February was a bit on the paltry side of things for both content and algorithm adjustments. As such, there were a few massive drops for the blog as well as a decrease for the YouTube channel. Every year, it seems both take a bit of a hit in the first quarter.
But the biggest disappointment was not getting as many videos published in February as I did in January.
My time was heavily tapped throughout the month for various (albeit vital) personal reasons. And when you’re doing everything by yourself, it makes managing all of the accounts incredibly difficult.
Nonetheless, I’m going to keep trying to find a groove that works for everything and everyone.
How Did the Traffic Fare Between the Blog and Vlog?
There are a lot of reasons why traffic can suddenly dip. Although this usually happens when Google and YouTube adjust parameters during a search, there could also be a lack of interest in the topic overall.
For example, a lot of health and fitness sites will see a boost in traffic and income during January, February, and March. However, those numbers quickly dissipate as time goes on. This is because all those people who have New Year’s Resolutions for health and fitness lose interest.
In any case, the blog lost 1,078 visitors while losing 86,000 impressions during February. That is a severe hit to the site, all things considered. To lose 86,000 impressions is more of an algorithmic change than anything. Gotta love Google algorithm updates.
The YouTube channel also lost both views and impressions, just not on the same scale. The channel saw 696 fewer views and 22,705 fewer impressions compared to January.
I’m almost certain that a regular publishing schedule for the channel would have lessened the impact, though.
How Much Content Was Developed?
So, the blog has been on a regular publishing schedule of three posts per week. I’ve worked diligently to keep this going despite not having a lot of time available in February. In fact, I’m so far behind that a lot of posts are scheduled the day before they go live.
Remember, I want to be a week ahead.
The vlog, on the other hand, was mostly put on the back burner while I put out all of the personal fires here at the house. I only had two new videos uploaded and six live streams, which is exactly half of what was produced in January.
I’m exceptionally disappointed in not getting more content up on the channel.
Some Weird Movements in AdSense
One of the highlights for February was the fact that both the blog and vlog saw increases in Page RPM. This is how much money you make per 1000 people viewing or reading the content.
For the second month in a row, the blog made more money per visitor. Now, it’s sitting at $22.09, according to Adsence. This time last year, the RPM was only $6.84. With fewer impressions and visitors, it’s making about 3.5x more money.
The YouTube channel had a similar increase but also made more money overall. Although the blog made $18.11 less than previously, the vlog increased by $33.68.
So, again, fewer visitors but making more money per session.
This could be a simple increase in how much Google and YouTube charge for ads nowadays. Or, perhaps there are writing businesses that started throwing more money into advertisements. Either way, I’m curious to see if the trend for RPM growth stays consistent.
The Story So Far…
You can always go to the main page for the Blog vs Vlog case study to see the spreadsheet and the data collected. But after two months, we still don’t have a lot of solid information to make any certain claims. All we know at the moment is that the RPM is growing on both platforms, which increases how much creators make per individual.
The lack of published content on the YouTube channel had a negative effect in terms of lost views. Even the weakest videos will get around 75 views overall, which means I lost out on roughly 975 views, which would have been enough to keep the channel in the green for viewership growth.
The impressions, on the other hand, could be a mixture of algorithm changes and a lack of interest in specific topics. That’s the fun of having an educational channel, I suppose.
It’s the AdSense income that perplexes me a bit. I’ll have to search online a bit to see if I can find out why ad revenue is much higher in 2025 than it was in 2024, but I’m not going to complain. It’s nice to make more than $20 per month on any platform.
Still, the most difficult aspect of running either a blog or a vlog is the fact that you have to contend with algorithm changes. Sometimes, they can work to your benefit. But if your site isn’t as pristine as Google wants, you’ll see major drops in traffic and impressions.
All you can really do is read up on what those changes are and try to adapt. Even big sites, ones that get 10k per month in visits, will often get decimated because of the slightest tweak in search results.
February Goes to the YouTube Channel
Although there is more content on the blog, the vlog seems to weather changes and lulls far better. Producing half of the content still generated more than 2.5x the ad revenue.
Back in 2018, I used to think managing a blog was far easier in terms of generating views and income. Nowadays, though, it seems the balance has shifted greatly to video content – which is about accurate. People are watching videos more and more each year.
I still believe that having a blog is a crucial element for any kind of writer. It’s a great way to demonstrate what you can do and help solidify yourself as an expert. Not to mention that the blog is a great base of operations for the rest of your branding.
Yet, setting up a vlog and sharing similar content on video platforms definitely boosts recognition and income.
The Plans for March
So, we need to start addressing some of the issues both platforms have been having over the last couple of months. Since I don’t have a lot of time, I need to prioritize the most important elements.
Mobile-First Readiness
Since Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing, and the site keeps scoring in the yellow on PageSpeed insights, I need to work on streamlining the site. That means finding or building a theme that Google won’t flag as problematic.
Even though I’ve tested the site on multiple devices and computers, and the site opens up wicked quick, Google’s tools still think there is an issue. It’s a massive pain in the ass, especially since the tests I conduct from PageSpeed say otherwise.
I might have to consider actually buying a tool to help fix Core Web Vitals. The blog is generating enough to afford it, but I hate spending money on something that I might be able to fix myself.
The crappy thing is that Core Web Vitals says the CLS is 0.49 while the test says 0.054. Freakin’ Google.
In any case, I’ll spend a few hours this month trying to improve the performance score as well as clear off the errors in Core Web Vitals. I might just have to build my own theme using the Full Site Editor in WordPress.
More Updates to Old Content
I haven’t updated an article in 2025. Again, I just haven’t had a chance to do them yet. But there are plenty that need a fresh coat of paint. And after the algorithm changes, some of those older pieces might have gotten the shaft in search.
This would explain some of the decreases in search impressions. If older content isn’t brought up to today’s standards, Google can squelch them easily.
I might have to sacrifice content on one of my other blogs so that I have time to address the older posts.
The bottom line is that I want to deliver the most up-to-date info on the topics I cover. It’s imperative that I find some time somewhere to make that happen.
More Video Uploads and Streams
Obviously, I need to prioritize video uploads and streams. This means a greater focus on time management. Things shouldn’t be all that rough in March, though. Brithdays, illnesses, and doctor appointments galore kind of tapped available time. Now that a lot of those are out of the way, I should be able to put more time into making videos.
It all comes down to making a strong commitment to being a YouTube creator. For the longest time, YouTube was more of a side-project to create content that accentuated the blog posts. Nowadays, though, it’s become far more prevalent in what I’m trying to build.
And let’s not skip over the fact that the vlog makes more money from ad revenue with less content and effort. I wonder what would happen with three solid months of quality videos uploaded regularly.
In any case, I’ll work on a way to get three videos up per week as I wanted. I might just have to make those the first things I create in the day. That way, I know they’re getting done.
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