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Out And Beyond | Blogging & Side Hustle Tips

Google LOVED These Sites (And Why) 😲

Published 4 months agoΒ β€’Β 3 min read

It's very easy to say blogging and driving traffic to your blog from Google is dead.

I also know it's been over a year since these updates ravaged many of our sites.

Nevertheless, there comes a point where we need to stop talking about the problem and start finding solutions.

For some of us, its diversifying into other platforms, some are improving their blogs, and some of us are doing both. I am in the final group.

We keep innovating and trying or we give up.

So, why are some blogs still winning?

​Travelpayouts shared a really useful article on the key findings, which is backed by hard data from 200 blogs!

Here is a summary of why some blogs thrived during the recent updates:
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1. Good User experience (UX)

Fast-loading, mobile-friendly websites with strong navigation benefited the most.

In a Core Web Vitals analysis, it was revealed that only 30% of the top pages from sites that saw declines in November passed their Core Web Vitals tests, compared with 90% of the top pages for sites that saw traffic rise.

Tip: Ensure your site is fast-loading (less than 5 seconds), mobile-friendly, and has strong, clear navigation.

Tip 2- Make sure your website passes all its Core Web Vitals.

2. Blogs with too many intrusive or poorly placed ads faced penalties.

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How can you check if Google is penalizing you for your ads?

Google provides an Ad Experience Report to help you identify ad issues. Here’s how to use it:

  1. Access Google Web Tools.
  2. Go to the Ad Experience Report
  3. Choose Desktop or Mobile.
  4. Review Your Status. If your status is Failing, Google will highlight problematic ads and may even show images or videos of the issues.
  5. Make adjustments based on Google’s feedback.
  6. Once you’ve made changes, ask Google to re-crawl your site. Addressing ad issues can lift search penalties and improve user experience.

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​3. User-generated content (UGC), like comments, helps your blogs.

User-generated content (UGC) like comments played a big role in both updates, but especially in December.

Blogs with active comment sections and meaningful interactions performed better.

This highlights the importance of creating a space where readers feel encouraged to engage.

Essentially, you want to create a community that uses your site as a trusted resource and returns again and again.

How can you ensure your website's comments are contributing to your SEO?

Check if Google can β€˜see’ the comments on your site:

  1. Copy a sentence from one of the comments on your site and paste it into Google search with double quotes.
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  2. Add site:[example.com] to narrow the results to your website.
  3. If the article containing the comment appears in the search results, Google is indexing your comments.

4. Social media plays a BIG role in helping your blog.

It was found that 75% of the sites performing well in November prominently featured links to their YouTube channels or other social profiles.

In December, Instagram came into focus, with Reels showing significant engagement potential.

Blogs that actively updated their social media and incorporated video content saw stronger results.
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Tip: Link TO your social media from your blog and vice versa. Create an ecosystem.

5. Websites with clear author bylines, detailed bios, and dedicated author pages consistently outperformed those without.

Now, if you want more practical tips on how to navigate future Google updates and improve your site
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Thanks for reading. Have a great week

Aisha Preece from Outandbeyond.com​

PS: Some pics from this week!

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Out And Beyond | Blogging & Side Hustle Tips

Aisha Preece

Hi, I'm Aisha and I love helping others achieve financial independence though blogging. I run a portfolio of 6 blogs and teach others how to grow and monetise their blogs using evergreen strategies that don't stress you out! Follow me for valuable blogging tips and digital nomad hacks.

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