An SEO professional asked John Mueller during a hangout about competing with other websites as a site that provides poetry for its readers.
So their website is about poetry. For years, their site was leading the poems topic in the search results.
However, in recent years, they found that they are competing with larger media sites that are main websites that have nothing to do with poetry.
But, the sites would include the following: top 10 poetry keywords, one e-commerce site, news sites, etc.
Specific niche sites like theirs would be gone from the search results at the end of the day.
Although they have written about poetry for seven years, websites that actually write poetry that were their rival for years, they have disappeared as well.
And they are not sure what is happening here.
Only large media sites end up being the winner, but they have seen the random e-commerce site beat sites in the health niche, so it’s not always only about e-commerce.
John answered that the tricky part about this is if the content is commodity content, which it sometimes is with these poetry sites, where you’re basically writing poems from authors who are well-known.
The content of the site is something that – one to one – anybody else could have, because it’s in the public domain, or whatever, then John thinks it’s always a tricky situation. It also can be the case that for years there were only a few people who were doing this kind of content.
However, due to the nature of the content, anyone can – essentially – take this poem and publish it on a website, and say “I have a t-shirt with this poem. So I have to put the poem in my description as well.”
These are things where it’s almost a bit on unstable ground where you can build something up. And perhaps for a while, you will be the only one of few people who creates a website like that.
But, in the long run, it’s something where you need to make sure that you’re providing something of significant value so that if someone else, especially a large player comes into the area and also starts including poems in their content, then you can still kind of compete with them on some aspects.
This happens at approximately the 36:25 mark in the video.
John Mueller Hangout Transcript
John (Submitted Question) 36:25
My niche is about poetry and, for years, leading the poems topic in the search results. But in recent years, I found I compete with larger media sites, which are main websites that have nothing to do with poetry, like top 10 poetry keywords, one by e-commerce sites, news sites, news websites.
At the end of the day, a specific niche website like mine will be gone, although I have been writing about poetry for seven years. Websites that actually–that are actually my rival for years, which is the same in my niche, one by one, they disappear.
I don’t know what’s happening here. Only large media sites are the winner, although it’s if it’s an article from an e-commerce site, I also see those e-commerce sites sometimes win on a health topic, so it’s not only about e-commerce.
John (Answer) 37:19
Yeah, I, I honestly don’t know exactly what kind of a website you have. And one of the things that I think is always a bit tricky is if your content is essentially commodity content, which sometimes is with some of these kinds of poetry sites, where you’re publishing poems written by well known authors, for example.
And essentially, the content of your website is something that one to one anyone else could have, because it’s in public domain or whatever, then I think that’s always kind of a tricky situation to be in. And it can be the case that for years, like, there are a few people who are doing this kind of content.
But due to the nature of the content, where essentially, anyone can take this poem and publish it on a website, and maybe say, like, I have a t-shirt with this poem. So I have to put the poem in my description as well. These are things where it’s, it’s almost like a little bit on unstable ground where you can build something up.
And maybe for a while, you’ll be the only one or one of a few people who kind of creates a website like that. But in the long run, it’s something where you need to make sure that you’re providing something of significant value so that if someone else, especially a large player comes into the area and also starts including poems in their content, then that you can kind of compete with them to some extent.
And this is the case with, I think, a lot of content on the web that is almost like this commodity content. And that could be things like poems, it’s like well known sayings, all of these things where essentially the information is available, and anyone can use it.
And usually what I recommend when I see websites like this, and they come to me with general questions is, I recommend that they take the time where they’re actually doing well on the search results and use that to build up and make something much larger.
That essentially provides something significant that other people can’t just copy. Obviously, looking back, it’s a lot easier to think, well, I should have done that. But it’s still something maybe you still have a chance to kind of like go out in that direction. But again, it’s really hard to say without looking at your website if you’re essentially publishing your own poems, and you’re the only person publishing your own poems.
And obviously, that’s a little bit different. But if you’re publishing well known poems by existing authors, and anyone can publish those poems, and it’s, it’s a tricky situation to be in. And sometimes, it’s worth just taking that and saying, Well, I did really good for a while because I was one of the few people to do that. And now I have to find something different to focus on because I don’t want to compete with these larger sites, for example.
