Google Has Killed Independent Publishers Like Us, What's Next?

As some of you already know, Google continues bleeding independent publishers dry with their latest algorithm update leaving only large websites to takeover the search engine alongside the help of other platforms like Reddit and Quora. But if I had to be frank, it's mainly large websites alongside TikTok and Threads that are killing us.

It's sort of reached this point where I had to reduce the amount of content going to this site from this point forward while thousands of others are looking to close and just "move on". Something I've read was that a convention was held by the search engine where various publishers affected by this issue attended.

For those relying on SEO agencies are wasting their time, it was made clear that our content wasn't the problem and the few that were fortunate to attend got the vibe that there's no recovering from this.

Below is the current state of various independent publishers 

Another algorithm update is on the way but from what I can only assume this will eat away a large part of the internet. With Google pushing hard on Gemini (AI), we presume they'll want to cut away more smaller websites like ours part of which are still have various pages being ranked within a query.

Now imagine being the only competitor in your niche and now these consumers hoping to find your content when searching the web will find zero results or worse run into another website duplicating your content only for them to also get delisted.

As it stands, it's best we just transition from publisher to content creator so we're focusing on YouTube at the moment and hopefully we can add more to the list.

Bodyslams!: Memoirs of A Wrestling Pitchman (PDF)

They’re held captive by the glamour and the grotesque of the oldest spectacle known to man. But the inquisitive public at large, along with a vast international network of pro wrestling aficionados, yearn for more than the intriguing soap opera scenarios and daring athleticism that they view every week on television and live at venues around the world. They want a behind-the-scenes view beyond what is routinely represented to the public. In short, curious observers and ardent wrestling fans will be captivated by what Gary Michael Cappetta has delivered in Bodyslams! Memoirs of a Wrestling Pitchman. A tome about one of those guys who rents a tuxedo and tells us who's about to enter the ring? How informative could that be? The answer is: “Very, if you open your mind and open the book.” Unenlightened fans may be quick to dismiss ring announcers when considering who is part of wrestling's inner circle. They fail to realize these people occupy the same locker rooms, hotels and vehicles as their athletic counterparts, and deal with the same bosses, road temptations and co-workers. Though a mike man shares only a fraction of the glory, he is definitely “one of the boys.” Originally a schoolteacher, Cappetta spent over 20 years working the wrestling arenas. Starting as a part-timer with the WWWF in 1974, when he was paid the sum of $25 per show, Cappetta stuck with it until he lost his spot in the asylum that was WCW in 1995. It would be an exaggeration to say Gary has known everyone and seen everything - but only a slight one. The author was in the thick of things when Vince McMahon began his take-no-prisoners national expansion, and later watched Verne Gagne destroy the once-mighty AWA and Eric Bischoff resurrect WCW. Who was there when the infamous hotel bloodbath between Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious erupted? Who wound up with Mick Foley's ear when it was torn off in Germany? The only witness to an incident wherein rookie Mark Callaway nearly sent Buzz Sawyer to meet a real undertaker? The one and the same G.M. Cappetta. Bodyslams! seamlessly weaves commentary about the business and the people who populate it, travel tales and insight into the personal life of its author. Unlike many other mat biographies, this is neither a boast or a bitch-fest―and there is no promotion behind the publication attempting to rewrite history to its liking. Bodyslams! is the first book to shed light on the dangerous games that both the performing wrestlers and their corporate employers play in order to acquire power, fame and wealth. The book runs chronologically and serves as both a history and an expose of American wrestling as Mr. Cappetta has witnessed during the three decades he spent as an announcer for America's two dominant wrestling promotions.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer (GBA)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 2000 beat 'em up game developed by GameBrains and published by THQ. Based on the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the game features Buffy Summers, who fights vampires, demons, and other supernatural entities as the Slayer. The player controls Buffy through eight side-scrolling levels, and gameplay centers on one-on-one fights with vampires.

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Sentech's Freevision Delists eMedia's Openview Channels From Their Platforms

Sentech's Freevision which serves as one of the various rivals for eMedia Investments' Openview platform alongside PremiumFree TV started its services back in 2015. Similar to DStv's Easyview package, it mainly consisted of religious and provincial stations alongside various SABC and e.tv channels.

According to several consumers, e.tv channels had been ousted from the platform and this would include eExtra, eMovies and eToonz which serve as the initial offering on the platform. This would only leave mainly SABC channels particularly SABC 1-3, SABC Sport, SABC Education, SABC Lehae and SABC Variety.

eMedia Investments is already running through a similar hurdle with MultiChoice after they made the decision to exclude these services from DStv by 2022. Unlike Sentech's Freevision, these channels have a lot more viewers there of course with its pending demise one could say eMedia Investments is under siege.

With MultiChoice betting their odds on Showmax, Sentech had made similar pursuits with Freevision Play featuring a range of local content from various provincial stations some of which like Cape Town TV were exclusive to DStv.

Freevision Play taps into the same market as SABC+ and eVOD which is free and if we had to compare the three they're all winners in some way. Freevision Play has a catalogue of local content and TV channels, SABC+ is good for sports and local news and eVOD offers a mixture local and international content.

But the reality to all this only one out of three favour eMedia Investments and it's sort of this scenario of them being less reachable by fans. Right now, they're fighting to prevent analogue signals from going off the deep end as there's still households dependant on them for content and contribute to their ad revenue.