Is it still worth it to create content sites in 2023?

[Execute]

Guys, is it still worth it to create content sites in 2023?

With all the headwinds facing creating content sites currently, ....ranging from AI generated content and ChatGPT causing proliferation of AI content and also reducing traffic by indirectly stopping people from googling their questions, google indexing issues getting worse, google algorithm dancing yoyo with sites rankings, google updates getting worse and kicking even legit sites traffic to the curb, etc.

With all these going on, do you still think it's advisable to create a content site?
Would you honestly create one if you were starting afresh now?

Just curious as to what people on here generally think, as this is an SEO forum and a forum that deals a lot with content sites.

PS: I noticed Empire Flippers hardly lists content sites these days, unlike before. It may be related to the above issues, I don't know.
So what do you guys think?

 

[GNews]

I had these types of thoughts 4 -5 years ago.

BUT.... the truth is...

Content sites don't stop.
Quality is king.
Even if Google goes, you can find traffic leaks to build your brand, just make sure you offer a useful product.

There's always new niches to develop.

Cryptos for instance, people are making money over fist selling guest posts -- Did you hear about how much FTX ( i think) was paying The Block?

Or even Sports sites. They make tons of money from un-banned PEDs and other supplement ads

Oof! And let me not forget the banking sector. Digital banking is exploding right now too.

Content sites are doing fine. Quality and connection to the reader is more important than every imo.

If you know what you're doing, you can make money. I find that 'half-assed' projects are getting booted faster than ever though. People trying to cut corners are getting exposed in less than a year from most projects Ive seen.

 

[freshpeppermint]

On empireflippers I am seeing content sites and amazon fba. What are you talking about?

Unfortunately, as it gets more competitive in the niche site space, your going to have to keep upping the quality. Which I feel is the main pain in the ass.

 

[makoloko]

There's lots of wild speculation about what's going on, with lots of smart-sounding theories. It's the narrative fallacy. Our brains can't handle uncertainty very well.

Starting a site (or any business) is a calculated risk. Hedge against downside risk. That's how you deal with uncertainty. If the site fails, so what? Your downside is protected and you live to fight another day.

I hope all my competitors think they're doomed and give up.

 

[Execute]

Content sites are doing fine. Quality and connection to the reader is more important than every imo.

The bolded seems to be the opposite of what I've seen in recent months both here and on other places, and what I have also experienced myself.
Most people's sites are experiencing a major haircut in traffic, for reasons that are not fully explainable yet, though possibly due to the points I mentioned.
So it makes me wonder whether this is just a transient downturn or the beginnings of an obvious progressive slide down towards the end of regular content sites as we know it. Especially given AI coming into play.

Because business models come and go with time, in the grand scheme of things. For example physical CDs and DVDs used to be a standard business model in their heydays at the time, but was simply obliterated by advancing technology.
Same thing with print newspapers.

So I'm wondering whether the same thing is beginning to happen to content sites.

So I said let me see what more experienced minds than me think on the matter.

It matters if you're considering creating new content sites, as you wouldn't want to be creating a new site at the beginning of a general downturn in the industry, which is why I asked whether you would still create a new content site in this day and time.

On empireflippers I am seeing content sites and amazon fba. What are you talking about?

Unfortunately, as it gets more competitive in the niche site space, your going to have to keep upping the quality. Which I feel is the main pain in the ass.

I had been popping into the Empire Flippers marketplace every once in a while.
And I noticed that before, say as at 2020-2021, the ratio of ecommerce sites to content sites listed was roughly 50:50, more or less equal numbers or close.

But in recent times, say in the past 2-3 months or so, that ratio has skewed markedly so that they now list like 80-90% ecommerce sites, and 10% content sites. In fact on some particular weeks, I could only see 1 or 2 content sites listed.
And it wasn't like that in times past.
So it got me wondering.

Though in fairness to you, you're right because as at today cos I just checked now, and they have equal numbers of content and ecommerce in the 10 new sites listed this week.

But if you want to see what I'm saying in terms of disproportion, click through to see all 156 listings currently (not just the 10 new sites listed this week), and compare the ratio of ecommerce sites to content sites.
It never used to be that way before.
They used to be in almost equal proportions.
In fact, at some point late last year I started wondering whether EF had banned listing content sites completely.

There's lots of wild speculation about what's going on, with lots of smart-sounding theories. It's the narrative fallacy. Our brains can't handle uncertainty very well.

Starting a site (or any business) is a calculated risk. Hedge against downside risk. That's how you deal with uncertainty. If the site fails, so what? Your downside is protected and you live to fight another day.

I hope all my competitors think they're doomed and give up.

