This is the transcript continuation for Episode 099. Mark provides a detailed update on the Corn Sheller niche site's Google manual action for thin content, walks through his five-step recovery plan, and introduces a new weekly segment: Late Night Traffic Tips, starting with blog commenting.<\/p>\n
Mark's niche site at Cornsheller.net — originally built as a demonstration of the Keyword Canine keyword research tool — received a Google manual site action for thin content. The site had been generating $30 to $40 per month for years with occasional spikes over $100, all with essentially no ongoing effort.<\/p>\n
The site consisted mostly of pages that pulled eBay listings of antique corn shellers for sale, with only a handful of original content pages about corn sheller history. Google's position was straightforward: there was no reason to rank Mark's repackaged eBay content when they could send users directly to eBay.<\/p>\n
Mark introduces a new segment with a free traffic strategy: blog commenting. Despite being one of the oldest tactics, Mark argues it still has value for two reasons.<\/p>\n
First, Google looks for natural behavior. Being an active, engaged member of your niche community — leaving thoughtful, helpful comments on relevant blogs — creates signals that your website is legitimate and your authorship is credible. This is not about keyword-stuffed spam comments. It is about genuine engagement.<\/p>\n
Second, readers of those comments will occasionally click through to your website. One comment on one blog may not matter, but a couple of comments per day across relevant blogs for a year creates hundreds of natural backlinks and a meaningful base of referral traffic.<\/p>\n
Google's Helpful Content system replaced manual actions for many thin content cases.<\/strong> While manual actions still exist, Google's algorithmic systems now automatically suppress thin, unhelpful content without requiring manual review. The recovery steps Mark outlines — adding original content, removing thin pages, optimizing on-page SEO — are now standard site maintenance rather than penalty recovery.<\/p>\n Blog commenting's SEO value has diminished further.<\/strong> Most blog comments are now no-follow by default, and Google has become better at discounting comment links. However, Mark's secondary point — that commenting builds genuine relationships and drives referral traffic — remains valid as a community-building strategy.<\/p>\n The “building on rented land” lesson is timeless.<\/strong> Mark's observation that relying entirely on Google traffic is a business risk applies equally to any single traffic source. Diversification across organic search, email, social, and direct traffic remains essential.<\/p>\n Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or subscribe at latenightim.com\/internet-marketing-podcast\/<\/a>. Have a question for Mark? Call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655 or drop a comment below.<\/p>\nResources Mentioned<\/h2>\n
\n
Listen and Subscribe<\/h2>\n