I have no idea what the point of this thread is. Building a brand is definitely the way to go for long term success and I don't really see how you could argue otherwise. When you build a solid brand you have the key to constant income, RETURNING VISITORS! Do you think sites like Problogger worry about Google updates? No, because they don't rely on search engines for their traffic. They have established names and authority that get traffic through Social Networking, word of mouth, and loyal visitors who visit the site daily.