Google Zero: A nightmare for content creators on the Internet?

Google Zero – the vision of Google no longer leading users to external websites, is increasingly becoming a reality. Is this the end for small websites and online content creators?

In today’s digital world, Google acts as an invisible platform but has great influence on the entire Internet network. From how websites attract traffic, how they are built to work on the Google Chrome browser, to the online advertising ecosystem, all are governed by this technology giant. The CEO of The Verge has compared that Google operates like a giant platform, so popular and dominant that it is almost “invisible”.

Similar to the relationship between YouTubers and YouTube or TikTokers and the TikTok algorithm, the entire website network can also be considered Google’s “playground”. Online content creators are building their “empire” on this platform. However, what if Google changes the rules of the game?

That concern prompted The Verge CEO Nilay Patel to hypothesize about “Google Zero”. This concept refers to when Google Search stops leading users to external websites and keeps them within its own ecosystem. CEO Patel has repeatedly mentioned Google Zero in conversations with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as media leaders like The New York Times’s Meredith Kopit Levien and Fandom’s Perkins Miller. However, no one seems to have come up with a satisfactory answer, and the media industry still seems confident that it can manage when that time comes.

However, for many small businesses, Google Zero is no longer a distant hypothesis. Gisele Navarro, managing editor of HouseFresh – a website specializing in air purifier reviews, shared her real-life experiences. In an article titled “How Google is killing independent websites like us”, Gisele gave specific figures showing that HouseFresh’s organic search traffic has dropped dramatically. The reason is said to be because big competitors have taken advantage of SEO tricks to gain an advantage, while Google is unintentionally “abetting” this behavior.

Gisele added that in its efforts to fight SEO spam, Google has accidentally made it difficult for small websites like HouseFresh. Google’s algorithms increasingly prioritize displaying content from large and reputable websites, making it difficult for smaller websites to compete in search rankings.

Building an audience on the Internet is more difficult than ever. So what is the solution for online content creators like Gisele? Can they survive and develop in the context of Google increasingly monopolizing the search market? That is the big question that we need to find an answer to.