You may remember my post from last August titled 100,000 Monthly Page Views & No Backlink Building.
So I wanted to update you on the traffic to my hidden WordPress website I created in 2011 that I have been using to test how much organic traffic I can build without chasing backlinks.
It’s been six months since that post and the traffic has increased by roughly 50,000 page views per month and you can see the comparison screenshots below…
August 2012
February 2013
Since the last post in August, I’ve added roughly 20 pages.
For the record, a few people were suspicious/curious about the tool I’m using to track the traffic because they didn’t recognize the above graph.
It’s the WordPress.com Stats Plugin. I also use Google Analytics, but the WP plugin is just more convenient to check. So just in case you’re interested, the Google Analytics report looks about the same…
What?!?! No Backlinks???
The last post generated a bit of confusion. People didn’t understand how I could build so much organic traffic without backlinks.
For the record, I never said this site doesn’t have backlinks. Of course it does. However, they were earned naturally. The point is, I haven’t been chasing or manually building backlinks through guest posting, linking schemes, etc.
I have simply been writing content and targeting longtail (less competitive) keywords.
I’m Not Alone
So I updated my traffic story on my forum, Website Babble, and it was good to see that other members are experiencing similar results. Here are two replies from the thread…
From Seanguy75
Lisa this is a very cool post. Thanks for sharing your experience with this! Other than making a squidoo page early on that links to our site and literally only having our website address in one signature on one forum related to our niche, we have done no backlink building at all.
We are ranking #1 for our original keyword that I targeted at the beginning and #3 right now for another larger keyword in the niche. We are getting around 40,000-50,000 page views a month right now and hope to keep increasing this!
I have never done a guest post and have focused mainly on content and SEO. The SEO mainly being on page SEO. I tell my girlfriend who is actually my partner on the website now all the time about the things you recommend and how you do things. Cool post here and very encouraging for us!
It is funny, I was not expecting us to hit the top of our keyword as soon as we did so I have focused most of my efforts and research into content and basically how to get where we are now.
I told my girlfriend, wow I guess it is time for me to start researching and learning all about monetization now! We went from getting 10-40 visitors a day to 500-800 a day within a few weeks and have stayed in the upper amounts ever since. It has just been hitting me that we have enough traffic to really start doing something here now. LOL
Anyhow, most of this was done without any backlink chasing at all. I just never really got around to that. Once it became about content, it just has been about that ever since. Thank you for your ethics, your inspiration, your attentiveness to questions even though you must have a thousand or more a day and for this post!
Can’t wait to hit 100k!
From emvy548
I do have a similar experience as seanguy75.
I have a website in a hard-fought photography related niche. I posted a lot of good content based on my experience as a freelance photographer (one of my hobbies), and also some research done on the web. I did not build any backlinks for this site and let it sit – pretty much forgot about it while I got tied into various other assignments.
A few months later I noticed that my website was ranking in the top 5 results for several two-word keyword phrases with two of them being in the top three. It is a simple site with pure content and no monetization – not even Adsense on this one.
I am planning to add more content and monetize it though, hoping at the same time that its stays afloat at the top!
You can join this conversation on Website Babble here.
The Take-Home
Let me make one thing clear. Building a business that relies solely on SEO is a dangerous game. That is not the point of this post.
If you’ve been following me long enough, you know that my business is not SEO dependent. This is just an experiment. I just want to show that yes, in 2013 it is still possible to build decent traffic without chasing backlinks.
Of course, a lot of variables have to come into play (niche choice, competition, the quality of the earned backlinks, etc.) however it is still possible. Too many people today are still targeting competitive/broad keywords and their sites are not focused enough around a central theme.
And I actually think this site would have even more traffic had I done this experiment before Google started favoring brands in late 2010. With this experiment specifically, it is quite evident how much brands get a lift in the SERPS.
So ranking for longtail (less competitive) keywords is where the traffic is coming from (just like Carl’s Disney site).
Having said that, I’m not complaining. Getting 150,000 monthly page views (2300 daily uniques) is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Thanks for the Feedback
I really enjoyed reading all your comments on the last post. Many of you confirmed that you’ve experienced positive traffic results without chasing backlinks as well.
Keep the encouraging results and comments coming!
That’s pretty impressive! I have to see what I can do for my website to get the same results!
Yep – Google’s big fat red herring is linking. ALL of our traffic (pushing 30K unique last month) is to blogs that JUST have good content. Never a single link exchanged or created. No “blog carnivals”, and not sucking up to other bloggers – just raw content and publish on WordPress.
I mean the them is designed for anti-seo and all, but outside of that, just a plain wrapper and a few good plugins.
JUST WRITE!!!!!
Yes..
Even i am facing the same,I’ll also start the guest posting.
Thanks for the sharing the info.
Amazing how you got such high results from a blog without backlinks welldone
regards
clare
When you say the niche is crucial for this site I am assuming you mean it is in a micro niche then, am I guessing correctly?
Yes!