Yes, I understand every business is a risk.
The issue is whether the benefit outweighs the risk in the particular business model, that's what determines whether something makes business sense or not.

How do you hedge against downside in this scenario? How do you protect your downside? I'll love to know.

And would you start a new content site in this day and time?

 

[Breen]

As a noob to this stuff, I couldn't say either way, but as a searcher, I can say that as time goes on, more and more I'm inclined to look for YT videos as opposed to text. Of course it depends on what I am looking for at the time, but often, I'd rather have someone explain something on video, than have to comb through mounds of text. The downside to that, is there are a many idiots droning on about nothing and taking forever to get to the meat. Anyway, the point is that I think for many niches it's probably likely that the future is more and more dominated by video. But I'm just guessing based on my own search behavior and that of a few others I know.

 

[GNews]

As a noob to this stuff, I couldn't say either way, but as a searcher, I can say that as time goes on, more and more I'm inclined to look for YT videos as opposed to text. Of course it depends on what I am looking for at the time, but often, I'd rather have someone explain something on video, than have to comb through mounds of text. The downside to that, is there are a many idiots droning on about nothing and taking forever to get to the meat. Anyway, the point is that I think for many niches it's probably likely that the future is more and more dominated by video. But I'm just guessing based on my own search behavior and that of a few others I know.

I def thinking media content is important now. Having an audio version of news can increase user time on site and video content the same plus they are viable traffic leaks

 

[makoloko]

How do you hedge against downside in this scenario? How do you protect your downside? I'll love to know.

And would you start a new content site in this day and time?

Yes, I'd start a new content site. I'm continuing to build my site full force right now through the shit storm. If I thought this was no longer viable, I'd pull the plug. Same logic as starting a new site: will this pay off in the future? I believe so.

I hedge against downside risks with redundancy. note: i mentioned this in another thread.
1. Multiple income sources
2. Big pile of cash.

Shit is hitting the fan right now (for over a year) and this redundancy is keeping me afloat and allowing me to continue building up constantly.

What's the opposite? Relying 100% on the revenue from the content site + having no cash buffer. In other words, when shit hits the fan, you're done.

 

[Breen]

Here's another small piece of evidence. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links yet, but there is a YT video called "Project 24 After 4 Years" by a guy named Jasper Pieterse. It's a review about Income School, which is a site where they've been teaching people how to make and profit from niche blogs. I'm not a member, but I've seen several videos from them, and about them.

In the latter half of the video, he gives the cons of joining the site, and one thing he talks about is that many members have lost a lot of traffic in the recent updates, and that their blogs do well for a while, and then fall off. This includes the sites that Income School themselves have built. On the other hand, he says that they are now teaching a lot more about making YT channels, and the members that have done that are doing better with their channels, than they are with their blogs.

One thing to consider though, from what I gather from the comments on his video, they teach people to churn out large numbers of articles of somewhat questionable quality. So it may just be a matter of content sites needing higher quality content to succeed moving forward.

 

[DanielS]

People have been asking questions like this since 2012 and will still be doing so in 2025. There's your answer.

 

[MrMedia]

I wish I could publish my next ama but I’m slammed. In short… the answer….. is multiple 7 figures worth of yes. Will update properly soon.

 

[JOoa0ky]

Is it worth it to create a content site in 2023?

In my opinion the answer is a resounding YES.

The opportunity and scalability are things that you won't really find anywhere else. Let's run through some key points and benefits:

• Start up costs are next to nothing.
• You can work on it on the side in parallel with your 9-5.
• You can scale it well beyond what you could've imagined.

Where else are you going to find a business that will permit you to do those things?

Let me put it into perspective for everyone here. When I finished all of my schooling and training, I was close to -400k in the hole. I found a job working for someone else 5 days a week. Wasn't very happy about my situation so I decided to start my own business. Took out a 500k loan to build one from scratch.

Estimates for cost and timeline were FAR off the mark. Time it took to actually open took twice as long... Costs were about 30% more than estimated... I had to work 7 days a week and live with my parents in order to meet monthly debt obligations. Every dollar that came in went right out.

What's the risk if I fail? Bankruptcy court. Lose everything and the credit score goes to zero. Won't even be able to open a credit card for 8-10 years.

---

Now back on the topic of starting a content site... You have NONE of that risk. Zero. Zilch. Nada.


The most important question to ask yourself is, If you weren't spending time creating a content site do you have a brighter alternative use of your time?

If you don't, then get back to hitting that fking publish button.

 

[Execute]

Here's another small piece of evidence.

Interesting point. Seems like having a Youtube channel now is what creating a content site was like about a decade ago.

