My affiliate website went from hot to sunken ship overnight, not sure what to do now?

[babagucci]

Hello AGG fam,

First let me say I hope everyone is having a great summer. Let me give you a quick backstory

About 5 years ago I started a website that I created and was all related to crypto and crypto gaming, wallets etc... I worked on it every night after I got off work for 2 years before It even went live. The site turned out pretty damn good too.

Well after a year of being live and creating content on my websites blog and adding new content to the site every couple of days I started ranking pretty well on Google. I was building relationships with other websites related to mine and was getting solid backlinks from solid websites including two big online casinos that were really popular at the time. I wasn't really making to much with the advertising yet but I was getting referrals.

And then one day Google decided to do some stupid update with their search algorithm and all my work, all my efforts, all the countless hours and money, all my clicks and impressions were gone overnight.
Suddenly I wasn't ranking anymore, my keywords went from top 10 to invisible and let me tell you how defeated I felt and still feel.
Eventually I gave up and stopped updating my site, stopped creating new content and now obviously it's just sitting on the bottom like a sunken ship.

So now I'm not sure what to do. Have any of you guys experience this?
I'm wondering if I should even attempt to renew the website and try to bring it back to life? It been about a year since it happened.

What do you guys think?

 

[steve99]

Sorry to hear that, in 15 years of working in this industry it's happened to me countless times but nothing was quite as devastating as a similar experience to yours, where a crypto site I worked incredibly hard on got wiped out overnight in June 2019. Google just decided to destroy a large proportion of crypto sites. You can see the response of one of the biggest sites at the time which got hit here https://www.ccn.com/ccn-is-shutting-down-after-googles-june-2019-core-update/

Personally, I would just leave the site and move on, maybe Google will give you a reprieve in a future update, often it's just out of your control regardless of what you do.

 

[babagucci]

Hey Steve

Yea that was the same update that ruined my site granted it wasn't nearly as big as some of those that were affected. Wow I can't believe it's been 4 years already since that happened, I didn't realize how much time has actually passed.

I probably will let it stay at the bottom of the ocean lol but It's just even today it bothers me so much after all the work I put into it. I wonder where it could of taken off had that not happened.

Can I ask what would you do in those situation, did you rebuild or move on?

 

[baldidiot]

You can see the response of one of the biggest sites at the time which got hit here https://www.ccn.com/ccn-is-shutting-down-after-googles-june-2019-core-update/

They may have crashed as a news site, but by the looks of it they're doing pretty well as a crypto gambling affiliate site - first page for loads of terms (crypto casinos etc...).

 

[baldidiot]

So now I'm not sure what to do. Have any of you guys experience this?
I'm wondering if I should even attempt to renew the website and try to bring it back to life? It been about a year since it happened.

It depends on the site - are there issues that need fixing? Eg: Does it have bad links, or not enough links, or links that were built too quickly, or unnatural looking links, or weak content, or too many doorway pages, or is the content over optimised?

If there's something that needs fixing, then the first step would be to address that. We had a site that totally crashed and we ended up removing the old tips blog, combining a few pages and generally doing some tidying up and it jumped back in a few months later.

Similarly we had another site that tanked and we suspected it was the links so we redirected it to another domain, waited for it to get indexed and then cut the old links. New site ranked fine (after a bit and some healthier links).

If you're confident that the site is fine and there's nothing to be done with content or links, and it's just google being google, then sit on it. Try not to stress too much. It might come back, it might not.

We had a site that was doing OK, then got obliterated, then came back and become our #1 site for a couple of years, now it's back to doing OK. There's always movement up and down.

 

[steve99]

Hey Steve

Yea that was the same update that ruined my site granted it wasn't nearly as big as some of those that were affected. Wow I can't believe it's been 4 years already since that happened, I didn't realize how much time has actually passed.

I probably will let it stay at the bottom of the ocean lol but It's just even today it bothers me so much after all the work I put into it. I wonder where it could of taken off had that not happened.

Can I ask what would you do in those situation, did you rebuild or move on?

