In my last email (which you can read here), I shared my theories on why the Barbell Medicine site has been absolutely crushing it recently.

I explained how Barbell Medicine started out as a simple blog 10 years ago, but slowly grew into a trustworthy brand with far more to offer than static informational content.

I concluded that Google is now looking to reward sites like Barbell Medicine that go above and beyond what 99% of sites do.

After I sent the email, I got several responses I want to address. I decided to share my answers as a general email so everyone can benefit.

If a few people sent me the following concerns, certainly a lot more have the same concerns but didn’t bother to write me.

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My thoughts:

The point wasn't that it takes 10 years to rank on Google, it was that Google is now ranking sites like Barbell Medicine that are real businesses. I think if you build a business that has a lot more to offer than just static informational content, you'll be in a very good position SEO-wise.

But yes, it's definitely hard to rank on Google, especially now that the content that ranks is mostly from legit businesses and not affiliate/ad blogs. For those types of sites, alternative traffic sources like Pinterest and Facebook are far more effective.

(Side note, if you’re planning to learn Facebook traffic generation, this course will save you TONS of time).

My thoughts:

I also know of many great websites with fantastic content from real people that were obliterated by the latest updates.

But were those sites actual businesses, selling their own products?

Did they have a large amount of content and business assets/offerings outside of the text-based content on their blog? Remember, Barbell Medicine has a well-loved podcast (1K+ reviews on Spotify!), multiple social media accounts with tens of thousands of followers/subscribers, an active community forum, a strong fitness coaching business with multiple experienced coaches, and even their own LIVE, in-person seminars!

I’ve been tracking 20,000 websites since the start of the March Core update. I haven’t seen a single site like Barbell Medicine get hit.

The good sites that got hit don’t come close to Barbell Medicine either in content distribution and variety, OR “reason to exist” (not sure what to call it lol). Most sites that got hit primarily offered static informational content. Written text was the main business asset.

Is it fair or right that those sites got hit? Absolutely not. But is there a clear pattern that would explain “why” they got hit? Absolutely! I think Google messed up big time with their latest few updates, but as an SEO with a decent sized audience, it’s my job to figure out what Google is rewarding now and report my findings to you. We’re all mad at Google right now, but at least we have a sense of what Google wants from us.

My response:

As mentioned earlier, I’ve been tracking 20,000 websites since the start of the March Core update. The sites that benefitted from the update followed a clear pattern. Barbell Medicine was a good example to share, as it follows that pattern perfectly.

I’ve written in depth about many other sites that benefitted from the March Core update. You can read about those here, here, and here. I also share some losing sites (and a couple more winners!) here.

It’s true the analysis of Barbell Medicine lacked comparison - but in the links above, you’ll see a bunch more sites to compare it to. And I definitely didn’t make assumptions based on Barbell Medicine alone. Go read those past emails, and you’ll see that there is, indeed, a clear pattern.

Hopefully this clears things up. If you have any other questions, feel free to reply and ask!

By the way, I have two polls today. I’d especially love an answer on the first one. Not many people participate in polls, so yes, your single answer will make an impact.

Thanks for reading,

Ian

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