People have been asking questions like this since 2012 and will still be doing so in 2025. There's your answer.

Not necessarily so. The changes in conditions in this past 1-2 years are significantly more than they ever were, and warrant a closer examination of the business model to be sure it's still viable. So that one is not acting simply based on past precedent aka "blogging has always worked so it must continue to work".... It may not necessarily work out that way.

I wish I could publish my next ama but I’m slammed. In short… the answer….. is multiple 7 figures worth of yes. Will update properly soon.

Wow, if MrMedia says so, then that's a strong point.
Please do publish your AMA or an update soon, our ears and eyes are wide open.

Is it worth it to create a content site in 2023?

In my opinion the answer is a resounding YES.

Now back on the topic of starting a content site... You have NONE of that risk. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

The most important question to ask yourself is, If you weren't spending time creating a content site do you have a brighter alternative use of your time?

If you don't, then get back to hitting that fking publish button.

Lol, good points raised in your post.
As to the bolded, well, things like ecommerce sites and youtube channels could possibly be a better use of time... But I don't know for sure anyway.
But your points are well noted, and they make a lot of sense.

 

[DanielS]

Not necessarily so. The changes in conditions in this past 1-2 years are significantly more than they ever were, and warrant a closer examination of the business model to be sure it's still viable. So that one is not acting simply based on past precedent aka "blogging has always worked so it must continue to work".... It may not necessarily work out that way.

Does the Panda update ring a bell? The Penguin update? Massive disruptions have occurred since 2011, and they have wiped many people out. Everyone has had to adapt multiple times for over a decade now. Don't you think people using link wheels and utilizing keyword stuffing were saying the same things that people are saying now about AI? An old saying comes to mind, "SEO is dead, long live SEO."

 

[JanLG]

Hi,

funny that you mention Jasper. He is a friend of mine and we talked blogging quite a lot in the recent years.

I have also been an income school member for a few years now.

Since Jim (the original founder of IS) left, the course and community has not been the same imo. Also, the focus has clearly shifted towards Youtube instead of blogging.

There are still some big players that are extremely successful with their blogs (500k - 1Mio PVs/month), but a lot more members reach $4k+ with their YT channels in the community.
It is an interesting thing to see.

Income school actually focusses heavily on high quality content with original research.
It is definitely not about content volume but about quality.
In his newest video the current owner Ricky talks about publishing 170 articles in 3 months to front load a site.
I bet this sounds like a joke to some of you, especially someone like @MrMedia who publish that amount of articles in a week.

The focus on quality leads to a lack of focus on other areas.
Backlinks, technical SEO, etc are neglected in my opinion. "Produce higher quality content. You don't need anything else." Is basically the consensus.

 

[MrMedia]

Hi,

funny that you mention Jasper. He is a friend of mine and we talked blogging quite a lot in the recent years.

I have also been an income school member for a few years now.

Since Jim (the original founder of IS) left, the course and community has not been the same imo. Also, the focus has clearly shifted towards Youtube instead of blogging.

There are still some big players that are extremely successful with their blogs (500k - 1Mio PVs/month), but a lot more members reach $4k+ with their YT channels in the community.
It is an interesting thing to see.

Income school actually focusses heavily on high quality content with original research.
It is definitely not about content volume but about quality.
In his newest video the current owner Ricky talks about publishing 170 articles in 3 months to front load a site.
I bet this sounds like a joke to some of you, especially someone like @MrMedia who publish that amount of articles in a week.

The focus on quality leads to a lack of focus on other areas.
Backlinks, technical SEO, etc are neglected in my opinion. "Produce higher quality content. You don't need anything else." Is basically the consensus.

The trick is quality at massive volume. Get both parts right and you are golden. Harder to achieve than most anticipate.

 

[Prentzz]

The trick is quality at massive volume. Get both parts right and you are golden. Harder to achieve than most anticipate.

How many words are you publishing per week and is it all written by humans? Willing to share how much you pay per 100 words?

 

[MrMedia]

How many words are you publishing per week and is it all written by humans? Willing to share how much you pay per 100 words?

Depends on the life cycle of the site. At my peak I was doing 75k words per week all quality all human.

 

[Pain_monster]

Guys, is it still worth it to create content sites in 2023?

With all the headwinds facing creating content sites currently, ....ranging from AI generated content and ChatGPT causing proliferation of AI content and also reducing traffic by indirectly stopping people from googling their questions, google indexing issues getting worse, google algorithm dancing yoyo with sites rankings, google updates getting worse and kicking even legit sites traffic to the curb, etc.

