Immediately after launching my blog, I hardly get organic traffic. I didn’t let this bother me much, as I understood it was just the beginning. During this period, almost 75% of my traffic comes from social media, such as Facebook. However, someone who does not have knowledge of how search engine algorithms work may wonder why I found it difficult to get organic traffic in the beginning. Just to explain it in layman terms, here is how the algorithms work: When you and your competitors (site owners with whom you share a similar niche) publish content on “how to increase organic traffic,” there is competition for who appears at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). So here is where the algorithms do their job. If a user types a phrase (search query) about increasing organic traffic, the search engine algorithms go to work to determine among the contents you and your competitors published which one to display in the first position of search results. The algorithms determine this based on a variety of factors, such as relevance, authority, and user experience. Now let’s have a quick overview of these few factors:
Relevance:
The algorithms analyze your content and that of your competitors to determine their relevance to the search query (How can I increase organic traffic to my blog). If your content closely matches the search intent (purpose behind a user’s search query), you are more likely to appear in the first position of search results. If it does not match, you wouldn’t appear in the first position or even the second or third position, depending on the competition level. In order to pass this test, you need to have well-written, informative, and engaging content that is valuable to users. In addition to that, you need to optimize your content for your target keyword or keywords. That is, making sure your page title, meta tags, headings, url, body content, and image alt all include your target keyword or keywords.
Authority:
The algorithms also assess the authoritativeness and quality of your content, as well as that of your competitors. If your site’s authority is low compared to that of your competitors, then they will have an edge over you in terms of who appears on page #1. Site authority is based on numerous factors, such as backlinks, user engagement metrics, and content quality. Backlinks are particularly important because they indicate that your content is relevant, which is why others are linking to it. To pass this test, you need to write quality content that is engaging. Quality content increases engagement metrics and attracts more backlinks and shares, thus improving site authority. You can also do backlink outreach and guest blogging to improve authority.
User Experience:
If your content takes minutes to load or is not accessible to search engine crawlers, it will not rank first in SERPs. Similarly, if your site is not mobile-friendly, your ranking will also suffer. A clear and logical site structure also helps with ranking. To pass this test, you need to make sure your site’s technical aspects (technical SEO) are in order. This includes enhancing the page’s speed, ensuring its mobile responsiveness, and enabling search engine bots to access and crawl it, among other factors.
Next…..
I am now convinced that you have at least a basic understanding of how search engine algorithms work. If you do, it will help you understand how I was able to increase my monthly organic traffic to a three-digit figure. Without further ado, I was able to achieve a 3-digit monthly organic traffic by adhering to the best practices (relevance, authority, and user experience) I mentioned earlier, in addition to conducting keyword research. To ease your understanding of how I did this, let’s again break it down into relevance, authority, and user experience.
Writing relevant content:
Whenever I want to write content, I brainstorm about what topic I should write about. Afterwards, I head over to the Semrush or Ahref keyword research tool to find a relevant and sought-after keyword or keywords for the topic I want to write on, check the keyword difficulty and its traffic volume, and check the reason why users search for that keyword (search intent). Subsequently, I conduct competitor analysis to determine the top-ranking sites for the keyword, scrutinize their content and site authority to understand the reasons behind their ranking, identify any gaps in their content, and then come up with a title and commence content creation. I always make sure to write quality content that addresses the users’ search intent (informational, transactional, navigational, or commercial). Once I finish writing, I begin the process of proofreading and editing until I achieve a sense of satisfaction. Then I head over to my dashboard and scroll down to “Post,” then click on “Add New Post” to add the content. Afterwards, I cross-check again to make sure that the title, headings, image alt, meta tags, and body itself contain my target keyword or keywords and also link to other pages where necessary. Once everything is complete, I click on publish and track its performance on SERPs. If I am dissatisfied with the way the content is performing on SERPs, I revisit it to make the necessary changes or adjustments.
Authority:
As I mentioned above, site authority is especially crucial when it comes to ranking. I was able to improve my blog’s authority by writing quality content and applying off-page SEO best practices. I was specifically focused on backlink building (through backlink outreach and guest blogging), which has enabled me to increase my DA (domain rating) from 0 to 6 in just 2 months.
User Experience:
I always make sure my site loads fast, is accessible by crawlers, and is mobile-friendly. Site speed and mobile responsiveness are particularly important for me because I am running Google AdSense on my blog. So if the blog is not mobile-responsive and there are loading delays, I would lose a huge amount of revenue. The blog’s ranking, a goal I hold dear, would also suffer. I opted for the GeneratePress WordPress theme for its lightweight design and flexibility. Instead of relying on pre-made templates, I customized the theme myself to avoid unnecessary code that could slow down website speed. I ensured that the blog is both mobile-responsive and optimized for speed, with a clean architecture.