interviewed beforehand) and Jake Boly are prominently featured in Bloomberg’s protection.
- Morgan misplaced 70% of her visitors and 65% of her revenue. Jake put it bluntly: “Should you drive away all fanatics and small publishers, then we’re going to be overrun by spam and the few gamers who can afford to pay to play.”
- A SimilarWeb evaluation confirmed visitors drops throughout 67 small publishers in verticals like journey, DIY, and meals — confirming what we’ve seen anecdotally.
Regardless of following Google’s EEAT pointers, these websites aren’t seeing restoration. In truth, visitors continues to say no. That’s the place the actual sense of betrayal is available in. Publishers have been instructed they have been doing all the things proper — but nothing modified.
And in a time when Google desperately wants good PR, this story is turning into one other stain on its repute.
TikTok’s Countdown: 75 Extra Days to Discover a Purchaser
Let’s pivot to a different platform that’s been within the headlines for all of the unsuitable causes: TikTok.
Again in January, TikTok confronted potential shutdown within the U.S., and after a couple of hours of precise downtime, the federal government gave mum or dad firm ByteDance 75 days to promote the platform. That deadline simply bought prolonged — they now have till mid-June 2025.
What’s Occurring with TikTok Now?
- A number of consumers are rumored to be within the combine, together with Oracle, Amazon, and personal fairness teams.
- The uncertainty has advertisers spooked. CPMs are down considerably, and eight of TikTok’s high ten promoting classes reduce their budgets in Q1 2025.
- Regardless of the chaos, TikTok remains to be projected to generate almost $15 billion in U.S. advert income this 12 months — much more than YouTube.
Thomas and I each agreed: whereas TikTok’s long-term viability stays unclear, there’s an actual short-term alternative for creators and advertisers.
- Fewer creators are publishing because of the uncertainty.
- CPMs are decrease, which suggests cheaper publicity.
- Manufacturers prepared to abdomen the danger would possibly discover that is the most effective time to get into TikTok promoting.
If TikTok sticks round — and we expect it in all probability will — the creators and advertisers who caught with it by the turbulence might discover themselves in an ideal place.
The Newest in AI Picture Instruments: MidJourney v7 and Extra
We additionally coated the continued arms race in AI picture era. MidJourney launched model 7, following carefully behind OpenAI’s GPT-4.0 picture instruments and Ideogram v3.
How Does MidJourney 7 Stack Up?
- MidJourney v7 is a major improve in realism and visible nuance.
- It nonetheless struggles with text-heavy prompts in comparison with GPT-4.0.
- You could “practice” the mannequin to your type by deciding on most popular pictures in setup — about 200 of them.
The place it actually shines is in creating pictures that don’t look AI-generated. There’s even a immediate hack utilizing filenames like “IMG_4147.HEIC” to trick the mannequin into producing pictures that seem like they got here off a telephone digicam.
So what’s the TL;DR for content material creators?
- Greatest all-around instrument: GPT-4.0 picture era. Nice with textual content and has superior modifying options.
- Greatest for design layouts and API work: Ideogram v3.
- Greatest for creative or photorealistic work: MidJourney v7.
Facet Hustle Replace
One in all Jared’s Calculator Websites is Beginning to Rank
On the aspect hustle entrance, I shared an replace on one in every of my 5 calculator web sites. After some early yo-yoing in rankings, one website is exhibiting indicators of taking off.
- The homepage calculator simply jumped from place 72 to 13 for its most important key phrase — which will get 60,000 month-to-month searches.
- Engagement is robust: over 130 customers previously week and a 51-second common engagement time.
- The key phrase is driving a lot of the visitors, and if it cracks the highest 10, this might flip into a gradual earner.
That is the primary of the 5 calculator websites to actually present traction. And whereas it’s nonetheless early days, it’s encouraging to see motion like this from a really lean construct that relied closely on AI instruments.
Thomas’ Publication Income: First Month on Beehive
Thomas additionally shared his first full month of income numbers for his “AI in Actual Life” e-newsletter, which he lately moved to Beehive.
- 14 emails despatched in March to a listing of about 3,000 subscribers
- Complete income from Beehive’s built-in advert program: $257
- Highest incomes emails have been tied to particular high-value AI advertisers
It’s not a full-time revenue, however it’s early days — and the income scales with listing measurement. Plus, it matches effectively right into a broader content material and monetization technique that features YouTube and affiliate provides.
Bizarre Area of interest Websites of the Week
This week’s “bizarre area of interest” picks featured two very completely different however equally fascinating examples: TireSize.com and PerishableNews.com.
TireSize.com
It is a powerhouse calculator website within the automotive house.
- 315,000 natural visits/month
- Over 20,000 listed pages overlaying tire sizes, comparisons, gear ratios, and extra
- Monetized by way of each show advertisements and affiliate hyperlinks to tire retailers like Amazon and Low cost Tire
What stood out was how tightly built-in the calculator outcomes are with the affiliate shopping for journey. It’s an ideal instance of not simply fixing an issue, however seamlessly guiding the consumer to a purchase order.
PerishableNews.com
Thomas introduced a hyper-specific area of interest information website to the desk this week.
- Covers the perishables {industry}: produce, meat, floral, and many others.
- Excessive DR (71) however low reported natural visitors
- Doubtless drives vital short-term visitors from breaking information that instruments like Ahrefs don’t seize
- Monetized by way of industry-specific show advertisements and convention promotions
It’s an ideal instance of how area of interest information websites — particularly these with a enterprise or B2B angle — can thrive even when their success doesn’t present up in conventional search engine optimization instruments.
Closing Ideas
This week’s tales actually drove dwelling a central theme: the panorama is shifting quick. Whether or not it’s algorithm adjustments, AI instruments, or platform instability, the one fixed is change.
However with change comes alternative. Should you’re prepared to experiment, keep nimble, and put your viewers first, there’s nonetheless loads of upside to be discovered — even within the face of setbacks.