With all these going on, do you still think it's advisable to create a content site?
Would you honestly create one if you were starting afresh now?

Just curious as to what people on here generally think, as this is an SEO forum and a forum that deals a lot with content sites.

PS: I noticed Empire Flippers hardly lists content sites these days, unlike before. It may be related to the above issues, I don't know.
So what do you guys think?

I create content sites purely for myself and my family.
For example, I have some dedicated to deceased family members, or pets. I also keep a travel site with photos from my vacations and experiences.

lastly, I created a site for work that emulates an Amazon product page which showcases myself as a sort of online resume. It works, too, I get a lot of traffic there, and plenty of job offers.

 

[Execute]

Does the Panda update ring a bell? The Penguin update? Massive disruptions have occurred since 2011, and they have wiped many people out. Everyone has had to adapt multiple times for over a decade now. Don't you think people using link wheels and utilizing keyword stuffing were saying the same things that people are saying now about AI? An old saying comes to mind, "SEO is dead, long live SEO."

Panda and Penguin had clearcut criteria for having your sites axed, unlike now that the criteria are so nebulous that no one knows what exactly is going on.
That's a major difference. No one can confidently explain a lot of what's going on now.

 

[illmasterj]

Your "evidence" is a guy on YouTube talking about some community members that said stuff, and other members of other communities that said stuff.

The single best thing I have done is monitor SERPs and committed competitors. That is where your answers lie.

 

[Execute]

Your "evidence" is a guy on YouTube talking about some community members that said stuff, and other members of other communities that said stuff.

The single best thing I have done is monitor SERPs and committed competitors. That is where your answers lie.

I'm not sure if you were replying to me or not, but just in case you were.... No, my evidence is not just from those places you mentioned. My evidence is primarily from multiple threads and posts on this very forum, and from my own personal experience, even before other forums and communities come into consideration, which also contribute to the evidence that drives my question.
PS: I never even mentioned Youtube in all my posts here, except in response to someone's comment on it.

I'm also interested in what @Ryuzaki had to say on this, please Ryu if you don't mind, kindly share your thoughts on the topic.

 

[CCarter]

multiple threads and posts on this very forum

The people complaining on this forum about indexing problems always seem to only be doing SEO as their ONLY marketing channel. There is no brand signal to Google that this brand/website/domain is worth being indexed.

All the people complaining are using a 2007 SEO playbook and are confused why in 2023 it's not working.

I always ask the same questions, thinking, "maybe this time it's different with this guy's problem."

Nope.

Most people having problems, indexing primarily, having glaring obvious problems. And they all revolve around brand signals being non-existent.

Do you think Google would take the time to create Twitter carousels, YouTube carousels, Pinterest carousels, TikTok carousels,Google News groupings, People Also Ask Questions, Wiki content, and all the other types of media and NOT use those brand signals within their main index?!?!

Wouldn't activities on those platforms, especially recent activities, showcase this is a brand worth monitoring?! The answer is glaringly obvious.

I'll answer the OP question, is it worth it to create a content site in 2023? No, not if SEO is your only marketing path to generating traffic.

If you treat it as a business with multiple sources of traffic through different marketing channels, magically the SEO kicks in - better than you can imagine, almost as if Google is monitoring brand signals...

 

[Execute]

The people complaining on this forum about indexing problems always seem to only be doing SEO as their ONLY marketing channel. There is no brand signal to Google that this brand/website/domain is worth being indexed.

Hmmm....this is true, at least for me personally in my own experience.
And like you said it probably applies to a lot of other people on this forum as well.
(Those that disagree with what you've said, from their own experience can state their own experience, but for me, this is actually true.)

I had always felt the indexing issues and falling out of SERPs seemed to be completely random and had no apparent pattern or cause, as it was affecting even totally legit white hat sites, but this makes sense, especially since you say you've actually observed this as a pattern.

Many thanks for pointing it out and putting it so clearly in your entire post.

I know what to do going forward.

That's why I posted this question here, to get the points of views of more experienced people.
Many thanks once again.

 

[illmasterj]

I'm not sure if you were replying to me or not, but just in case you were.... No, my evidence is not just from those places you mentioned. My evidence is primarily from multiple threads and posts on this very forum, and from my own personal experience, even before other forums and communities come into consideration, which also contribute to the evidence that drives my question.

My point is: you are still using anecdotal evidence. Just because my site gets hit by Google doesn't mean "SEO is dead". It can just mean that my strategy is dated or something else.

If you want to make a considered decision I'd more be asking: "Who is winning the content site game in 2023? What strategies are they using? Can I replicate that strategy with my budget/experience and does the ROI make sense?