The Best Travel Blogging Advice We Got Since the HCU

Want to hear why some content creators have thrived in the past three years while others have gotten discouraged or given up? We interview a lot of successful people on this blog, so I thought it would be good to look back on some of the best travel blogging advice we’ve gotten since the often derided “Helpful Content Update” that Google released in the latter half of 2023.

I’ve had a lot of before and after dividing lines in my life that came from external forces. Before and after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, for example. Before and after the financial and housing crisis of the Bush years starting in 2009. The pandemic we survived in 2020/21. And for bloggers, the Google + AI changes that started in September of 2023.

All have been wrenching in different ways, but that last one impacted a small slice of the internet quite dramatically. Many sites saw their search traffic drop by 80 or 90%. If they had built their whole business around ad income instead of being diversified like I’ve preached in three editions of Travel Writing 2.0 now, that was a deathly blow.

Some didn’t have the ability or the energy to wait it out, so they quit. Many left this career, some got an office job, others pivoted to tours or became a travel advisor.

Some of us are partying like it’s 1999 though and 2026 has been better than the “good ole days.” I’ve been through every cycle since 2002, so I’ve got plenty of battle scars, but my traffic is higher than it was before the HCU and the visitor quality is better. Who knows if it’ll last, but I’ll figure out what works instead when things change.

Each time I send out the monthly Travel Writing Success newsletter, I include a quote or two from interview subjects. I’m going to gather them here in hopes that they might help guide you into a more profitable future.

Resilience, Persistence, and a Willingness to Adapt

If there’s one factor that has been the difference in some travel bloggers recovering their income and others not, it’s that the ones seeing a positive outcome hung on longer and figured out what was working in the new environment. In all fairness to Google, they are back to rewarding more small publishing experts than they were two years ago. But you have to show you’re an expert and that other people think so too.

Then you need to stick with it and persevere, not waiting until you feel like it.

I’ve had time to experiment, adapt when things change, and build a solid foundation. I’m also stubborn and won’t let algo or rule changes get to me, I find a way to make it work!

– Nina Ragusa

Editorial focus for us has always been on good writing. Post Googlegate, we have gone back to our roots in community building via social, email, and events. We are mindful of search results but it is not our primary focus like it once was. Now we have combined our strengths in storytelling and affiliate partnerships into content marketing—using content, our forte, as a foundation to drive audience and conversions.

– Kim Orlando

Spread your risk. Start thinking about how else you can drive traffic and build community that will go with you everywhere. I would recommend starting to build your e-mail list from the beginning, especially with niche sites. I also think video is becoming more and more important. Whether you are posting on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or elsewhere, we can’t, as bloggers, continue to ignore what a huge role it is playing in the industry. 

– Laura Bronner

Ask yourself whether you have the perseverance to keep on going in a career that’s very competitive. Nearly everyone would love to travel and make a living from that it seems, so there’s a glut of people trying to earn a crust this way. To make it in this line of work, you’ll have to work hard and keep persevering even when the going gets tough. Any travel bloggers who started their blogs before 2020 and are still around doing the same thing today are a shining example of what it takes.

– Paul Johnson

Writing Unique Material for Your Readers, Not Gaming Google

Google has made it clear that they launched the HCU to get rid of spammy content cranked out by AI farms and eliminate all the “me too” articles out there that mostly sounded alike. They wanted to end the practice of people writing just to gain traffic from specific keyword phrases instead of writing the kind of articles that should please people looking for real answers.

They threw out a lot of babies with the bathwater, but did manage some course correction in subsequent updates. And in one way they succeeded: there’s not much AI slop showing up at the top of the organic rankings. (Just in their AI summaries, but that’s a different story.)

If you were already a subject expert writing for a specific avatar, you probably did fine…eventually. If you were cranking out articles that looked like what everyone else was publishing, you’re probably still waiting for the glory days to return. Sorry, they won’t.

I tried to go into more detail on how this works in practice here: Write for Humans Who Care. But a few more thoughts from some of my interview subjects.

One of our values is to make our own rules, so I get a lot of joy out of watching our team do that, not following the crowd, and not being afraid to be different. I truly don’t know what other websites are doing anymore, I just focus on what’s right for our readers, partners, and community.

– Carolyn Ray

If you’ve got a really good way, a passionate way of writing about the destinations that you love, you can probably make it if you persevere. Many of us have had businesses for 10 years or more and are doing better than ever. If you’re in it for the right reasons, there’s definitely space.  

– Dave Brett

One important characteristic of those who are thriving is their willingness to be a risk taker. SEO blogging was very formula-based, follow it and have success. But being creative and finding new revenue streams comes with an element of risk.