As it's been 4 years, personally, I would move on. But as Baldidiot was saying, you could also try to recover it, I don't know enough details about the site to comment with any accuracy as to how I would see that working out for you, I can say though, mine was a news site with a very strong foundation of natural and high-quality links. I kept going with the site on a lesser scale and managed to claw back all costs involved by ranking for some, what were at the time, relatively obscure gambling keywords. However, the site just continued to sink and I thought my time was better spent elsewhere.

Nice to see that ccn is doing well as a gambling portal now though, I really felt for them, they didn't deserve to be hit imo and it does provide some hope.

I wish you the very best of luck whatever you choose to do.

 

[payme1day]

It's quite sad the power Google have. I know one high-ranking slot site that gets 64% of its 'hits' from non-convertible countries like Bnagladesh and Tunisia and has back links in 5-figures, few of them relevant. But it seems they are playing smart and Google likes it.

 

[Frank]

Have you tries rewriting content? its a competitive keyword and constant updating is needed

 

[danwilliams]

If you are talking about bitcoingamingonline .com, it is not surprising that your site was demoted. It doesn't meet the modern requirements of Google. I am sorry, but the site like this can't compete with other similar sites.

 

[DaftDog]

If you are talking about bitcoingamingonline .com, it is not surprising that your site was demoted. It doesn't meet the modern requirements of Google. I am sorry, but the site like this can't compete with other similar sites.

If you're going to make a claim like that, you should also elaborate a bit and explain your reasoning.

 

[robjmiller84]

Hey Steve

Yea that was the same update that ruined my site granted it wasn't nearly as big as some of those that were affected. Wow I can't believe it's been 4 years already since that happened, I didn't realize how much time has actually passed.

I probably will let it stay at the bottom of the ocean lol but It's just even today it bothers me so much after all the work I put into it. I wonder where it could of taken off had that not happened.

Can I ask what would you do in those situation, did you rebuild or move on?

In a situation like that, the decision to rebuild or move on depends on a variety of factors. If the site held significant potential or was deeply important to you, rebuilding might be a viable option. It would allow you to leverage the experience you gained from the first attempt and potentially rectify the issues caused by the update. On the other hand, moving on could also be a reasonable choice if circumstances have changed, your priorities have shifted, or if the effort required to rebuild outweighs the potential benefits.

 

[AussieDave]

Given your site is powered by Wix (meta name="generator" content="Wix.com Website Builder") and it's competing against sites that are not, I dare say that's half your problem right there.

Wix page builder like so many of this type of software, inserts so much useless, bloating coding.

EG - your body tag begins at line: 249, however your actual instructions (code) to assemble/compile your page does not commence until line: 952.

Granted I can't view the php for the above, but just looking at the code, the amount of bloat is insane. Not to mention I could not find any H (heading tags). I'm actually surprised you got this far with this site.

My advice, kick Wix and go with WordPress. Update your content etc., etc., and then give it another go.

 

[babagucci]

Given your site is powered by Wix (meta name="generator" content="Wix.com Website Builder") and it's competing against sites that are not, I dare say that's half your problem right there.

Wix page builder like so many of this type of software, inserts so much useless, bloating coding.

EG - your body tag begins at line: 249, however your actual instructions (code) to assemble/compile your page does not commence until line: 952.

Granted I can't view the php for the above, but just looking at the code, the amount of bloat is insane. Not to mention I could not find any H (heading tags). I'm actually surprised you got this far with this site.

My advice, kick Wix and go with WordPress. Update your content etc., etc., and then give it another go.

Given your site is powered by Wix (meta name="generator" content="Wix.com Website Builder") and it's competing against sites that are not, I dare say that's half your problem right there.

Wix page builder like so many of this type of software, inserts so much useless, bloating coding.

EG - your body tag begins at line: 249, however your actual instructions (code) to assemble/compile your page does not commence until line: 952.

Granted I can't view the php for the above, but just looking at the code, the amount of bloat is insane. Not to mention I could not find any H (heading tags). I'm actually surprised you got this far with this site.

My advice, kick Wix and go with WordPress. Update your content etc., etc., and then give it another go.

