There are many sad stories around sites getting hit by Google algorithm updates, such as core updates and of course the September 2023 helpful content update. But Hardbacon, a financial and budgeting company, was hit hard by those Google updates, then announced the company would file for bankruptcy the day before the August 2024 core update.
Then the next day, they saw their Google organic search traffic quadruple thanks to the August core update.
The CEO, Julien Brault, posted about it on LinkedIn (found via Glenn Gabe). He wrote, “After mourning the loss of Hardbacon and accepting the reality that the company was no longer viable without Google traffic, I announced the cessation of our operations and the upcoming bankruptcy of the company… last Thursday.”
Google destroyed his bacon – literally…
Then later that Thursday, Google announced the release of the core update. The following day, folks started to see some progress and returns. One of those sites was Hardbacon. “Every update since September 2023 has resulted in a decrease in Hardbacon traffic from Google,” Julien Brault said.
Julien Brault wrote, “The next day, Google launched an update.” Then what happened, “this latest update quadrupled Hardbacon’s traffic from Google in 4 days, and it seems to be doubling every day.”
Here is the chart Julien shared:
What does this mean for Hardbacon on its staff? “Given our financial situation, it’s probably too little, too late,” Julien explained. He said that today, this Friday, he has to sign the bankruptcy documents. Will he end up doing that? I don’t know.
He added, “Also, after 11 months of dismantling my business piece by piece, and accumulating bad news every day, I don’t know if I have what it takes to rebuild, even if our traffic returns to a level where Hardbacon would be viable…”