By Chuck Woodbury
Google is messing with us in a bad way. Oh, not just RVtravel.com, but every independent website and blog, and that includes millions like this one. You may have noticed, when doing a Google search, that the result of your query will be displayed instantly, right on the search page: no need to scroll down and choose a website for your answer. If you should ask Google, for example, “What is best, buying a new RV or a used RV?” it will immediately return a complete article, written using artificial intelligence (A.I.). No need to visit RVtravel.com or any other website for your answer. Click the image below to see what I mean.
It’s a long story why Google is doing this: but, in essence, it was forced to by ChatGPT and others that were morphing into search engines on their own, delivering full articles to queries, not just a list of web resources to visit.
A year ago, in a month’s time, if we were to receive one million page views at RVtravel.com from readers who came via our email reminder alerts, we would predictably receive in that same period twice that amount from Google — 2 million page views. So that’s 3 million total views — from our email alerts and Google. Additional traffic would arrive from other sources, but it was nothing compared to Google and our own email list.
Today, with Google’s new way of answering queries right on its website, if we receive that same one million views from our email alerts, we only receive 20% of that amount from Google searches, or 200,000 — down 90% from a year ago.
Our total monthly traffic from Google and our email alerts now totals only 1,200,000. So we’ve dropped from 3 million page views a month to 1.2 million! Imagine you owned a grocery store and your foot traffic dropped by about two-thirds! That’s our situation, and our challenge.
We are lucky
Thankfully, it’s not as bad for us as it sounds because the readers who come to RVtravel.com from our 100,000+ mailing list read about three times as many pages per visit as visitors from Google. And lucky for us, our email list continues to grow, as does our readership. So we are hanging in there quite well, although our work is far more challenging all the time.
Websites and blogs that rely primarily on Google for their traffic are going belly up. Others, to survive, have slashed their budgets, which includes using dirt cheap artificial intelligence to write their articles (instead of real human writers). Those A.I. stories, alas, often contain inaccurate information.
I have a huge interest in all this, and want to write more about it. But this newsletter cannot be the place: it must be primarily about RVing. If you are interested in receiving one or two emails a month from me about how artificial intelligence and other technology is affecting this website (as well as all other online media), please email me at chuck@rvtravel.com and request to be included on this special mailing list. We will also hold regular Zoom meetings that I hope you will attend. And if you have not yet contributed financially to our increasingly challenging efforts to maintain this website, would you please consider doing so?
##RVT1204
It is often said that “word of mouth” is the best form of advertising. Let me be frank and I understand that many readers and the RV Travel staff will disagree with me. Although I am a paid subscriber, I never recommend RV Travel to my associates or people I meet when RVing. It is not that I do not feel it is a useful publication; it is IMO the best online RV publication. I do not recommend it because the deluge of non-RV related ads have diluted the enjoyment of reading it, and ad revenue would likely not be needed if all readers had to pay for it. Simply put, if a reader can afford a campsite or a tank of gas, they can afford a contribution. The RV Staff seems (to be continued)
seems to be more interested in readership numbers than in financial survival. I am an avid bicyclist. I dropped my subscription to Bicycling (magazine) due to to many pages dedicated to superfluous ads and too little informational content.
Wouldn’t it be better to recommend the site and let them decide if the ads bother them? They don’t bother me, I just scroll past them to read the next article!
Exactly!
Carl, with only about 6 percent of our readers supporting us financially, we are forced to run ads. Personally, as publisher of RVtravel.com, I wish we could do away with them, or cut the number of ads at least in half. But most of our readers, by choice or necessity, chose to let the ads pay for their “subscription” much like the model for commercial TV or AM radio. . .Pay to subscribe to Netflix and there are no ads. Or watch broadcast or free cable TV channels and be interrupted by commercials. The challenging part for us when readership declines, our advertising revenue per ad declines. So we are forced to run more ads to pay our bills. — CW, publisher
@Chuck Woodbury, I have to disagree with you on this “Pay to subscribe to Netflix and there are no ads. Or watch broadcast or free cable TV channels and be interrupted by commercials” I pay for Netflix, I still get commercials, same with Amazon and other streaming sites. Also, commercials ARE ads.