Hey Dave,

Thank you for your advice. I know I heard Wix is terrible when it comes to optimizing websites and there bloat issues. Unfortunately I didn't realize that until after I put all the work into it so I just kept going.

I think I will give it a go with WordPress althought I imagine I'll have to start all over if I do correct?

 

[babagucci]

It depends on the site - are there issues that need fixing? Eg: Does it have bad links, or not enough links, or links that were built too quickly, or unnatural looking links, or weak content, or too many doorway pages, or is the content over optimised?

If there's something that needs fixing, then the first step would be to address that. We had a site that totally crashed and we ended up removing the old tips blog, combining a few pages and generally doing some tidying up and it jumped back in a few months later.

Similarly we had another site that tanked and we suspected it was the links so we redirected it to another domain, waited for it to get indexed and then cut the old links. New site ranked fine (after a bit and some healthier links).

If you're confident that the site is fine and there's nothing to be done with content or links, and it's just google being google, then sit on it. Try not to stress too much. It might come back, it might not.

We had a site that was doing OK, then got obliterated, then came back and become our #1 site for a couple of years, now it's back to doing OK. There's always movement up and down.

Yea there probably are some crappy links along with great ones. When my site was peaking it was linked both ways to Fortunejack when FJ was at it's most popular, it was also linked to coindesk and and a handful of legitimate sites. At this point I don't doubt that there's a ton of broken links and just a bit of a mess on that front.

 

[babagucci]

They may have crashed as a news site, but by the looks of it they're doing pretty well as a crypto gambling affiliate site - first page for loads of terms (crypto casinos etc...).

It was doing well as a crypto affiliate site. I personally was putting countless hours and work into it daily but when my ranking tanked I gave up long ago..now the expiration is coming up and I'm not sure what I should do although you guys have been throwing some good ideas out.

 

[babagucci]

It's quite sad the power Google have. I know one high-ranking slot site that gets 64% of its 'hits' from non-convertible countries like Bnagladesh and Tunisia and has back links in 5-figures, few of them relevant. But it seems they are playing smart and Google likes it.

Agreed, one search engine that can make or break potentially your entire business..

 

[babagucci]

Have you tries rewriting content? its a competitive keyword and constant updating is needed

Honestly I tried here and there but feeling so defeated after the tanking I'm like what's the point..my heart isn't in it like it used to be

 

[babagucci]

Given your site is powered by Wix (meta name="generator" content="Wix.com Website Builder") and it's competing against sites that are not, I dare say that's half your problem right there.

Wix page builder like so many of this type of software, inserts so much useless, bloating coding.

EG - your body tag begins at line: 249, however your actual instructions (code) to assemble/compile your page does not commence until line: 952.

Granted I can't view the php for the above, but just looking at the code, the amount of bloat is insane. Not to mention I could not find any H (heading tags). I'm actually surprised you got this far with this site.

My advice, kick Wix and go with WordPress. Update your content etc., etc., and then give it another go.

Can I ask Dave, if I was to transfer my website and it's content to WordPress would alot of those issues you mentioned above still be present and need to be manually corrected or does WP automatically correct those errors during the transfer?

 

[AussieDave]

@babagucci - Your content is fine, but everything else, would need a new start from scratch. If your unable to save a database with Wix, then you'll need to copy all your content and save it. If Wix does allow you to save a database, you'll still need to go in to that database and remove all the Wix crap.

Probably easier to just visit each of your pages and highlight/copy and past to notepad, then save each page and URL like that.

EG: bitcoingamingonline.com/cryptowallets

 

[DaftDog]

I agree with Aussie Dave. The best route would be the copy and paste one. I would first get all the content ready, then redirect your domain to new hosting.

Another option would be to set up a local host on your PC, I use this software which is free to use https://localwp.com. This will allow you to get familiar with WordPress, choose a decent theme, etc. Then, once you've set everything up, upload your new site to your new hosting.

PS. If you can afford to use a premium theme. I would suggest Kadence theme, you can start with their free theme and upgrade when you're ready.