August 2024 core update

Since the launch of the newest core update, tons of people on X and LinkedIn (primarily affiliate site owners) are sharing their recovery stories.

However, if we look at the raw numbers, this update isn’t as glamorous as some people are claiming.

66% of 200 websites are seeing improvements. 

That means 132 out of 200 sites are seeing a recovery. Cool.

The average recovery is 200%.

But the average drop was 96%.

If you were getting 10,000 visitors per month and dropped 96%, you’d be looking at 400 visitors per month.

You’re now up 200%.

200% x 400 = 800.

This means you’re still down 92% from the 10,000 you were getting before HCU.

You’ve gone from 10,000 monthly visitors to 800 . . . and we’re supposed to “thank” Google? 

We’ve still got a long way to go before the update concludes its rollout, but I don’t think this is going to be the silver bullet many are hoping for.

That Fit Friend

That Fit Friend (TFF) is an affiliate site that got a ton of media attention from Google and the SEO community.

Why? 

Because when it comes to content, it’s exactly what Google aims to rank. Jake, the owner, is a gym rat and has truly tested every product he reviews. 

He’s even got videos and photos plastered throughout his website to prove it.

Before HCU in September 2023, TFF was getting 170,000 visitors per month.

Google has “blessed” him 🙄 during this August Core Update, and now he’s up to 15,000.

Retrododo

Retrododo, just like TFF, is a proper affiliate site that got a ton of media attention from Google and other SEOs.

The owner, Brandon, even had lunch at Google with Danny Sullivan.

Before HCU in September 2023, Retrododo was getting 500,000 monthly visitors. 

But don’t worry, this update has brought him back! 

Retrododo now sits at 54,000 visitors per month. 

About 10% of what Brandon was getting before.

My sites

I work on three main sites, and it’s worth showing what’s happening to them based on our post-HCU strategies.

1. Did nothing — waited for Google to correct itself

The first site is a pure affiliate site and got absolutely smoked by HCU. We went from ~54,000 monthly visitors to 12,000.

After HCU, we decided to delete a bunch of thin content on the site and rewrite content we thought was lacking from a quality standpoint.

After a few months, we stopped working on the site. I believe we did all the work needed to turn the site into a “helpful” review site. 

Now we wait until a reversal of HCU, which every talking head on Twitter and LinkedIn said was bound to happen.

Then the March 2024 core update came, and guess what. The site tanked . . . again. 

Wtf . . . everyone told me the March 2024 core update would be an HCU reversal??!!

We went from 12,000 monthly visitors to 1,500.

Now, the August 2024 core update has not moved this site a single inch. 

We’ve updated the content and the site, but I truly believe Big G just hates it and there’s no coming back.

Unless we do what we did with our second site. 

2. Moved to a new domain

The second website was a pure affiliate site as well. It went from 36,000 monthly visitors to 1,700 during the September 2023 HCU. 

This is largely a “test” site and I don’t spend a ton of time on it. I mainly use it to test theories, design, engagement, and other SEO assumptions.

I heard a few successful SEOs talking about moving content from a site hit by HCU to a new domain to reset the HCU qualifier.

I decided to test this theory, and sure as shit, it worked.

Before the September 2023 HCU it was getting ~9,000 visitors per week. 

Last week we officially hit 9,584 visitors.

Besides moving to a new domain, everything is the same. 

I’ve tweaked some title tags, intros, etc., but nothing extraordinary. 

It’s safe to say moving to a new domain can recover your traffic.

Now, moving content to a new domain falls into the gray hat area (I don’t think Google likes it), but we seem to be holding strong during this core update. 

We took a bit of a dip when it first started rolling out, but we’ve popped back up.

Even if we dip down again, 15,000 visitors per month is a hell of a lot more than the 1,700 we were getting post September HCU.

And it’s way more than what Google would have given us if we’d just waited around.

3. New site — doing “all the things” 

The third site I’m working on is more of a long-term play.

After HCU, we decided to launch a new site in the dating niche. We largely believe affiliate marketing is dead (if you only rely on SEO), and we wanted to build a site that focused on providing information and selling our own products and services.

We had the perfect expired domain for the project and this time, before launching the site, we took a heavy approach on engagement rate and content quality.

No AI content is allowed on the site. We installed Microsoft Clarity. And I spend hours each week reviewing our top-performing pages and moving content around, rewriting intros, testing engagement pathways, and updating design.

Our main goal is to produce high-quality content and improve engagement each and every week. See what users like and don’t like and continually update.

This has resulted in perhaps the biggest hockey stick growth I’ve ever been a part of, with the August 2024 core update largely rewarding the site. 

The meta message

After working on these sites and running multiple tests and being in the lab, so to speak, my meta point of these stories is twofold:

1. Don’t wait around for Google

Stop trusting the talking heads on social media (including me) and test what you’re reading. Don’t wait around for some silver bullet that’s never going to come.

You need to take action. The folks at Google don’t care about you, your site, or your P&L. They care about their users and making sure they have the best possible experience.

Which brings me to my next point. 

2. Focus, focus, focus on user experience and engagement. 

The biggest growth I’ve seen is from sites with a heavy emphasis on creating the best possible experience for their visitors.

Solve active and passive search intent. Understand WHY visitors are on your page. And solve their damn problems.

Read my article from last week on user experience and dive deeper into this.

Backlinks and keywords will get you to the top of page one, but user experience will keep you there.