the ghosting of 20 web creators

Unbiased publishers who attended Google’s October 2024 Internet Creator Summit describe being silenced and ignored 17 months later as AI options devour their site visitors and their companies collapse.

In October 2024, Google invited 20 impartial net publishers to its Mountain View headquarters for what the corporate described as a “Internet Creator Dialog.” Seventeen months later, two of these creators – Mike Hardaker of Mountain Weekly Information and Rutledge Daugette of TechRaptor – have gone public on LinkedIn and in inside paperwork with detailed accounts of what occurred earlier than, throughout, and after that assembly. Their testimonies, supported by knowledge and a LinkedIn put up from Hardaker that has since accrued 275 reactions and 47 feedback, paint an image of an trade in acute misery and an organization that, based on the publishers, didn’t act on what it heard.

The summit and its aftermath

The Web Creator Summit took place on October 29, 2024, at Google’s Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Based on a number of accounts from attendees, Google’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan organized the occasion and hand-picked creators whose websites had been affected by the Useful Content material Replace, or HCU. Publishers paid their very own option to attend. Based on Morgan from Charleston Crafted, who attended, she paid over $400 out of pocket. Josh Tyler from Large Freakin Robotic described Google offering solely a fundamental lodge room and one coach flight, with attendees overlaying remaining prices themselves.

What they heard contained in the room was stark. Based on a PPC Land analysis of the summit, printed November 1, 2024, based mostly on Marie Haynes’ reporting, Google senior govt Pandu Nayak admitted that whereas creators have been producing “nice content material,” the corporate’s techniques struggled to floor it successfully to customers. Danny Sullivan acknowledged that many affected web sites had “nothing fallacious” with their content material. Regardless of in-depth evaluation and what Google described as “question debugging,” engineers have been unable to pinpoint the precise explanation why some web sites have been negatively impacted.

The messages delivered to publishers have been equally direct. A brand new rating replace was coming “very quickly,” however creators shouldn’t anticipate restoration. Any suggestions from the occasion wouldn’t be integrated into the following replace or the one after. And September 2023 site visitors ranges wouldn’t return as a result of, as Google put it, “the entire format of search outcomes has modified.”

Seventeen months later, Hardaker has characterised the occasion otherwise. Based on his LinkedIn put up, which varieties the premise of one of many three paperwork reviewed for this text: “It was a masterclass in smoke and mirrors.” He writes that Sullivan and the search crew requested publishers to cease tagging them publicly on X and LinkedIn, and as a substitute to compile “inside paperwork” with findings, knowledge, and technical issues, promising these would function “workbooks” for the engineering crew.

Daugette despatched 26 pages of information. Hardaker despatched an 8-page doc. Based on Hardaker, the end result was silence.

The numbers behind the frustration

The paperwork shared with the Google crew – and now made accessible publicly – are detailed and particular. They don’t seem to be imprecise complaints. They’re site visitors logs, growth changelogs, search engine marketing audit invoices, and search end result screenshots.

TechRaptor, a gaming and tabletop video games publication that Daugette based in 2013, had grown steadily via the 2019 to 2021 interval. Visitors started at roughly 300,000 pageviews per 30 days in September 2018, rising after the mobile-first indexing replace that yr as a result of, based on Daugette, TechRaptor had been constructing for cellular since 2015. The September 2022 Product Evaluations Replace delivered a 65% drop in visibility based on SISTRIX knowledge. The October 2022 Spam Replace added one other 10% decline. By the point of the summit, the location was down no less than 80% general. Daugette had lower 4 full-time employees members, and charitable giving and funding in rising writers had been lowered.

Between 2021 and 2024, TechRaptor remodeled 200 documented technical adjustments – a growth changelog Daugette compiled and shared with Google. These included a full web site redesign in August 2021, removing of 20% of the location’s early content material in Might 2021, an entire schema rebuild in December 2022, a repair of over 25,000 inside hyperlinks that have been returning 301 redirects in July 2024, and the correction of lacking H1 tags on fundamental pages in September 2024. The positioning additionally spent roughly $20,000 on an search engine marketing audit with Amsive in 2024, $10,000 on a Marie Haynes audit targeted on HCU steering earlier than the 2022 hit, and $25,000 with SearchMetrics in 2022. Complete growth funding since 2021 represented 25% of the location’s working finances.

Based on Daugette’s doc: “They’d no advanced or shocking recommendation, we’re ‘doing every little thing proper’ of their eyes.”

