Gisele Navarro, founder of HouseFresh, noticed a substantial decrease in Google traffic to her site in late 2023, which caused significant losses and forced her to downsize her team.
Initial confusion about the traffic decline gave way to the reality that changes in Google’s algorithm reduced the visibility of smaller platforms and sites on Search Engine Result Pages.
Despite the challenges, Navarro decided to adjust to this algorithmic change and began focusing her efforts on enhancing her site’s SEO, aligning with Google’s fluctuating guidelines, and improving its user experience.
Navarro’s plans include rehiring her team once traffic and revenues allow, diversifying traffic sources to reduce dependence on a single platform, and aiming toward long-term growth.
Navarro has remained relentless throughout her struggle, paving an innovative, adaptable path for HouseFresh in the unpredictable digital environment.
It became evident that HouseFresh’s reviews were being demoted in Google search results, favoring larger, perhaps less specialized news platforms.
This bias towards content from more prominent sources reduced the visibility of HouseFresh’s reviews, making it less likely for potential viewers to discover their content.
This bias trend raises serious implications regarding the diversity of content available on Google’s search, putting smaller platforms’ exposure at risk.
Discussions about possible unfairness in Google’s SEO practices, even when strictly adhered to by independent websites, have surfaced. Despite complying with Google’s SEO guidelines, smaller independent sites can still face a disadvantage in the digital landscape, as seen in Navarro’s case. This concern is escalating into a broader discourse demanding more transparency and scrutiny of Google’s algorithm.
Google’s algorithm shifts shake HouseFresh’s stability.
In response to her situation, Navarro wrote an article, “How Google Is Endangering Independent Sites Like Ours,” to express concern about the power big tech firms hold over independent websites. Google’s disclosure in May on user clicks raised serious privacy concerns, and speculations about categorizing personal blogs or platforms as “small personal sites” fuelled debates about hidden attempts to downgrade their visibility in search results.
The disclosure accentuated the need for more transparency about how search engines like Google use and disseminate user data.
Renowned SEO expert Rand Fishkin raised concerns about Google’s SEO practices and suggested that Google’s actions might be viewed as deceptive. This adds to growing concerns about data breaches and potential misinformation in Google’s SEO operations.
