Group Chat Litty: Google & The Cut
What was old might be new again for publishing.
Woof, what a week. In my industry, people are reeling over the latest Google Core Update that hit in August. If you’re not familiar, Google—being the search engine giant that it is—routinely makes updates to its functionality, design, and which sites appear where within search results. This can make or break digital publishers as they rely heavily on clicks to generate ad revenue, sponsored deals, and more. If their site doesn’t appear on the first page of Google, the odds of someone clicking on their content are depressingly low.
The Greed of Big G
For many years, Google has educated site owners on how to appear higher in search results: This is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. It has become the way for publishers to game the system and beat out competitors. Brands write about popular topics people are searching for, like “what is brat summer” or “how do I retire early,” all in the name of getting those page views, baby! (Educating you, the reader? Oh, that comes second in many cases.) Google gives pointers on editorial and technical easter eggs to drop in stories to make them rank higher, and publishers have clung to these golden rules as gospel… and planned their entire content strategies around them.
But now, with AI in the mix, Google is changing its tune. No, we don’t want your SEO content anymore, and if we find out you were writing stories just to rank higher in search, we’re going to penalize your entire site. It’s as if publishers gave Google all of the info it could ever possibly want through original reporting and data (exhausting all of their resources in the process), then Google had AI learn it all, and now, it’s a self-sufficient answering machine that doesn’t need other sites anymore.
At least, that’s what appears to be the case when these big Core Updates hit. Sites that were getting hundreds of thousands of daily visitors could have their traffic wiped out overnight. Small business owners can lose the majority of their revenue when they’re dropped from page 1 of search results. Google literally determines who survives and dies on the Internet. And if you think that’s unfair, you’re right, it is.
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Google for monopolizing the Internet, claiming the tech behemoth made it extremely difficult for competitors like Microsoft Bing or Yahoo to have a chance in the search market. Last month, Google lost the case. And now, they’re battling a second charge about their monopoly of the advertising business.
The results of these cases could change how you use the Internet—Google may not be the default on your phone or computer’s browser anymore. You could have a choice as to which sites you’d like to go to for answers, news, and advice, and that could free up digital publishers and users to explore a whole new era online. However, for many, it might be too little too late as these Core Updates keep hammering them in the meantime.
To level with you, this is why my Fire Tips column about crafting the perfect resume that will land you a job right now is being pushed to next week. First, I had to concentrate this week on helping some of my clients navigate the above pickle, and second, I fear there will be more layoffs in the digital space in the coming weeks. The pressure to make my advice spot-on is heavy. (I know Fire Edits is a place where we’re keeping the positivity up, and we will! But, we can still acknowledge the realities of the times and work together to find the brighter moments ahead.)
So… Maybe It’s Time to Go Back to Print?
Ha! But seriously, that’s what The Cut is doing. In a move that makes my magazine-loving heart so happy, New York Magazine’s fashion and lifestyle site has spawned a new print baby.
This is a rare occasion that must be celebrated!
I’ve been planning to go pick up the issue (which, ironically, hit me as such a foreign concept; I need to get in my car and drive to a bookstore to be able to access and read a story. How retro!), but The Cut is also slow-releasing the features online.
Interestingly, in her Editor’s Letter, EIC Lindsay Peoples talked more about The Cut’s struggle to remain relevant in readers’ social media feeds than why she and her team decided to turn to print publishing now. (But really, why? We’d love to know!) However, I did like her nod to how hard they’ve been working, and I just love how the extended timeline of working on a print story can inspire genius concepts like this “Would You Rather: A Tom Ford Romper of a Ford SUV?” column. So cheeky, so brilliant.
“The Cut’s first solo issue features Chloë Sevigny, the quintessential New York City ‘It’ girl, ahead of her 50th birthday; a Dream Date with and lesson in seduction from Usher; and a look inside the closets of 15 very stylish people. Also: the Hollywood-to-Sephora pipeline, unquiet luxury, the style education of a fashion critic, how to layer like a Bottega model, and more.” - The Cut on its first print issue
Considering their online content is behind a paywall and its competing in the increasingly difficult Google monopoly, perhaps New York Mag decided they could have more control of who could access The Cut if it was propped up on shelves out in the real world.
Yeah, I like and will be sticking to that theory until I hear otherwise.
Let’s fire up this group chat, shall we?! Tell me: Have you read The Cut’s first print issue? What did you think?
If you’re in digital media or own a site, what are your thoughts on Google, its Core Updates, and the lawsuits against it?
Do you think print magazines could experience a resurgence, a la ‘90s fashion (everything comes around!)?
P.S. Next week, you’ll get those Fire Tips about crafting the perfect resume now, plus a super-exciting Gas! Gas! Gas! column that will get your head boppin’ and those creative juices flowing. Thank you, as always, for reading.