Netflix, as I think any streaming service does, has different levels of subscriptions. I do not see ads (aka commercials, adverts) on Netflix. On Prime and Hulu, I do – because I do not pay extra for ad-free. You get what you pay for.
Yea, I understand that, I’m sure we all do. My comment was to show that Chucks statement was not 100% accurate and a bit misleading.
I subscribe to Netflix and pretty much it is the only TV that I watch and I never see ads. I love it except when I have to get up. I used to use the commercials for that.
Thanks for the Great Content and fighting the good fight Chuck!
It’s a great Site!
I’m ok with your ads. I was in business for 34 years and know you have to make money to survive.
Perhaps you should make it clear in every issue that paid subscribers get extra content that is not included in the free issue. In the free issue you could list the articles that they could read if they were paid subscribers.
“deluge of non-RV related ads have diluted the enjoyment of reading it” I have never even noticed ads…until you brought it to my attention! Yeah I see a couple here and there on the side but so what? Perhaps the problem lies on your end? Try an ad blocker on your computer.
The AI written “stuff” at the top of a Google search should be totally ignored and here’s why. My brother had to do some work on his engine. He looked up the torque values for the bolts that secure the top half of his engine intake manifold and read a value which was TOTALLY wrong. He ended up breaking a bolt that went into the bottom half of the intake manifold. Tried to drill it to use an easy-out, broke the bit. He had to order a new lower half of the intake manifold, $80. It cost him extra time waiting for the part plus the cost of the part and his labor to remove the damaged one and install the new one. Oh, the AI listed the torque at 30 foot/lb’s whereas it should have been 7.5.
Curious why your brother simply took the advice without checking at least one other source?My husband who does many “fix-it” projects including cars always looks up several sources for tips or confirmation of his own solutions.
Google is only in business to make money, If they can’t advertise on your site or track our personal information they have no interest in you. I hate Google.
Thanks for this article. I have noticed the change in using Google, and that I must scroll farther down to find the websites I’m looking for, but I had not understood the impact. To your point, the third sentence of the Google AI article you share contains an inaccuracy. After previously stating that new RVs depreciate faster, it states that used RVs “appreciate” more slowly. I’d like to see the used RV that appreciates at all! I’m not ready to trust AI for reliable answers.
A great example of gaining knowledge from multiple sources!
I noticed the same thing. You saved me a response.
I noticed this awhile back, so now I automatically scroll past the first AI and scroll down until I find what I want. Even without this article I think, hope, more people will figure this out.
I agree!
I’m with others on this — when I query Google for something, I automatically scroll past the AI response. Not worth reading at all, IMO.
I do not trust the AI summary. I assume a similar AI is used to select the ads I see.
I do not have a cat nor do not I want a cat, nor does my dog.
A few weeks ago I was searching for Fast Cat AKC events for our dog. The dog chases a lure (white trash bag) over a 100 yard course. Our dogs first two trials average around 25.41 mph (he thanks the squirrels in his yard so are his training partners). So, I was searching for more events as it tires him out and he loves it.
For about 3 weeks now, my ads have been for cat products. No white trash bags, dog leashes, dog toys, timers, lunch box coolers, or other useful items. No website is making money on me for clicks!
I guess the browser trackers have gone to the cats.
😂🤣😂 Love it!
We are in the early stages of a Technocracy. They pay to make the rules and we voted to allow them to do it. They’re absolutely financial criminals on the verge of destroying the economy. The first rule of survival is knowing who your enemies are, unfortunately, In America, the dopes line up and vote against their own interest, both financial and personal freedoms, over and over.
Digital technology, as in the internet, went from the promise of a very useful tool to an annoyance. There are mountains of useful information out there, but it has become dreadful to sort though the ^*#” to find it. For me, any day without the internet is a good day. If someone tells me to visit our website, I’m out.
I stopped using Google for most searches more than a year ago. I switched to DuckDuckGo.com which doesn’t collect personal data and blocks search tracking. It seems to do all it claims. I recommend it.
I use DuckDuckGo too. It’s much better than Google.
