Publishers can no longer rely on steady search traffic thanks to zero-click AI chatbots and near-constant discovery algorithm changes made by Big Tech gatekeepers.
So what comes next?
That’s the billion-dollar question facing premium and longtail publishers alike. But pubs are operating under a cloud of confusion caused by outdated SEO strategies and a lack of transparency into new AI search platforms.
Enter HouseFresh to clear the air.
“Whatever stability we had from search traffic, from Google, let’s not count on that at all,” said HouseFresh Managing Editor Gisele Navarro on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks. “If it comes back, that’s great. It’s not going to change my plans to diversify, which were in the cards all along.”
After recovering from a 91% drop in search traffic last year, Navarro knows a thing or two about the challenges publishers face attracting readers to their sites and earning ecommerce revenue. She has penned several primers on these topics that every independent publisher should read.
She’s detailed how big-name publishing brands like Dotdash Meredith (which changed its name to People Inc. after this podcast was recorded) dominate affiliate marketing by gaming search algorithms. She’s grappled with how Google’s so-called Helpful Content Updates have attempted to level the playing field but upended existing affiliate businesses in the process. She’s met with Google to get to the bottom of these changes. And, more recently, she’s been tracking how Google trains its AI Overviews, which consumers are increasingly relying on instead of product review sites when it comes to making shopping decisions.
In this episode, Navarro shares her insights from her deep dives into the evolving online search and ecommerce ecosystems, including why HouseFresh has avoided on-site display advertising despite monetization challenges on the affiliate side. And she details HouseFresh’s pivot to YouTube and monetizing video content to supplement new subscription revenue streams from services like Patreon.
For more articles featuring Gisele Navarro, click here.
