bmac27

-Lack of control over schedule/location

-Lack of growth paths at many companies

-Lack of leverage/Inputs match outputs almost 1:1 (sell time, make a dollar)

-Not getting rewarded for the value you bring to a job; instead that value accruing mostly to people above you

-That feeling of being merely a line on a spreadsheet

Over time, I've learned that for some people, articles like this will really resonate and shake them to their core. (I happen to be in that category but I've experienced enough in previous entrepreneurial ventures for this enthusiasm to be tempered a little bit with reality every time I read things like this).

Others will recoil seeing this, their first instinct going to the (very real) risks in leaving that system and conclude they're far more comfortable optimizing for the familiar.

Both reactions are perfectly OK. There's no wrong or right answer. It's just what connects with you, as a person.

The key is to understand that, either way, you're in charge of your career, regardless of what kind of professional setup suits you best and makes you happiest.

It's possible Google devalues those sharing (even inadvertently!) GA tags in the rankings, although I don't think there's been any public proclamations from Google on that. But if that were the sole culprit, only your GA instance would reflect that. The fact that you're losing real traffic (as reflected in what the 3rd party tools are telling you) makes me think that's probably not the case/or at least the only thing that's happening.

Not implementing re-directs would also definitely be a culprit. But if it's just images you failed to re-direct, that's likely not the main thing either unless you were getting a majority of your traffic from Google Images. (check your GA).

Since this happened post-Core Update, I would want to know two things:

1. What keywords dropped and what replaced you 2. Whether the drop was site-wide or isolated to individual categories or groups of pages.

Regarding #1: Was what replaced you a big, high authority publisher? Or was the content simply more comprehensive or otherwise a better match for the user's intent? Very likely could be E-E-A-T-related, in terms of the algos determining that you don't have the authority/expertise to rank for what you were ranking for previously.

Investigate those possibilities first and you should be able to better map out a plan for re-gaining that traffic.

I understand what Matt's getting it with this decree but it's very hard to selectively enforce this in a way that doesn't come off as favoritism towards big brands.

Exactly this. To me, it ceases being a property rights issue when the rights given to the carriers were not granted under market conditions to begin with.

Does that give the government the ability to impose on the carriers whatever it wants in an arbitrary fashion? No. But it does mean that there should be some elasticity in terms of regulatory structure.

A mix of affiliate-driven content sites, abandoned blogs & spam sites, based on some of the searches I did. The broader the category, the more likely I think you are to stumble on something relevant and helpful.

(Also, .gov sites don't seem to have been removed from the index. A search for "type 2 diabetes" still brings a number of results from NIH.gov, mimicking what Google serves up.)

On Twitter, Primack brought up Fab as an example of this kind of company generating news. But the only news I've heard about Fab lately is bad news.

Unfortunately, the time commitment becomes prohibitive to those that have to keep running the job/consulting treadmill and can't fall back on an investment banker salary (or similar) to fund their creative ambitions for a year or more. That unfortunately is the real answer to the post's title.

-I don't have a developer's, investment banker or lawyer's salary to fall back on while I learn to code and/or fiddle around. Any consulting I do, I'd have to do more of living in SF or NYC, which takes time from building the business. Any savings I have gets eaten up faster in SF or NYC and lessens my runway. That's reality.

-I don't need to look for a developer/technical co-founder in order to get started. My Wordpress instance is up and I just write.

-I don't have a trust fund or a rich uncle to mooch off of to help subsidize a lifestyle in either SF or NYC. My parents live on social security and aren't coming to my rescue.

I can understand the point of it not making sense for an already growing (read: revenue producing) startup to move to a cheaper locale. That I get. But I fail to see how you're not aiming high enough by starting out somewhere cheaper. Once you're making enough to where you aren't worried about where your next meal is coming from, then sure, move to SF or NYC. But the argument for not starting it in a cheaper place is flimsy at best and outright bullshit at worst IMO.

I think this is particularly good advice if you're not a developer or aren't able to make the time available to really dig into learning how to code. Odds are you aren't Steve Jobs and won't be able to recruit the technical partner you want to work with to build your uber brilliant idea for reasons articulated here many times before.

There's nothing defeatist about building a viable, cash-generating business in lieu of standing around waiting for the magical technical co-founder of your dreams to fall into your lap. Plus, if you create something of value (be it content or otherwise) in the field you're looking to get involved in, you're much more likely to put yourself in a position to be able to recruit the kind of person you want to work with anyway.