I've been writing a blog for some time in Jacksonville, Florida. It might not be a total niche blog, but most of the content is local and of some local interest. While I pride myself in writing about topics others might not consider (and therefore create something unique), Google seems to think that a number of my articles don't warrant being in search results. I understand (to some degree) because most people aren't actively searching for some of what I write. However, when someone does search for something similar, they get all kinds of irrelevant articles from all over the country, when my own article already exists. Let's look at a few examples before I list some of the articles Google has abandoned even though I am writing articles that I believe can be useful to people (and aren't generated by AI or writing mills). 

I wrote about my son being in a play at Fletcher High School in Jacksonville, and I simply could not get Google to list the article in searches. That's more than sad to me. I'm a proud father who wants to promote his son's theater program, and Google somehow sees it as not legitimate content. But, depending on how you search, you'll find content about Fletcher Football, Jacksonville (North Carolina), people with the last name of Fletcher, and all kinds of local theatre that isn't at Fletcher at all. I write a blog about Jacksonville and my kid attends Fletcher and is in the play, and I've consistently gotten my content on Google search in the past, so this is super-frustrating. 

Another article that didn't make Google's cut was one I wrote to local landlords encouraging them to sell their properties. I am a landlord myself, as well as a citizen of Jacksonville. My opinion matters so much more than what Zillow might recommend. I list some reasons for selling based on my own knowledge. But my article isn't listed in searches whereas a Bank of America assessment of the viability of investment in Jax might be in the top 10. 

My "ad of the week" articles are just reallllly funny. Google doesn't understand funny, so it won't list this article about a local Jacksonville restaurant. Too bad for all the potential readers. 

Apparently, trying to organize all the guides I wrote for people interested in Jax in one article is a no-no with Google, so my guide to my guides of Jacksonville doesn't get any love from the search engine. 

Another really funny article that must confuse Google because it's not able to tell when something newsy is just trying to be funny is one about a video game idea for Jacksonville. Laugh a little, Google. Like we all laughed when Bard got an answer wrong when you were trying to prove how awesome it was. 

And again, my idea to have a Rosa Parks Homeless Park in Jax is just so good that it's sad Google won't "serve" the article. If articles aren't "served" on Google and listed in the search engine, they are mostly invisible on the internet. 

So maybe Google is trying to stop people from believing (or even reading) parody, satire, and sarcasm on an opinion website. Whatever. But why unlist my article about a dental office at a house in my neighborhood? It's a true story, verifiable by local news sources. And my article is my opinion about it. 

I'm sure there are some kind of Google guidelines I'm not following for some of my articles, but I'm also sure Google shouldn't be picking winners and losers by those who follow all the rules, since a lot of those people are sitting in cubicles in India and making $2 an hour to write "good" content for Google's eyes. You can tell AI or paid writers or big corporations didn't write the content on my websites. That's fine with me, but I guess when you're a big company like Google looking for more ad money (and a way to compete with Chat GPT), you don't really care that some poor sap in Jacksonville gets articles de-listed from search because they don't follow the template you claim doesn't exist but can be followed perfectly by AI writing.