The case study website reflects my typical website building system:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n High DA and a strong backlink profile can help, but they\u2019re not essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before I dive into the case study developments, I want to know one thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope the May update to Google's core algorithm did you some good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Or at least didn\u2019t hurt you!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n How did Google\u2019s May core algorithm update affect you? Let me know in the comments!<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been crazy for me and many of the people I know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yoyao of Niche Surfer<\/a> and Mushifq of The Website Flip<\/a> (whose newsletters everyone reading this case study should consider subscribing to) also had some of their sites hit. So did Alex of WP Eagle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, the case study site\u2019s doing well<\/strong>, and so are the cash-cow websites in my portfolio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I did have one website that was <\/em>hit.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n I bought an aged domain in May and published 75 articles. I had done everything by the book:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, the site still tanked in the SERPs. The pages stayed indexed, but they\u2019re nowhere to be found in the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will it ever recover? Or will I need to 301-redirect to another domain to \u201creset\u201d the algorithm? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It's too early to tell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This goes to show the nature of our game:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You win some, you lose some, and you never know which of your site(s) can get hit\u2014and when.\u00a0 (Just don\u2019t spread yourself too thin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case study site had 6,200 page views in May, and there are 2 reasons why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I decided to start a BBQ website, conventional wisdom and Google Trends<\/a> suggested I should expect seasonality<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The assumptions have panned out so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this game, you want a niche with as few surprises and unpredictability as possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the total clicks and total impressions the site received from Google in May:<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, I thought that the site had gotten a lift from the update (cue drumroll). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, I checked May\u2019s Bing search traffic in Bing Webmaster Tools and saw an almost identical spike:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spike wasn\u2019t because of Google. <\/p>\n\n\n\n People are searching for answers to outdoor cooking questions during the weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I combine Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools<\/strong> for all my websites. If you notice drops or spikes, you can compare data<\/strong> and sanity-check your assumptions.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m seeing some weirdness in the website\u2019s Ahrefs backlinks profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May, the site got nofollow backlinks from 36 websites with .in domain names. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These websites have the same layout and content. It looks like they crawl Alexa\u2019s list of top 1M domains on the internet and display it in a Web 1.0 link directory-like format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other sites in my portfolio had links like these. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It's hard to tell if it's an automated crawler or a competitor trying to mess up your backlink profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever it is, my solution is always twofold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, I reach out to the contact<\/strong> they provided on the “Remove Link” page and take a screenshot of it as proof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, I go to Google Search Console's Disavow Links tool<\/strong> and update my site's disavow file.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n These days, Google ignores bad links to your site. I\u2019m not worried; even new websites get bad backlinks within weeks (likely due to spun content written by AI tools).<\/p>\n\n\n\n (For example, I have a three-year-old website in a highly competitive niche where people prefer to play dirty than compete fairly. The site\u2019s disavow file contains 1,479 domains.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Did You Survive the May Core Update?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Diversify, and don't keep all of your eggs in one basket.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWebsite Traffic Is Growing!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/KFlxpnXamX_HS7fleN8aC62Keqp4c_PY3MaivPWMbOxAlaqgRuMuYWli8-fgBG5p_r_vCApDskdFZwJdeuJoTUOw3ayH0zX_Mau0C_E2EjiTGNS_5AY3A0xMmYcJMug5VfzBdpaEpYWBH9bXPg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/ob51rFYSTtr_AVcyeZMns4gmF8yQPXnkpUMrAgicywvGNpoeMAJSE0OuHf1GXq2v4tIFRiiopz-Lp2D7L2ws2XQqFDjmTAXajpNo-4kqCOv5SYoSgK7-ivmtnHYzDaCtC4hqF4Y_VjiDZrgnMQ\")
How I Handle Low-Quality Backlinks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/P65ZLqlT1sTACmf1JArpBPdusPLyv8v5-h3b5VRL-4isBxQwD0csItZ_5fJuxFIvhbYAY9PYvtwFIPg4Ib0gH6WlXVdWPqCFe_bB7ynV0c3cFWsSK7iPwULhtvIo4umU4HRPDPaYzdDzmkWEEw\")
LowFruits Tip of the Month<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/coZTDUX3tRUdmgS2snXRDtKsPnGZIhL6jokvXXk4u4D1uN589h8Ys2wDhjr9GSGASzrAKtZQYwKu3rtoh2vwqUrsUIbTSlKxjB34Cfi8yeM1aJS1aye3KycCaLPloRrbmOgE9CZ1VV9Q3HG2gA\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/pLLxBLpopYQxowAvfq6i77ZbVDJqSh4nap5oqLQ96AbPULMF3THlWKcKnOjIhXM2H0KxC67n6ghityQNLUk0Q5bXeiReXMBiFDJE8iZo8w3x6eH_MaH3OVwy5qIT2dgcvfVyj7luDmIzm4y5uw\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/99assZdUA0t5cbPDq7McmftCDly3KBcSCs8yEdnAc4MxZO1LUKhwzBtx1OlLbXhm-ZV3nEVGH4kZsnu-z32_if2ohcIMbjsDzkv84z5ZMO4wE8fJKuA6a4d_k_l9gPFQzjmMXfGHT4LpOm0aHQ\" "\\"Chart\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n