386: What Sucked In 2021 What Went Well With Our Businesses With Steve Chou

Podcast: Download (Duration: 26:58 — 49.7MB)

Recovering from a Google algorithm update means scoring every page by revenue opportunity, then concentrating content and internal links on the pages that score highest. A 2021 update cost Bumblebee Linens roughly a third of its organic traffic, and by the end of the year we had recovered it and pushed traffic 40% above where it started.

In this solo episode I cover what worked and what did not across both businesses in 2021, plus the shipping crisis that nearly cost us our holiday inventory.

Below is the full breakdown: the page-scoring formula, on-site optimization, the content silo restructure, emergency sourcing on a two-month timeline, and where both businesses are headed.

Key takeaways

• Google search drives 25% to 30% of Bumblebee Linens revenue. Losing a third of it forced a full-year recovery effort.
• Score pages by opportunity: (potential traffic minus current traffic) times revenue per visitor.
• Put category page content below the products. Content above them damages conversions.
• Restructure posts into topical silos. Over 500 posts on my blog were categorized so only relevant posts interlink.
• Answer in one sentence, then expand. Google rewards the direct answer over the story.
• Emergency sourcing worked on a two-month timeline. Air freight ate the margin and we had product.
• Raise prices. The shipping crisis hit everyone, and inflation is coming.
• YouTube grew 45,000 subscribers in 2021 and earns $2,000 to $3,000 monthly on AdSense alone.

How to score pages for SEO opportunity

Generate an opportunity score for every page using this formula: the potential traffic your target keywords could deliver, minus the traffic you already get from them, multiplied by that page’s revenue per visitor.

The reason for the revenue multiplier is that traffic gains on a page that does not sell anything are close to worthless. This weights your effort toward pages that will actually produce money.

Pull revenue per visitor from Google Analytics under landing pages, looking at ecommerce revenue per visitor. Use Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, or a comparable tool to find which keywords drive traffic to each page and where you currently rank.

My own example: a blog post about making a sink skirt gets substantial traffic and could get far more with optimization. We do not sell sink skirts, so its revenue per visitor is near zero and it stays unoptimized.

For My Wife Quit Her Job I ran the identical analysis with email subscribers substituted for revenue, since that is the conversion that matters on a content site.

How to optimize ecommerce category pages

Add the content Google expects while keeping it below the products, since content above the fold on a category page interferes with browsing and conversions.

I use Surfer SEO for this. It analyzes the pages currently ranking and identifies what content Google expects a page to contain in order to compete for that term.

This is the genuine tension in ecommerce SEO. Category pages exist to let people find products, and search engines want substantial text. Putting the text underneath resolves it.

Any category page on Bumblebee Linens shows the pattern in practice.

How to use internal linking to boost money pages

Concentrate link equity on revenue pages by linking to them from your strongest existing pages, and remove non-revenue destinations from your main navigation.

I revamped the top-level nav so only money categories appear. Sending navigation link equity to an about page instead of a product category wastes it.

The general principle: on-site optimization comes down to adding the right content and directing your entire site’s internal link equity toward the pages that make money.

Fixing technical SEO and crawl budget

Adjust robots.txt so crawlers do not disappear into low-value sections of the site, because Google allocates a finite crawl budget per site.

If that budget gets consumed by faceted navigation or parameter URLs, your revenue pages may not get crawled as often as they should.

We also ran a full site audit for the basics that decay over time: meta descriptions, redirects, and broken links. No site stays static, and years of small changes accumulate into real problems.

I will admit to being at fault for letting that maintenance slide.

How to build backlinks for an ecommerce store

Two tactics produced links for us: a scholarship program targeting .edu domains, and specialized discount pages for specific professions.

Both work because they give an institution or organization a concrete reason to link, rather than requesting a link on the merits of the store itself.

An honest caveat about all of this: SEO is a black box. You throw the kitchen sink at the problem and watch whether rankings improve in aggregate, because isolating which specific change caused which result is generally not possible.

Credit to Jeff Oxford for the guidance on the SEO work.

How to restructure content into topical silos

Categorize your posts hierarchically so only topically related posts link to each other, which signals topical authority in a specific subject area.

My Wife Quit Her Job had over 500 posts sitting essentially unorganized. I went through and placed each one into a structure where internal links stay inside their subject silo.

The purpose is concentrating link equity by topic instead of spreading it evenly across unrelated content. Cross-linking a podcast recap to a sourcing tutorial dilutes both.

How to write content that ranks now

Answer the question in a single sentence, then expand below it, because Google increasingly surfaces the direct answer through rich snippets.

This shift drove a significant portion of my traffic recovery. Restructuring existing posts to lead with the answer worked better than nearly anything else I tried.

The honest downside is that it is boring. Google does not reward storytelling or lived experience, and writing purely for extraction produces flat prose.

