11// Google Gives Gear Reviewers a New Hoop to Jump Through
A Trailmix of news, quotes and ramblings about trail media
Hey pals,
This week Trailmix passed the 100 subscriber mark! I am truly and utterly grateful for all of you lot that actually care to take time out your day to read my ramblings.
I knew going into this trail running media is niche, and that i didn’t have much spare time to dedicate to becoming a content machine. So to get triple figures within four months is beyond my expectations. Thank you :)
Today we have a Trailmix of sorts discussing the impact of Google’s summer updates on gear review sites and the mental fortitude required for Dylan Bowman to get FreeTrail to where it is today.
Onwards,
Matt
Outdoor and running publishers faced a disorientating number of updates from Google over the past few months after they released three algorithm changes that affected content rankings, specifically for product reviews.
For industries that lean on affiliate revenue for a sizeable portion of their income and tailored their businesses to Google’s algorithms to take advantage of its reach, it’s been a season of disruption. However, the effects have been variable and the reason’s for the changes are not clear to all publishers.
Publishers that specialise in review content saw more significant decreases in organic traffic with volumes declining up to 37% since the first update in August. Yet RunRepeat, a running shoe review website, had a massive 61% increase in organic traffic. When i asked Jens Jakob Anderson, CEO of RunRepeat, why RR saw such a large increase, his response was succinct “the honest and boring answer is, that i have no idea”.
Google’s three updates were focused on reducing the number of copy-and-paste content and improving the ranking of original content.
The first update on August 25th was a ‘helpful content update’ that prioritised original content and commentary, but punished entire websites if a few of their pages were found to be unoriginal. The second on the 12th September was a widespread core update that reinforced the previous update.
The third on 20th September targeted product reviews by rewarding in-depth articles and penalised thin, summarised content.
In theory then, Google should surface product reviews written by people that have personally tested and experimented with the product they’re reviewing. This includes original photos, videos, comparisons and additional commentary. However for most outdoor and running publishers who follow these rules, the algorithm hasn’t been kind to them.
Alasdair Dixon, Founder and CEO of Trail & Kale, has been noticing this downward trend for a while and believes that a combination of the dire economic outlook and Google’s prioritisation of paid ads has contributed to these changes in organic traffic. “This is the trouble with being at the behest of a company like Google who will always put ad revenue above anything else I guess.”
This is not the first time Google algorithm updates have impacted product review publishers. For Jens, who has run RunRepeat for 8 years, he tries to take a more laid back approach. “In the first few years of RunRepeat, I did care too much about the updates and tried to understand what happened. Now, not too much. I believe we do good content, and I also believe that on some pages our quality is not good enough, and that I'm working on.”
RunRepeat’s approach relies on being flexible and making sure to do most things well enough to absorb any update Google makes, but also making sure they still enjoy the process. “It takes us 15 hours to make one lab review, whereas making "just" a normal wear review would be a couple of hours, maybe 3 hours. And I do not think that Google understands that we cut the shoes in pieces to understand the shoes, so I do not think we benefit from that specifically. In that regard, we're probably overdoing it. But we enjoy doing it, so why not?”
Organic traffic tends to be the highest converting, so for publications that rely on affiliate revenue, paying attention to Google’s whims is the toll publishers pay for being on the platform. Alasdair of Trail & Kale knows this all to well and was stoic in the face of uncertainty. “All publishers like ourselves can do is focus on high quality content, and hope we weather the storm.”
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Over the past few years people in media have been sandblasted with the idea that you need to nurture a community to succeed.
The holy grail has been to have a strong email list with people that actually give a damn about your content, so much so they’re willing to pay you for it via subscriptions or any other projects you may have.
Anyone who has tried building a following online knows how tortuous it can be. You may create incredible essays with elegiac prose and incisive insight, or be everyone’s friend with a down-to-earth podcast where you shoot the shit with famous people, yet still not have a loyal following.
Monetising a following through subscriptions is also a slow burn since we’re so used to receiving content for free. It’s easy to say that ‘community’ is the answer to all your media problems, but the reality requires a lot more willpower and fortitude to actually see any results from it.
That’s why I’m so in awe of what Dylan Bowman has created with Freetrail. As the recent article in Canadian Running Magazine explains, Dylan has managed to create a strong business and a devoted community all around the culture of Trail Running. What the article doesn’t cover is the ecosystem Dylan has built around the Freetrail brand that means he has multiple streams of income, all tied to the community who support his media company (It’s a fascinating case study that I’ll save that for another article).
I know Dylan has some exciting announcements to make in the coming weeks and from my chats with Dylan and what Keely Milne covers in the article, I know this is only the start of Freetrail.
Chapeau, DBo.