Mountain Weekly Information, a publication overlaying outside sports activities and equipment based mostly in Jackson Gap, Wyoming, presents a unique however equally stark case. Hardaker based the location 24 years in the past. Based on his inside doc submitted to Google, site visitors losses reached 91% following the HCU. He misplaced entry to Mediavine promoting on account of inadequate site visitors. He reported incomes $250,000 in income the prior yr. On the time of the summit, he instructed attendees he was consuming at a meals financial institution.

His doc, final up to date on November 25, 2024, particulars a spread of particular technical anomalies. A web site:mtnweekly.com seek for “mooncool TK1” was displaying solely certainly one of two evaluations he printed, with the second suppressed until the person clicked to point out omitted outcomes. Google Search Console was displaying an article as listed whereas a real-world search of the precise article title in quotes returned zero outcomes. His e-bike rack article, which he describes as the perfect and most complete on the subject, was being omitted from search outcomes whereas the AI Overview for a similar question was surfacing his content material – however sending customers nowhere. Based on Hardaker: “But the identical search doesn’t really present my article in search.”

What the publishers requested for

Daugette’s 26-page doc, a abstract of which is included within the information reviewed, features a set of particular requests that transcend basic complaints. He requested Google to develop a verifiable writer identification system – not a public-facing badge, however an inside GSC flag that will assist the algorithm distinguish unique content material from scraped and re-published variations. He proposed 5 standards: ample measurement measured by impressions or clicks, documented editorial requirements together with written ethics and evaluation insurance policies, fundamental web site construction high quality, advert expertise measurement, and a direct assembly touchpoint.

He requested for extra diagnostic data in Google Search Console, arguing {that a} writer ought to be capable to perceive whether or not a rating decline displays a content material drawback or a technical one. He requested Google to carry media conglomerates extra accountable – particularly naming Forbes, Valnet, Fandom, and others – for what he described as content material “spun” from different websites and printed at scale after tendencies emerge. He requested for Reddit to be de-prioritized, and described deleted Reddit posts persevering with to rank at place one as a structural failure of the standard sign system.

Hardaker’s doc requested whether or not he might safely make site-wide adjustments – including execs and cons packing containers to over 1,000 articles, for instance – with out triggering algorithmic penalties. He famous that his Bing rankings remained robust, with the identical queries that buried him on Google putting him at primary or two on Bing. He raised the query of whether or not Google had misclassified his evaluation web site as an e-commerce retailer, noting that Google Service provider Heart emails have been telling him that merchandise discovered on his web site can be added routinely to Service provider Heart. His web site doesn’t promote merchandise.

GINX.television editor James, whose further commentary was appended to Daugette’s doc, described the scenario in exact operational phrases. Information articles printed by GINX have been showing because the thirtieth end result on the information tab, behind tales from 2019, 2021, and 2023, in addition to tales from Nationwide Geographic, Fox Climate, and USA At this time – which have been, in some circumstances, about daylight saving time relatively than the sport being searched. Based on the doc: “How on earth can anybody be anticipated to search out our content material when these boundaries exist.”

Reddit and AI Overviews

A good portion of all three paperwork addresses the rating prominence of Reddit. The publishers’ issues align with observations documented by PPC Land in October 2024, which famous {that a} Reddit thread about standing desks maintained a second-place rating in Google search outcomes for practically two months regardless of having massive numbers of deleted feedback and moderation points. Analysis cited in PPC Land’s analysis of Google’s broader search shifts discovered that Reddit seems in 97.5% of product evaluation queries.

Daugette described conducting searches for his personal guides and discovering Reddit at place one persistently – threads that he described as “mediocre at greatest, 2-3 sentences with all kinds of stuff within the feedback.” He famous that Reddit posts sourced in Uncover have been showing rather than the unique articles they linked to. He raised the query of whether or not subreddits the place moderators are paid to advertise content material are meaningfully totally different from the location popularity abuse that Google’s personal insurance policies are designed to forestall.

Google signed a $60 million annual licensing take care of Reddit in February 2024, a growth covered by PPC Land. The settlement supplies Google with knowledge for coaching its Gemini AI mannequin.

The AI Overviews concern cuts deeper than site visitors. Publishers within the paperwork be aware that their content material is getting used to generate AI responses that reply person questions instantly, with out sending site visitors to the supply web site. Hardaker noticed that the AI Overview for greatest e-bike racks cited his article whereas the article itself didn’t seem in natural outcomes. The monetary mannequin of impartial publishing will depend on web page visits, which generate advert impressions and affiliate clicks. A quotation inside a Google AI response generates neither.

