Google Zero, Small Web 1.0

It’s 2025. Internet is being flooded with AI slop and misinformation. Google doesn’t drive traffic anymore, it keeps it for itself instead — with AI summaries and top results reserved exclusively for ads. Social media throttle links.

This is not a great environment to build a new website in. Building an audience is harder than ever. But maybe, just maybe we can use this to our advantage.

There is value in independence from platforms and big tech. In maintaining a simple website that’s just files and folders — and not a database, scripts, and dynamic content. There is value in providing a personal perspective on a personal website to a small group of readers. Not everything has to scale, not everything has to pursue infinite growth, not everything has to be ruthlessly monetized.

Maybe returning to the Web 1.0 formula — a collection of websites connected through hyperlinks instead of social graphs and algorithms — is the way to go for small creators like myself.

I enjoy linking out to other bloggers and pointing my readers to things that I found elsewhere and found interesting. Links are great! It’s so much better to send you into a rabbit-hole with a context-relevant link rather than stuffing this website with AI slop and SEO-optimized word salads. That’s where small web really shines. You can enjoy the process of discovery, feel a sense of wonder, and get lost in the web — it’s fun!

METAGAME is a Google Zero blog. I receive pretty much zero traffic from search engines (apart from a handful of people encountering my Leica D-Lux 8 post that way) and social media. My dream/goal/hope is that other websites and blogs that I value would eventually link to something interesting they found here. That's how I want to build my audience.

Cutting our ability to reach more people sucks. But this might be a blessining in disguise. By denying us traffic, Google has set us free. We can write for humans again and care not for the SEO crawlers (and block AI bots). Words once again flow from interest, values, and personality — not from a SEO manual.