Most of my websites contain Google ads. My main goal in doing so was to generate a bit of additional revenue to cover my direct costs to host the sites and my time to add content and maintain them. For the most part, these goals are met, albeit often only paying me minimum wage for my time.
A couple of months ago, Google announced it changed its search algorithms to give greater credence to “real” content publishers — like me — and less attention to those who merely throw questionable or valueless text online in order to get clicks.
I didn’t give this much thought until I received my most recent revenue check from Goggle. It took a 50% jump! (I’ve since heard that some of the biggest offenders saw a 90% drop!)
This is both exciting and affirming. Goggle implicitly sees value in the content on my sites and is rewarding me for it.
Even so, revenue from Google will never be significant to solely cover the creation and maintenance of informational websites, but it is a nice bonus. I am acutely aware that just as they tweaked their search algorithms to my benefit, they could later do the same to my detriment.
I’m thankful for Google but not depending on them.