Research published by Ahrefs in February 2026 discovered that AI Overviews now correlate with a 58% discount in click-through charges for place one content material – up from 34.5% in April 2025. That measurement was taken throughout 300,000 key phrases utilizing aggregated Google Search Console knowledge.

The sample throughout the trade

The paperwork from TechRaptor and Mountain Weekly Information aren’t remoted circumstances. PPC Land reported in October 2024on the closure of GGRecon, a UK-based gaming and esports writer whose editor-in-chief Lloyd Coombes attributed the shutdown on to the September 2023 HCU. GGRecon had improved hundreds of pages on the recommendation of Amsive earlier than finally closing. Daugette referenced GGRecon in his personal doc, noting that the corporate’s attendees had really been invited to the summit after it shut down.

A PPC Land analysis from December 2024 documented the broader image: HouseFresh, an impartial air air purifier evaluation web site, misplaced 95% of its Google site visitors after the September 2023 HCU, dropping from 4,000 day by day guests to roughly 200. Lily Ray, VP of search engine marketing Technique and Analysis at Amsive, was quoted describing the scenario as “Google’s simply committing struggle on writer web sites.” She described the HCU as having “significantly lowered the visibility of sure varieties of web sites” – an final result she characterised as opposite to Google’s said objectives.

A separate PPC Land investigation published in October 2024 described the scenario as an “extinction occasion,” based mostly on BBC reporting, with Prepared Regular Minimize spending $20,360 on restoration efforts and reaching no significant enchancment after 12 months.

Research on brand signals and the HCU confirmed that HCU losers had a mean Model Authority rating of 37 on Moz’s scale, in comparison with 50 to 52 for websites that maintained or improved rankings. The DA-to-BA ratio for affected websites was roughly 2:1, versus 1.4:1 for impartial or successful websites – suggesting the HCU disproportionately affected websites with robust topical authority however decrease model recognition. This structural drawback is exactly what publishers like TechRaptor describe: deep experience in a distinct segment, excessive editorial requirements, and near-zero Uncover visibility.

One yr on

PPC Land’s retrospective published in November 2025, one yr after the summit, famous that Google’s executives held their earnings name the identical afternoon because the creator assembly on October 29, 2024, saying expanded AI options whereas concurrently apologizing to publishers within the room. Attendee Nate Hake, founding father of Journey Lemming, wrote that he was listening to 2 totally different tales concurrently. His abstract: “However there’s an issue when a parasite will get too grasping: It will probably kill its host.”

The summit’s most tough admission – that Google’s techniques couldn’t clarify why high quality websites have been being suppressed – has not resolved itself via subsequent updates. PPC Land’s January 2026 analysis of SEO patterns documented that HCU-affected websites displaying restricted restoration even after the June 2025 core replace, which introduced the primary significant enchancment window after practically two years. HouseFresh was cited as an distinctive case – one which had surpassed pre-update visibility ranges – however the evaluation famous the shortage of such recoveries and described algorithmic assessments as “sticky as soon as utilized.”

The LinkedIn put up from Hardaker has drawn responses from a notable vary of figures. Tim Cowen, chair of the antitrust observe at Preiskel and Co, commented on the put up. Matthias Spielkamp, govt director of AlgorithmWatch, additionally responded, linking to a separate investigation into whether or not Google’s AI Overviews are harming media pluralism. Ricky Sutton, creator of Future Media, commented with help. Danny Sullivan himself appeared within the thread, based on the doc, posting two feedback however not partaking substantively with Hardaker’s core allegations.

For advertising and marketing professionals and the advert expertise trade, the stakes are structural. The impartial writer ecosystem has traditionally supplied the content material stock on which programmatic promoting relies upon. Show promoting, affiliate networks, and content-driven efficiency campaigns all require pages that customers go to. When publishers lose natural site visitors and can’t maintain content material manufacturing, stock contracts and viewers focusing on turns into tougher. The gradual discount of impartial voices additionally concentrates content material – and due to this fact advert stock – amongst bigger platforms and media conglomerates, which generally carry greater CPMs and narrower contextual attain.

The European Fee launched a proper antitrust investigation into Google’s AI content material practices on December 9, 2025, inspecting whether or not the corporate violated EU competitors guidelines through the use of writer content material for AI Overviews with out compensation or viable opt-out choices. PPC Land covered that investigation intimately. Google disputes that AI Overviews have brought about web hurt to writer site visitors, sustaining that the function sends site visitors to a wider set of internet sites general.

