Not long ago, I reported that Google blacklisted thousands of independent and small sites prioritising big brands, affiliate links and forums such as Quora and Reddit. Insidus forms part of those sites that were affected by Google's core updates but alas they don't owe us anything in the end.
Remember when eMedia Investments was fighting to retain their 4 Openview channels on DStv. Think of it like this we were eMedia we made several changes to try and enhance reader's experience but in the end MultiChoice who is Google haven't acknowledged these updates.
MultiChoice has stated in court that eMedia has Openview for those looking to watch Elif and Teletubbies but the reality revenue wise would lead a company to scale back on content. This is what happened in Insidus, although all keywords I ranked on were axed the only search queries are those linking back to our website.
Simple terms: User A would type "eExtra" or "SABC" then several pages from my website would come on now that's been reduced to the website name and link which BTW made up a fraction. While some users would discover a brand by name a majority rely on content which is what Google killed off.
When a user types "Bloedspoor eVOD" in the search engine the first thing to pop-up will be videos of Isitha: The Enemy and Kelders Van Gehieme. Although all three are distributed by the same company it has nothing to do with Bloedspoor.
Now the next results are very accurate with the search term but the problem this comes from social accounts two of which are mine but the reality how many Googlers will even click those links. There has been a talk amongst publishers about zero click results.
In recent months, Google has filled it's pages with ads, affiliate links and sponsored content that there has barely been much visibility for actual content outside Quora and Reddit. This is what consumers have felt about DStv's entertainment offering as MultiChoice cuts channels and continues inflating costs.
Similar to how various outlets had stated DStv is losing its prestige as Netflix banks on NFL and WWE with DAZN that acquired FIFA. Google is facing competition from ChatGPT and TikTok as these platforms have found simpler ways to distribute information and aren't clustered with ads.
Even X (Formerly Twitter) could be branded as off as a Google competitor as it's the top platform for micro blogging a sector which Google is destroying and following Musk's takeover offers monetisation features and Grok that would rival with AdSense and Gemini.