Have Niche Sites Been Killed By Google’s March 2024 Core Update?
I don’t think so, but others disagree.
So, someone on Reddit decided to make a comment about my site, and we are going to respond to what they have to say. First, here’s what they said:
Good is also subjective. I mean, there was one person on here that was bragging their website wasn’t hit and was made for humans. But it was the most painful thing to open and read. She had unicorns as her pointer. Unicorns! It is a sad day when websites that have not changed since the geocities days rank. But a more modern website doesn’t, because they have an affiliate link, or ad. -SOURCE
Here’s that offending unicorn pointer that offended them so bad:
And here is the reply I sent to them:
Yep. I sold 10 million copies of Unicorn Erotica -print paperbacks — off that website too. Clearly people like it. And THAT was my point. Sites PEOPLE enjoy rank no matter what they are. Make things PEOPLE like and you will rank no matter what it is.
Too many people are worried about what GOOGLE thinks when they should be worried about what PEOPLE think.
People looking for unicorn porn visit my site because I have what those PEOPLE are looking for.
The lesson is to know what YOUR PEOPLE are looking for and give it to them. Forget Google and think about PEOPLE.
ANY niche designed for its target PEOPLE can rank, even a 1990s unicorn site. People here seem to not be able to grasp the point of sites need to know who their target HUMANS are and give those HUMANS what they are looking for to hell with what Google says.
My people want unicorns and glitter, so that’s what I give them, even those it goes against everything SEO experts advise. The problem is SEO experts are so business slaving to Google they forget to think about the PEOPLE who visit their site.
Know YOUR people and give them what they want.
My people want unicorns. What do YOUR people want? Figure it out and give them what they want.
I do not believe niche sites are dead. PEOPLE looking for a niche, WANT that niche. So long as there are HUMANS in search of a topic, no site covering that topic is going to die.
The thing that is dead, is the copy paste regurgitation of the same old, same old. Sites that are pumping out bland content for the sake of blindly pumping out as much content as possible is what is being hit hard.
I move in circles of artists and authors, most in Romance, Erotica, and Fantasy, and I’m not finding any of their sites hit.
Why?
Because their sites are unique, nearly impossible to copy/paste duplicate. They are artists who post portfolios of the work on a personal homepage, authors who put up character lore for novel characters. Sites that deal with catering directly to fans of specific franchises, with the sites run by the franchise creators.
The thing is, these are sites dealing directly with fans of specific authors, specific artists, specific characters. Specific things that HUMAN FANS are looking for. And those fans go directly to the source — the sites of the artist, not affiliates promoting the artist, but the artist themselves.
People who paint, draw, write for a living, sell canvas art, sell paperback books, these sites are NOT hit by this update. And they are niche sites.
Each artist is catering to a specific HUMAN fetish, be it shoe fetishes, furry fetishes, or in my case unicorn fetishes, it doesn’t matter what the niche or fetish is, what matters is that REAL HUMANS are seeking them out and paying money to support the artists behind those websites, buy buying the products off those websites.
That is why those types of sites do not have affiliates or ads. Because they are directly creating an original product that can not be found anywhere else and PEOPLE looking for that product are going to go to the source to buy it.
That is why niche sites are not dead.
There is a local woman, all she does is hand knit lap blankets, and post pictures of them on her site. Her site has seen a massive increase in traffic the last few weeks. She has no ads, no affiliates. Just makes one of a kind blankets for the PEOPLE who visit her site.
Another local guy makes blown glass paperweights. His site has no ads, no affiliates, and it’s just lots of pictures of him blowing glass, and people have him make one of a kind art works for them.
If you are a passionate creator of a product that is unique to you, your niche is going to survive these Google updates, because you have something PEOPLE can get no where else.
But if you are just a gateway to buying tickets, well, think about it from a HUMAN perspective: why should they go to your site and click a link to someone else’s site, when they could just go directly to the source site to begin with?
A SOURCE niche, those are NOT hit.
It’s the gateway sites that exist only to redirect you to the source that is hit.
There are billions of people in the world. And every one of those people wants something. And sooner or later they will go online to find a place to buy that thing, whatever it may be.
It is our job as site creators to find the thing we ourselves are passionate about, and MAKE THAT THING OURSELVES so that we can then sell it to OTHER PEOPLE who ALSO want that thing.
