Is blogging dead and why are so many blogs and small independent websites and businesses seeing a huge drop in website visitors<\/strong> or giving up?<\/strong> What does AI have to do with this and should I keep blogging?<\/strong><\/p>\n Early last year I shared with you my struggle to be found on Google<\/mark><\/a><\/strong> after many years of success and positive feedback. That is still a big problem for bloggers and small businesses and independent websites. Organic traffic to our blogs is disappearing fast\u2026<\/p>\n Google search results seem to only focus on big corporations, shopping ads, news sites or Reddit posts<\/strong>. You just can\u2019t compete with them. This is now common knowledge to website owners and bloggers.<\/p>\n I really did not expect what happened in 2024, though\u2026 For the first time since the start of the internet, search engines were under threat<\/strong>. A.I. quickly became the new way to get answers or learn things, fast. I remember hearing people in public last year say \u201cI just asked A.I. how to\u2026\u201d and people I know say \u201cA.I. told me how to\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n How things have changed.<\/strong> Even if you think that you don\u2019t use AI like this or haven\u2019t noticed, this is just the same as email or smartphones. Eventually, it will reach you, every app and major website is adopting AI tech and it\u2019s getting more intelligent every day.<\/p>\n Google and other search engines must have seen a drop in people using them<\/strong> and realised the search engine could be about to become extinct. Google took action quickly. What did they do? They put an AI response at the top of the web search results\u2026<\/p>\n Now users get an answer straight away<\/strong> just like they did with ChatGPT and all the AI apps. They didn\u2019t have to look through search results, read different blog posts or articles and try to figure out what was true or best\u2026 A quick fix that was very short-sighted.<\/p>\n In 2024, this led to a dramatic drop in people visiting websites and blogs in general<\/strong>. I\u2019ve heard the drop in traffic is crippling most information-based websites (where you learn things). Nobody is reading what they wrote or paid a writer to write anymore.<\/p>\n This leads to another issue they don\u2019t seem to have considered (more on this in a moment<\/em>).<\/p>\n I saw this too, views continue to reduce in 2023-2024. See the screenshot above of my website visitors for the last five years <\/strong>to understand what I\u2019m seeing at my end. What Google forgets is we are paying money to have a website and all types of fees such as website security for crickets\u2026<\/p>\n People get annoyed when their social media posts don\u2019t reach anyone anymore but imagine if you paid to have a social media profile? It\u2019s so discouraging and demotivating to experience this. I have kept at it for years, posting twice a month but see no improvement no matter what I do\u2026<\/p>\n What Google and other search engines didn\u2019t think about is who taught AI? It was us<\/strong>\u2026 AI scraped the internet for information written by human beings to learn everything it knows.<\/p>\n AI search results rarely give credit to where the info is from or if they do, few will read the original post as they got the answer anyway\u2026<\/p>\n What is so short-sighted is, if people stop blogging or websites stop paying for hosting as nobody is visiting them, how exactly is AI going to learn anything new? <\/strong>Does Google think we want to put valuable time, effort and money into training their AI responses?<\/p>\n What will they do when everyone stops writing? Because there isn\u2019t much left to justify blogging or writing articles any more when so few people still read them. I really appreciate those of you who do still read my articles<\/strong> but as you can see it\u2019s a fraction of what I saw four years ago.<\/p>\n Right now you know my answer. Definitely not anymore. Maybe things will change? Social media is also a shifting landscape but you have more chance of reaching people there these days as a human being.<\/p>\n I still think a website is useful but not in the way they used to be<\/strong>. They are more like business cards to keep important info or sell products and services. Websites also show you are professional and can help you with getting people to join your email list.<\/p>\n But remember the current low web traffic means fewer people subscribe to anything.<\/em> Websites that sell products seem to turn up in search results but most have to pay for ads to be seen.<\/p>\n For me, I am seeing continued growth on my<\/strong> YouTube channel<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>. This is the only social media site I have which is effective these days. I am able to reach existing and new people. It\u2019s also a new way to share and teach what I know online. It\u2019s also personal and you can see I am not an AI robot, unlike text websites which can be AI-generated now\u2026<\/p>\n Yes, there are AI channels on YouTube but they are not given a higher status than real-life human channels. Also, YouTube lets me stop AI from learning\/stealing from my videos! <\/strong>You have to OPT IN to AI learning, which I can\u2019t see channels wanting to do that.<\/p>\n Right now, I am seriously wondering why I am bothering<\/strong>. I really appreciate those of you who read my blog posts but there\u2019s no growth here. Readers are vanishing monthly, my posts are SEO but nothing is working. I understand the Internet has changed and people learn differently.<\/em><\/p>\n I have a huge free library of crystal healing articles here <\/strong>and I\u2019ve covered so much already. I do struggle to know what to write about sometimes. I\u2019m often left with more obscure topics which are not that popular with readers. Things that would work better for books and courses.<\/em><\/p>\n However, I have very little on my YouTube channel<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>. I haven\u2019t even covered the basics there (cleansing crystals etc). Moving forward, it would make more sense to put my time and energy into that.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what I feel is a better time investment. I\u2019m thinking about perhaps doing 3 videos a month and one blog post for now.<\/strong> Please note that videos take me more time to produce so this will be more work for me.<\/p>\n UPDATE: <\/strong>To be clear I am more than happy to put the time into a YouTube video because it is more rewarding. My videos are evergreen on that platform and the community is very active. Plus since last year I now get paid by YouTube for putting my content on their platform.<\/p>\n Books are selling well worldwide<\/strong> in all formats and bookshops are having a revival.<\/strong> Since I released Crystal Grids Power 2<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>, my book sales have been doing really well and I am very happy with how it\u2019s going.<\/p>\n At some point this year I will be able to dedicate time to an online video course, which I am now capable of putting together because of the YouTube learning curve. <\/p>\n What are your thoughts on AI vs Search, is blogging dead?<\/strong> I would love to hear from you in the comments below (PLEASE keep any questions you have concise and stick to this blog post topic if you want a response)<\/em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for help with something else then please check to see if I\u2019ve already covered it in a blog post by searching my website:<\/p>\n Get Your FREE EBOOK and discover your Guardian Stone HERE<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n With gratitude,<\/p>\n Ethan<\/strong><\/p>\n www.ethanlazzerini.com<\/mark><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n P.S.<\/strong> If you feel I have helped you and you want to support me you could share this post<\/strong>, check out my book<\/mark><\/strong><\/a>s<\/strong><\/mark><\/a> or leave a<\/em>n honest book review<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>. Thank you!<\/em><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 Ethan Lazzerini<\/strong> \u2013 The text and photos should not be used or appear elsewhere without permission from the author Ethan Lazzerini. You can share links to it but don\u2019t copy it! Thank you.<\/p>\nThe Struggle To Be Seen In Search<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Blog](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ethanlazzerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Is-blogging-dead-pin.jpg?resize=606%2C1024&ssl=1\")
The New Problem in 2025<\/strong> is even bigger\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why This Was A Bad Move<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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How This Has Impacted Me As A Blogger<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why This Is So Hurtful To Bloggers & Writers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nShould You Start A Blog?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do You Even Need A Website Anymore?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
On A More Positive Note<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWill I Stop Blogging?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Meanwhile, Books Are Doing Great!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>