The paperwork from Hardaker and Daugette, taken along with the broader physique of proof accrued since September 2023, signify one thing narrower and extra particular than a basic critique of AI in search. They’re a file of two publishers who adopted the principles, spent cash on audits and growth, met with Google at its personal invitation, submitted detailed knowledge at Google’s personal request, and acquired no response. As Daugette concluded in his doc: “Be good, do no evil.”

Timeline

• September 2018: TechRaptor reaches roughly 300,000 pageviews per 30 days; mobile-first indexing change drives visibility spike
• Might 2021: TechRaptor removes 20% of early content material as high quality pruning measure
• August 2021: TechRaptor completes full web site redesign
• March 2022: TechRaptor provides in-content video participant, growing income by 50%
• September 2022: Google Product Evaluations Replace causes 65% drop in TechRaptor’s SISTRIX visibility index
• October 2022: Google Spam Replace causes additional 10% visibility decline for TechRaptor; Marie Haynes audit of TechRaptor ($10,000) finds no vital points
• December 2022: TechRaptor fully rebuilds schema
• February 2024: Google indicators $60 million annual licensing take care of Reddit; covered by PPC Land
• March 2024: Google implements web site popularity abuse coverage
• Might 2024: TechRaptor experiences further 50% visibility loss; Mountain Weekly Information loses Mediavine entry on account of site visitors drop
• July 2024: TechRaptor fixes over 25,000 inside 301 redirect hyperlinks
• August 2024: TechRaptor experiences one other 50% visibility loss on remaining day of Google August 2024 Core Replace; covered by PPC Land
• October 2024: Google invitations 20 publishers to Internet Creator Summit; Hardaker and Daugette attend; PPC Land recap published October 30, 2024
• November 2024: Mountain Weekly Information doc (final up to date November 25, 2024) submitted to Google; TechRaptor 26-page doc submitted to Google
• November 1, 2024: Marie Haynes evaluation printed; PPC Land reports Google could not pinpoint HCU impact reasons
• October 28, 2024: PPC Land covers GGRecon closure
• December 9, 2025: European Fee launches antitrust investigation into Google AI content material practices; covered by PPC Land
• February 2026: Ahrefs analysis reveals AI Overviews correlate with 58% discount in click-through charges; covered by PPC Land
• April 6, 2026: Hardaker publishes LinkedIn put up describing the summit as a “pacification tactic”; paperwork from each publishers made public

Abstract

Who: Mike Hardaker, founder and writer of Mountain Weekly Information (Jackson Gap, Wyoming), and Rutledge Daugette, founder and CEO of TechRaptor, a gaming and tabletop media publication. Each attended Google’s October 2024 Internet Creator Summit as two of 20 impartial publishers invited to debate the influence of Google’s algorithm updates. James, editor at GINX.television, contributed further commentary to Daugette’s doc.

What: Hardaker and Daugette have publicly launched detailed paperwork initially submitted to Google following the October 29, 2024 Internet Creator Summit. The paperwork comprise site visitors knowledge, growth changelogs, search engine marketing audit information, technical observations, and particular requests for adjustments to how Google surfaces impartial writer content material. Each publishers report receiving no substantive response from Google within the 17 months because the summit.

When: The Internet Creator Summit was held on October 29, 2024. The paperwork have been submitted to Google within the weeks following. Hardaker’s LinkedIn put up went stay in late March 2026, drawing over 275 reactions and 47 feedback as of the time of this text. The paperwork cowl algorithmic occasions courting from the September 2022 Product Evaluations Replace via the August 2024 Core Replace.

The place: TechRaptor is a US-based gaming publication. Mountain Weekly Information relies in Jackson Gap, Wyoming. The summit was held at Google’s Googleplex in Mountain View, California. The LinkedIn put up and associated commentary are publicly accessible.

Why: Each publishers argue that Google’s Useful Content material Replace, mixed with the algorithmic elevation of Reddit and the introduction of AI Overviews, has made it economically unviable to function impartial content material websites that depend on natural search site visitors. They contend that their conferences with Google, and their subsequent doc submissions, have been handled as a communications train relatively than a real engineering session. The broader context – confirmed by European Fee investigations, a number of impartial analysis research, and Google’s personal admissions on the summit – is that the HCU affected websites producing high quality content material alongside these it was designed to suppress, and that the trail to restoration stays unclear.