Me? I love unicorns. No secret there. I draw unicorn art. I paint unicorn art. I make unicorn gifs. I write unicorn novels. I published my first unicorn book in 1978. Long before the internet existed. So I already had unicorn fans following me BEFORE I joined the internet in 1996. Since 1996 my site is update DAILY. New art, new articles, new paintings, new short stories, new novels, lately 3d printed figurines, SOMETHING is added EVERY SINGLE DAY for 28 years now. And my readers, who are fans of unicorns, return every day to see what is new. They bookmark my site and don’t even bother with Google to get to it.
What do you LOVE?
Whatever that is, no matter what it is, THAT is what YOUR niche should be.
So long as there are people who are passionate about what they do, niche sites will never die, because passionate people seek out others who are passionate.
People who love unicorns, love my work, and visit my site daily, because I love unicorns and they know they will always find something new every day.
That is what niche sites need to do. You need to take your passion and run with it, and seek out others who love that same passion.
PEOPLE.
That’s the key.
Make your site for PEOPLE.
Why is that so hard to understand?
I think a lot of the problem is people seem to not know what the word niche means. Niche means “a small subset set”. If you have a niche site you are targeting one, little, itty, bitty, tiny subset of people, NOT the mainstream masses.
I forget who wrote it, but somewhere out there is the concept of “1,000 true fans” Look that up. Apply that to your site. That’s what I did.
I did not try to make a site for the mainstream. My site is about unicorns for crying out loud! The mainstream isn’t flocking to unicorns. But Bronies are. Unicorn Furries are. Readers of horse related Monster Porn are. I don’t target EVERYONE on the planet. I just target the few people who happen to be fans of unicorns.
That’s the whole idea behind “1k true fans”. You do not NEED to target everyone on the planet to make an income. You only need to target the one thousand people who rabidly want what you enjoy creating.
Niche’s are not dead. It’s the oversaturation of mass marketing to the mass public, spreading yourself too thin, and NOT focusing on a small niche that is dead.
LOOK at the sites which CLAIM to be “niches”! They are NOT niches. If your “niche” has millions of keywords and millions of hits, it’s not a niche. Niches are NOT big. Niche MEANS small.
What is the one thing that YOU do every day, because you ENJOY doing it? Do you read comics? Do you play golf? Do you grow roses? Whatever THAT THING is, that is the thing you should create a niche site about. Because you LOVE it and you are willing to do it for free, so, you can write about it on a site, take pictures of you doing it, make videos of you doing it, create a product related to it, sell that product via GumRoad. Find the one thousand people out there who ALSO do that hobby and want to talk about that hobby with you, on your site.
A tight knit, small niche, is a small group of people who share a passion for a narrow focused thing.
If you want to succeed at niche sites, you NEED for it to be an ACTUAL NICHE.
That’s the problem here. Most of these sites claiming to be niches are NOT niches and don’t know what the word niche means.
Find your PEOPLE, people who share your passion for your hobby, and cater to JUST THEM ONLY — and you WILL succeed with a niche, no matter what their niche may be, no matter how silly or goofy the mainstream thinks that niche is. If you have 1k true fans, it doesn’t matter what the masses think.
Do YOU think niche sites are dead?
You can find out more about me and my books at eelkat.com.
Because there is such a HUGE problem of people making fake “eelkat” accounts impersonating me, here are the links to my ACTUAL accounts:
eelkat.com | Amazon AC1 | FB Profile | FB Page | FB Short Story Writers Group | Google Business | Google Developers | Gravatar | GumRoad | Instagram | Itch.io | LinkedIn | LiveJournal | Medium | Myspace | NexusMods | OnlyFans | PayPal | Pinterest | Quora | Reddit 1 | Reddit 2 | Spoonflower | Steam | TikTok | Tumblr | Twitch | Twitter | YouTube | Zazzle |
If you find an account online claiming to be me, that is NOT one of these profiles linked above, there is a 99.99% chance it is a FAKE account impersonating me and only a .001% chance it’s actually me and I just forgot to link it here.
Also, I do not have or use email, nor do I have or use a phone. So, any and ALL texts or emails you get claiming to be me are fake as I’ve no ability to text or email anyone.
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