I have not been a fan of google’s for a long time because of their targeting advertisements generated form your internet search. The ‘search engine’ I use says they don’t track your searches or browser history. I always utilize the private browsing mode also known as incognito browsing everywhere I can. I was not aware that google was affecting income of websites, but it does not surprise me.
How about an article from you that shares how google and other tech companies track and exploit us with recommendations on what to do!
You can use f* before your search to remove the ai
I tried this and it didn’t seem to work
Well if you are expecting advertising dollars, I block advertisements. The reality is it is a few lines of code to your advertising partner who then on top of paying you for clicks, installs cookies on my machine so they can track my browsing habits. I am currently showing 11 trackers right now on this page trying to infest my computer so you can make less than a penny for my visit.
I also avoid affiliate links like the plague. They often offer discounts you can find elsewhere by giving a portion of the savings to their advertising partner. This causes reviewers to recommend products not because they are the best product, but because the reviewer gets a kickback.
Come to think of it, I would never ask Google for an opinion on something or how to do something. For advice I would ask in a Facebook group that I have joined. For doing something or fixing something, I go to YouTube (or just ask my husband!)
Your common sense is quite refreshing ccg! Sounds like you married well too! 🤗
There are so so so many times when I see complete misinformation spouted by members of Falsebook Groups and the more adamant they are about their answer, the more liklely it’s incorrect. I have even seen some replies in Groups that is downright dangerous.
Sadly, many people are just misinformed.
I’m thinking ccg looks at things logically and with common sense. I agree with you, Tony, an evil has prevailed over our society for a very long time now and too many people have allowed it to fester by simply taking what they read and hear as Truth rather than thinking for themselves, seeking other sources, and making decisions based on their OWN experiences. We are now a society of free thinkers and those who simply follow and we are living the results of it. Awareness is growing and the ship is starting to turn…and every day there is more hope for this insanity and evil to end. 🇺🇸
Duck Duck Go will not store your info or track.
I really dislike Goo gle. I have a Goo gle phone and it tracks everything I do and targets me with ads. I finally figured out how to add Duck Duck Go and use that as my web browser, so the ads have stopped. I don’t understand why Goo gle is now using their own AI generated articles. I can’t figure out the upside. How does it increase their revenue?
I have been using Brave as a private browser…better than DuckDuckGo.
I agree. “Brave” is better yet.
Good to know
Google Search used to be so good, and now it’s so bad. Duckduckgo and other engines are similarly polluted and return poor results.
This is a front end for Google Search, designed to rule out AI results and get rid of the SEO trash that usually appears as ‘top’ results. Tested it with your above question and got good results from a variety of websites. It’s not an ultimate solution, but it may help readers who are sick of getting useless search results.
https://udm14.com/
Does it help to scroll down onto the next couple of pages of google? I never even look at the info on the first page when I have to use google. I sometimes read AI drivel when it is summarizing ratings, just to see how accurate the summary is when I look for myself. Mostly I use Duckduckgo.
DuckDuckGo is far safer and superior just do not trust or use Google ever!!!
I agree. Stop using Google for your searches and change to DuckDuckGo for a more informed answer. Google is destroying small businesses all across America. Google feeds you what they want you to believe. Also try this; have 5 people ask the exact same question to an AI engine at the same time and compare the 5 different answers. It is a great place for misinformation. A good question to start with is this; how long have the Israeli hostages been held by Hamas? The answer is ever since October 7, 2023.
“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” Abraham Lincoln 1870.
This is quite the paradox. A.I. relies on data sources like RVTravel.com to generate replies yet its very usage could ultimately kill its source under current income models. As AI improves its fidelity, I think manual “site surfing” for information will become as obsolete as looking through want ads in a newspaper for a job. With obsolescence looming, I suspect “verified accurate” sources will be paid by reputable chat bots/script for access and misinformation sites will be excluded from the AI’s sources. Today, everything gets polled thus the hit and miss nature of AI but for AI to survive as a viable information source, the inaccuracies must be eliminated. Tighten your chinstrap!
Thank you, Chuck, for explaining at least some of the hows and whys of the damage AI has wrought. Have a great day and safe travels!