Well, the Google update came, and then we were hit as it ended with the next HCU (Helpful Content Update) from Google updating their “classifier” which impacted the entirety of blogging and affiliate/niche websites, with many losing up to 80+% of their traffic essentially overnight.
While I didn’t appear to lose much postitionality within the SERP, I did have a considerable haircut in traffic from nearly day one. Starting around September 16th, I was hammered down to about 200 users a day from around 800, which hurts as the site was primed for an epic Q4 and now feels like it may become meh.
Content Production For NSP1 In September 2023
I am reconsidering how content production works. With all the updates, it was hard to understand, which had me wondering if bulk publishing is as good as it used to be as many bulk publishers don’t have much uniqueness to the content, which can lead to algorithm pains.
I did 40 posts this month, which was healthy to grow, and focused hard on two categories, specifically hoping to maximize the conversion into some best xx for yy related content. Only time will tell if this process will help increase overall conversions on products.
I did produce three more “Best XX for YY” pages on the site not included above, which are already beginning to pay dividends with exact items from my list selling over the last week and a half.
My push for Q4 is to use Koala to generate “best” and “review” content to grow the affiliate income. I have a hard time creating this content as it is not the content I enjoy creating, and this tool has made its creation far more efficient.
Income For NSP1 In September 2023
This month’s income was down over 21% versus last month, as the updates demolished overall traffic volume. Overall, September income dropped to $437.72, with Amazon earnings just over the $200 mark, meaning we fell shy of the $700 mark at $642.97.
Analytics For NSP1 In September 2023
This month was just plain painful, and I was cruising along, growing consistently, and looking to reach 50k sessions by December or maybe even November. This looks like it could be November or December of 2024 instead.
It hurts.
I am pretty near to a 55% loss in provided traffic since the HCU update started, which means that next month, at this current traffic volume, I will drop again by an additional 25-40%, so I am highly reserved going into Q4 now.
Google Search Console For NSP1 In September 2023
As with the analytics above, the overall Google search numbers have been exceedingly down since the HCU. I have no current answers for you and I am still looking at everything and trying to figure out what isn’t working or if it’s just due to back-to-back slammed updates.
Keyword Performance For NSP1 In September 2023
I used to use SerpRobot, but they have increased their costs dramatically over the last year. It has moved from 500 SERP results to 150 and then to 75 for $4.99. While it can be nice, there is a better competitor now in PeakSERP if you want to support small creators.
Ezoic NicheIQ Pagebooster Results For NSP1 In September 2023
Leaning into NicheIQ and PageBooster has helped me see what Google has ranked and found valuable and where I am taking hits to overall traffic volume. Now, I am adding more content NicheIQ suggested with high volume and locking down the posts that provide quality search volume.
As you can see below, I am doing okay overall, as most of the content is still stable. I can tell the big trending down part is all HCU oriented so I was able to go check out those posts and pages and specifically look at them versus the top 10 in the SERP currently to understand where I may be lacking.
As a important note, content need to have at least 100 pageviews in the period to be tracked so making sure your content gets views is vital to using this tool effectively.
Amazon Performance For NSP1 In September 2023
I had a pretty solid month as I continued to buckle down with Koala to generate some best x for y content that I knew I would rank for. This helped me begin a path toward growing some affiliate side income while I worked out building non-Amazon best content manually.
I feel that using Lasso for the non-Amazon content will help boost the overall affiliate income once I can get some conversions on the non-Amazon offers I have begun adding to the content and into buying-focused content.
Ezoic Performance For NSP1 In September 2023
As the traffic impact came, the Ezoic performance also dipped. But the EPMV grew to over $26, so I am happy with what I receive from the ads themselves, the issue now is to understand traffic and try to get it moving again for the end of the year.
Ezoic Ad Results For NSP1 In September 2023
The performance given the HCU hit was still incredibly solid and I am happy to have stayed over the $400 mark for the month in ad revenue. I worried it could be seasonal and so this one – two punch hurt a lot because I now can’t tell how seasonal the niche is.
Ezoic Video Results For NSP1 In September 2023
My income growth since focusing on the Humix video is impressive as it has been performing solidly. I would have had better performance this month but with the visits tanking the results dipped hard down to just $24 from Video.
This will only grow as I take time to make videos for my content, either from regular video or Flickify from Ezoic, a fantastic AI tool to convert your posts into consumable video content!
