Gannett Shutting Down Reviewed Is Unsurprising and More Will Follow
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this industry, it’s that the herd will rush to the latest idea if there’s money to be made. SEO-driven review sites were one of the significant ideas that many publishers adopted.
The model was simple: write a review about a product—regardless of testing it—and link to an ecommerce site. The goal? A user would click the link, buy it, and you’d get a commission. Unlike the ad business, which was fading for many consumer publishers, affiliate marketing could be a great revenue source.
Unfortunately, with so many publishers creating reviews, it became a game of ranking for keywords instead of building a loyal audience. It was more about arbitraging clicks into sales. Big media companies acquired review sites and used their strong domain authority to strengthen these sites, helping them rank.
The problem is that when your business is dependent on rankings, you are subject to the whims of Google.
Well, Google changed how it ranks things. Many sites have seen big drops in traffic while some others—Reddit, most specifically—has seen large increases in traffic. And if you don’t have traffic coming in, it’s very hard to generate revenue. Eventually, it might just not be worth doing anymore.
On Monday, Gannett sent a memo announcing that its review site, Reviewed, was shutting down on November 1st. According to a leaked memo:
Google’s constant algorithm changes have degraded our current business model, and our ability to operate Reviewed effectively.
According to The Verge:
“After careful consideration and evaluation of our Reviewed business, we have decided to close the operation. We extend our sincere gratitude to our employees who have provided consumers with trusted product reviews,” Reviewed spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón told The Verge in an email.
What worked in the past might not work now. On Monday, AMO published a piece on the current winners and losers of Google’s recent algorithmic update. And as Lily Ray, vice president of strategy and research at Amsive, said:
It’s [Google] not going after individual niches. It’s going after websites that drove a ton of traffic and had affiliate links and display ads. The sites themselves were engineered to make money off the SEO.
At the end of the day, Reviewed is full of affiliate links. Its sole purpose is to make money off SEO. Then there was Cyrus Shepard, founder of Zyppy SEO, who said:
I think SEO has a long life for promoting businesses, but if I were to start a site today, I’d focus on publishing content that is unique to the degree that other people (or AI) couldn’t replicate.
Go to any of these review sites and it is clearly evident that the content can be easily replicated. And in some cases, there are publishers outright using AI to cut costs and maintain margins.
So, what should publishers do? There are two options here.
One way is to evolve the business model. For example, in its Fiscal 2023, Consumer Reports generated $122.8 million in online subscription sales. Wirecutter is now a key part of The New York Times’ bundle. However, to accomplish this, the brand needs to be strong. For a reviews site, trust is crucial.
The problem is that people are not always in the market for new stuff, so getting them to subscribe is tricky. I suspect in the case of The New York Times, it’s less about acquiring entirely new subscribers and more about retaining current bundle subscribers, which can be difficult.
The second path is to niche down. Publishing generalist reviews in 2024 doesn’t help anyone. However, being the only one who can truly review a specific category gives you an advantage. The problem is it might not give you the scale, so finding that balance can be challenging.
The reality is, we know niche is what Google is pushing for. As Shepard told AMO:
In travel niches, Google seems to favor geographic specificity more. For example, a website specifically about New York City seems to have a clear advantage over a site that covers multiple New York travel queries.
It’s the same for affiliate sites.
What worked before may not work in the future. Reviewed shutting down is just the start. We may not even hear about it since these affiliate sites are buried within more prestigious publications. But if traffic drops, the monetization will decrease. And when that happens, we need fewer people to review stuff.