– Lindsay Nieminen

Establishing yourself as a writer with authority, creating a personal story that nobody else could write is more important now. If you can do that, you are much harder to copy. The funny thing is, many of the most popular articles on our website are stories that are old. Stories that we published 10 years ago or more. The unique ones hang on in the search rankings. 

– Max Hartshorne

Moving forward post-HCU, I’m still focused on writing for the reader—answering their questions, using SEO effectively, and incorporating both interlinking and external links. I also have a dedicated team reviewing older articles to determine if they need to be updated, optimized, or dropped altogether. It’s all about staying relevant and providing value to the readers.

– Danelle Gay

Mix Active and Passive Income With Purpose

When I talk about diversity in income, I mean the type, the media, the sources, the sites — all of it. Then if one of any of those takes a nosedive, you’re still fine. For most travel bloggers doing well, the income is a mix of active (brand/destinations partnerships, sponsored posts, freelance work) and passive income from articles. Get the second right and you can make money while you’re sleeping.

I think the best way to earn money with affiliates is to give people information that they find useful. If you’re doing a good job informing people and helping them plan a trip, then you also do well with income. You’re not having to convince someone or some organization to give you money on this vague promise that maybe it will pay off. Everyone wins with affiliates if it’s done well. 

– Michael Turtle

Focus on developing multiple revenue streams right from the get go. We’ve always been very careful about not putting all our eggs in one basket and we’ve always been big into diversification of revenue streams. We’re about to start launching a book series. We’re talking about doing tours in conjunction with the photography business where we take people on winery tours and then we photograph them with their friends and family. We’re looking at what can do well no matter what’s happening in the SERPs and with AI.

– Bret Love

My main income streams are divided between content creation projects, freelance contracts, and affiliate income. Things have changed so much since those early blogging days, including technology and social media platforms. It’s been a learning curve to keep up with it all over the years, and pivot according to Google’s whims and what social media platform is ascendent in a given year. Now I have a book out too.

– Claudia Laroye

Create Lasting Work With Leverage

There are two things my Travel Writing Overdrive course students probably get tired of hearing me rant about. One is being diversified and creating multiple streams of income. The other is spending time on tasks with real leverage. For the latter, the idea is not to work more hours, but spend the hours you do work making an impact, not just busywork. Spend time on tasks that will still pay off months or years from now, not ones that are fleeting like a sugar rush.

Building an e-mail list, creating a lead magnet, creating a product or service with recurring revenue, writing that 3,000-word blog post that’s going to be the pillar for a content cluster, for instance. Or writing a whole book, which can do magical things for your career.

For me, the big projects are books and huge content projects (like the 25,000 word online guide I wrote for the Outer Banks), which, from a distance, look like tidal waves. With each project I forget the end product and focus on the smaller elements. I’m not writing a book, I’m writing a chapter. I’m not writing a chapter, I’m writing about a city. I’m not writing about a city, I’m writing about the restaurants there. One day I look up and I’ve written three chapters and one third of the book is done.

– Jason Frye

The simple secret of my success has been hard work. I remember once in 2004 I was in Europe with two of my friends and I was working in the middle of the night. My childhood friend said, “I can’t believe how hard you work.” I still write my notes down and download my photos to stay organized each night when traveling, just like I did 20 years ago. 

– John DiScala

I’ve definitely learned the hard way since taking on motherhood, about prioritization, efficiency, and working smarter. It’s a daily struggle to balance everything. It’s a rewarding struggle, as I have a beautiful little boy, but it has definitely shifted my perspectives and priorities. I’ve needed to restructure the way I approach work and really lean into team support and develop a very clear picture of what my ultimate goals are.

– Megan Jerrard

I’ve learned how to work very effectively so I don’t waste time. Even now, students of mine will say “How the heck did you do that so fast?” when I come up with the idea for a product and have it launched in a week. It seems simple to me that once you have the idea, you execute it, and then you can have free time later when you’re off the clock. I’d rather have high-quality blocks of free time I guess, versus the 10 minutes idly scrolling on Facebook.

– Nina Clapperton

In the beginning of our time here, I did quite a bit of writing for magazines and publications. Podcasts, TV, and streaming services (like Netflix) also increased their interest. At some point, however, there has to be a conscious decision made between how your time is spent and what the payoff is. You can’t say yes to everything so what is the trajectory you really see your career going? That’s where to funnel your time.

– Amanda Ponzio-Mouttaki 

Many people get into travel blogging because they think it looks fun and they’re excited about the perks. They ignore the 3, 5, or 10+ years of grinding that the person they admire has put in. Sure, it’s more fun than most other jobs out there, but it requires just as much effort to find financial success. Maybe more because it’s so competitive.

That’s why I write so much on this blog about creating consistently, about having some kind of blogging schedule or video schedule, and about putting in the time to create a solid body of work. If you’re just playing around, you’re only going to make play money.

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