So it becomes a balancing act between giving the direct answer and keeping the post worth reading. What I write is based on what I actually do, which is the main difference between my content and most of what competes with it.

How to source products on an emergency timeline

Emergency sourcing is possible in two months against a normal four-month lead time, and air freight will consume the margin.

In August 2021 our supplier told us our holiday shipment would not arrive until January. These were products we sell heavily over the holidays, so waiting was not an option.

I normally delete sourcing solicitation emails. I happened to open one from Jing Sourcing, did enough due diligence to conclude they were legitimate, and hired them to find a supplier on a two-month timeline.

The process followed what I teach: a stringent quality control checklist, a third-party inspection, and contingency terms negotiated in advance. Product arrived mid-October.

Two things went wrong. I wrote detailed specifications for the product and neglected the packaging, which caused misunderstandings. The factory’s defect rate also came in higher than expected.

The contingency clause is what saved it. We lost no money and received less usable product than planned, which is a survivable outcome rather than a disaster.

Should you raise prices during a shipping crisis?

Raise them. The shipping crisis hit every seller, so you are not putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage by adjusting.

We raised prices across the board in 2021. My read is that significant inflation is coming, and holding prices steady while costs climb only compresses your margins.

What worked for Facebook ads after iOS 14

Ad creative carries the weight now. Only a small share of Bumblebee Linens revenue comes from Facebook, and the lesson from the accounts I watch is that targeting cannot compensate for weak creative.

That is why creative development takes up a significant portion of my Create A Profitable Online Store course, and why I am running a session building ads with student volunteers.

Where the YouTube and TikTok channels stand

The YouTube channel added roughly 45,000 subscribers in 2021, reaching about 67,000 total, and earns $2,000 to $3,000 monthly from AdSense.

That covers my mortgage. The larger value is course sales driven by the channel, which is why I have turned down nearly every sponsorship offer.

TikTok reached about 54,000 followers with a deliberately different strategy: teaching ecommerce rather than chasing virality. The goal is attracting the right people instead of the most people.

The efficiency is the appealing part. A TikTok video takes me 10 minutes or less to produce, and the same clip gets reposted to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. It has generated course sales while producing about $30 in ad revenue.

Why we decided to stay in California

We stayed because our kids have an established friend network and routine, and disrupting that outweighed the business case for leaving.

The business case was real. Our 2,500 square foot warehouse costs what a 20,000 square foot space costs in North Carolina, and minimum wage here is $17, about 70% above Las Vegas.

Real estate runs $1,200 per square foot, which is hard to reconcile with any young person buying a house here.

Three candidates got serious consideration:

• Austin: the best small business environment I know of and no state income tax, and my wife and mom did not want to move there.
• Maryland: excellent schools, my family already there, and 18 years of my own history. Housing does not appreciate and the summers are hot and muggy.
• Las Vegas: close to family in LA, no state income tax, and a lot for your money. Schools are weak outside one small pocket.

Weather turned out to matter more than I expected. A week of rain while recording this cut my exercise, which made me less happy and less productive, and I take ten good months a year for granted.

We are likely staying about six more years.

Frequently asked questions

How do you recover from a Google algorithm update?

Score every page by SEO opportunity, then concentrate content and internal links on the highest scorers. Run a technical audit for meta descriptions, redirects, and broken links, and restructure content into topical silos. Bumblebee Linens recovered its lost third of organic traffic and ended up 40% above the pre-drop level.

How do you prioritize which pages to optimize?

Multiply the traffic gap by the revenue per visitor: potential keyword traffic minus current traffic, times what a visitor to that page is worth. Pull revenue per visitor from Google Analytics landing page reports. This keeps effort off high-traffic pages that never convert.

Where should content go on an ecommerce category page?

Below the products. Category pages exist so people can browse products, and text above them hurts conversions and usability. Tools like Surfer SEO identify what content Google expects, and placement determines whether adding it costs you sales.

How should you structure internal links for SEO?

Point links from your strongest pages toward the pages that generate revenue, and keep non-revenue destinations out of your main navigation. On content sites, organize posts into topical silos so related posts link to each other and link equity stays concentrated by subject.

How should you write content to rank on Google?

Answer the question in one sentence, then expand below. Google surfaces direct answers through rich snippets, so leading with the answer outperforms building to it. The tradeoff is flatter writing, since storytelling and personal experience are not what gets rewarded.

How long does emergency product sourcing take?

Two months is achievable against a typical four-month lead time, using a sourcing agent and air freight that will eat your margin. Write specifications for packaging as well as the product, and negotiate defect contingencies before production starts.

Should you raise prices during a shipping crisis?

Yes. Rising freight and material costs hit every seller, so raising prices does not put you at a competitive disadvantage. Holding prices while costs climb only compresses margins, and broader inflation makes the increase easier for customers to accept.