By Joke Kujenya
A business built on hope, algorithms and endless labour …
EVERY MORNING, thousands of online publishers wake up and begin the same routine all over again, keeping their hopes alive that things might eventually click.
They search for stories, verify facts, edit headlines, upload reports, resize images, fix website problems, share links across every available social media platform, respond to readers, and try to keep their sites running.
For many modest news platforms like JKNewsMedia.com and other credible outlets, especially across Africa and other developing regions, survival depends heavily on one company — Google.
We all depend on Google, hoping that through Google AdSense, we publishers are made to believe we can earn money by allowing the company to place adverts on our websites.
The idea sounds simple: publishers bring readers, Google provides adverts, and both sides earn from the traffic.
But for many publishers, reality feels far more complicated.
JKNewsmedia.com had a tete-a-tete with a highly seasoned senior journalist and publisher of notable, credible standing when it comes to knowing his onions in both Nigeria and global journalism.
He also sweats on his fine news website with little or nothing to show for it if not for goodwill from a handful of right-thinking friends.
After over one and a half hours, the tales of woe were unmistakable.
Google seems to have raised publishers’ hopes without concern for whose ox is gored or how its hard stance, which many publishers basically do not fully understand, affects our lives and the survival of our businesses.
The undeniable fact is that behind every website is usually a tired human being trying to keep things alive financially.
For most young people, they think running a news website is just about posting articles online. Alas! It is not.
Publishers pay for monthly internet subscriptions, yearly for website hosting, regular electricity bills, domains, reporters, editors, cybersecurity, and countless other expenses. Yet, they get nothing in return.
Even Press Secretaries and Public Relations officers are of little or no help. No one looks the ways of online publishers these days, not even those running YouTube Channels despite sharing their media materials, press releases and such others.
Many publishers barely sleep because they are constantly trying to remain visible on search engines.
Over time, the pressure also affects health. Long hours in front of screens damage eyesight. Ask many online publishers battling digital eye strain.
The constant stress over traffic and revenue also affects mental wellbeing.
Yet many continue because they believe their hard work will eventually pay off – someday soon.
Instead, many encounter the same frustrating problems repeatedly — no thanks to Google not looking our way in a more humane manner.
▪️Traffic suddenly drops without no explanations from Google. I thought it’s some sort of business partnership we are in.
▪️Stories stop appearing in search results.
▪️Pages take forever to get crawled or indexed, with Google often attributing it to Googlebot behaviour.
▪️Advert impressions fall without warning.
▪️AdSense payouts don’t increase over time.
▪️Revenue becomes extremely low despite strong readership.
Worse still, sometimes policy warnings appear with little explanation, leaving publishers confused about what exactly went wrong.
For smaller websites, these issues feel deeply crushing.
One of the biggest frustrations is how unpredictable earnings can be.
A publisher may have thousands of readers daily and still earn so little, or nothing at all, that basic monthly bills become difficult to pay.
Some even notice that while their traffic numbers look healthy through external analytics, their AdSense earnings continue falling.
Naturally, questions begin to grow. Why are my statistics dropping instead of growing?
Do Google operators have some milk of human kindness in them, or are they simply ordinary humans focused on their own gains, without concern for how publishers’ wellbeing and lives are affected?
Many publishers quietly wonder whether independent websites are truly treated fairly within the system, or whether larger media organisations simply receive better visibility and stronger advantages.
Others ask why some websites grow quickly while upcoming publishers remain almost invisible for years despite publishing consistently.
▪️Why are some articles indexed immediately while others barely appear?
▪️Why does revenue suddenly collapse without a matching drop in traffic?
▪️Why do publishers mostly receive automated responses instead of direct explanations?
For many people, the silence becomes the most painful part.
The truth is that modern publishing now depends heavily on algorithms.
Search visibility, advert revenue, and audience reach are all influenced by systems controlled mostly by a few large technology companies.
That creates a difficult imbalance.
A publisher can spend years building a platform and lose visibility almost overnight after a search update.
Once traffic drops, income, which may have never been stable, drops as well.
Unlike normal business relationships, most independent publishers never get to speak with real decision-makers.
Their interaction is usually limited to automated emails from “noreply” addresses, dashboards, and support forums.
That experience has left many feeling invisible inside a Google system they help sustain through its adverts.
Amid that, there is no proven evidence that Google deliberately refuses to pay genuine publishers who follow the rules.
It is known that some millions of websites reportedly receive AdSense payments every month.
But for many struggling publishers, the issue goes beyond payment itself.
The real concern is trust.
If Google AdSense were handled by Nigerian operators, it might simply be dismissed as business tactics rather than being recognised as algorithm-driven income instability and limited transparency in digital advertising systems affecting small publishers.
Publishers want clearer communication, more transparency, and better explanations when things suddenly go wrong.
When someone spends years building content but still cannot understand why growth stalls or revenue collapses, frustration naturally increases.
Google often explains changes through algorithm updates, advertiser demand, invalid traffic checks, or policy enforcement.
Those explanations may technically be correct, but they often still feel unfair in practice.
Still, for modest publishers carrying all the financial and emotional pressure, the experience often feels deeply inhumane.
The emotional side of online publishing is rarely discussed openly. Many independent publishers are exhausted but afraid to speak out.
Some entered digital journalism believing the internet would create equal opportunities for everyone.
Instead, they found an environment where visibility can disappear overnight, and income remains uncertain no matter how hard they work.
A lot of publishers quietly deal with burnout, anxiety, self-doubt, and financial stress.
They begin asking themselves difficult questions.
▪️ “Is my work not good enough?”
▪️ “Why is my website not growing?”
▪️ “Why does the income never match the effort?”
These are not just business questions. They are personal ones too.
The hard reality is that online publishing has become extremely difficult for modest independent platforms.
Good journalism alone is no longer enough. Success now also depends on algorithms, technical knowledge, search visibility, advertiser behaviour, and platform decisions.
That means even hardworking publishers can still struggle badly.
This does not automatically mean Google is dishonest. But it does show how much control large technology platforms have over the survival of smaller digital publishers.
Independent publishers are not asking for sympathy.
Most simply want fairness, transparency, and recognition that real human beings are behind these websites i.e., people sacrificing time, health, and financial stability just to keep information flowing every day.
And the question many still keep asking remains simple:
If publishers help create the content that attracts readers and advertising money online, why do so many small publishers still feel left behind inside the same system they help build?
Google, you need to provide answers to this because lives and survival are dependent on your much-expected support.
Evidently, this isn’t another kind of faceless “cryptocurrency” business, we real humans run Google. Thank you.
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JK News Media, thanks for highlighting this concerning issue.
Google applies different metrics for different climes, Africa having the short end of the stick unlike other continents.
In the relationship with AdSense, the provider wins, using individual platforms to advance their ad contents, while the platforms earn next to nothing.
You capture them so well. That’s why I noted that if it’s Nigerians handling it, they’d have called us all sorts of names. It’s so unfortunate jare. I just felt bad about it all.
Honestly. It’s frustrating. The beat I was publishing on before was approved. Since I have been working on this one now, they have not approved it. In fact, I have been so frustrated.
How they treated Publishers is so discouraging. They do that as if they are solely helping them
“Africa must wake up and not allow the West to continue taking advantage over us. Google can’t try the slave wage in other climes. African entrepreneurs should invest in the digital space, so we have our own version of AdSense,” – someone wrote, And I quite agree with him.