This is super encouraging. I removed guest posting from my blog marketing strategy a while back and I have to agree with you. Chasing links isn’t always necessary
Thanks to Ti’s inspiring post, I decided to scale back on overt SEO because quite frankly, it takes time. I’m working on the keyword research aspect just because I want to make sure I have some keywords in there but…nothing else. What I have done is made the rounds and got some social media traction and I’m up in traffic and my bounce rate has gone down a bit. Thanks to your post, I think I’m on the right track. Every little bit counts, doesn’t it. Thanks
awesome! you have more daily visitors than my monthly LOL.
Some very interesting thoughts Lisa, I am glad I happened by your post on the wb fourms. I hate building backlinks too. What would you suggest if your in a highly competitive market?
Hi Lisa,
I’ve read and re-read this post several times. I recently started a blog for a popular long term keyword, that surprise surprise, had low competition. I could not believe my luck, and the blog is coming along quite nicely.
Thanks for all that you do. I also loved your article on creating static pages for your blog instead of only posts. Made a lot of sense, and has been instrumental in my site getting visitors. Keep up the good work!!
You’ve been inspiration for me for last 5 years. I’ve been working more on guest posts these days. Thanks for the share
I agree Lisa. Long tail keywords have been great for me – either by accident or design! 😉
To my mind it is definitely worth experimenting with a few pages whereby you put the ol’ SEO rulebook (SBI in my case ) to one side and just right a great, value-add post with long tails. I just wrote with a two-three word search term and within 2-3 weeks I’m number one for that term. It’s almost unbelievable, but proof that it can work, huh!
Jamie
Hi Lisa!!
I have a blogspot blog and getting around 60k visitors per month but i did not create backlink at all, I got some backlinks from webstats site, my blog is only 5 month old and now i am planning to buy a domain..
Your blog is very helpful and encouraging for me.
Thanks
Outstanding results, Lisa:
It’s interesting to see how much your site has grown with natural SEO. Something that I quite honestly didn’t think was possible. You’ve done a great job at successfully pulling off a controversial topic in our niche. Congrats on your sites success; I’m looking forward to future updates. 🙂
Ti
Thanks so much, Ti!
I really believed that a blog could have traffic even without backlink building, and you’ve proved my point. So from this point, I’m going to focus less on backlinks, and more on SEO part.
Hi lisa, thanks for your awesome figures and i always think that SEO is the most important elements for internet marketing or for website traffic, i think your post totally changes my mind. And i do agree you said your most your backlinks appeared naturally , if you offer content with quality and share it in the right way, you can get backlinks with quality too.
Hi Lisa
wow…..wowww..
this is amazing and ultimate too… i don’t think ayone has ever achived that,
withot backlinks.
Please read the article again. I never said the site has no backlinks. I’m not sure why people keep thinking that’s the case even when I’ve explained that above.
Hi Lisa
This is an amazing amount of views I must take my hat off to you. I have changed my strategy lately and gone to long tailed keywords that are easier to rank for and found my views steadily increasing only a tiny fraction of yours but going in the right direction. I think this is definitely the way to go keyword research is so vital for any succesful site.
Great post lee
Thanks Lisa.. that does help. I wonder if you believe that in some niches and site concepts, that you may need to do more aggressive “backlink building?”
Absolutely. For example those amount of backlinks for 2create wouldn’t have made a dent in the bucket. And that’s why I wrote that paragraph in this post about a lot of things have to come together for this to work (including the niche) so I definitely think niche plays a huge, huge role. Having said that though, if you read the comments on the original post and the people I quoted here, a lot of people can vouch that this strategy does work. Now I don’t know how competitive their niches are, etc. but it’s always good to see it working for others too.
I do think it’s dangerous to write-off backlinks in general. Maybe Lisa managed to pick a very winnable niche that doesn’t require building up “authority” via backlinks. But if you are in a more competitive niche then I still think a “link popularity” strategy is required.
Any other opinions?
I didn’t think I was advocating “writing off” backlinks. Certainly if you have the right ones your traffic can explode. I was just emphasizing that you don’t need a lot to get traffic and definitely niche plays a BIG role. I personally think people obsess over them too much and often focus more on that than content. You have to balance. Some luck is also involved, I believe.
Backlinks are still a big part of SEO, it’s just Google is more selective about what links they count. Nevertheless, my experiment is proof (along with the right niche) that you can still get lots of traffic.
I also have to keep emphasizing that *this site has backlinks*. I never said it didn’t. I just personally haven’t chased them. 🙂
Lisa, your websites have been the backbone of getting my web business off the ground. As you know that’s a huge learning curve that takes the time it takes for things to come together and for the momentum to begin building. I took it on faith that I would acquire back links organically. Guess what? It’s happening! I’m so excited about each successful baby step. While I’m not racking up huge numbers of visitors to my website yet (still too new), it’s coming, slow but sure. I like the pace as it gives me time to learn, and to grow with the business as it grows, mastering one important detail at a time. I’m dedicated to my business for the long run, have a committed work ethic that is producing results. It’s worth taking the time and effort to set the foundation to the best of my ability for a better future. I can’t thank you enough for all your good teaching. You’re my go-to girl! Love, Cat.
Awesome, Cat! Baby steps is all you need and if you are seeing progress, you’re doing something right. Keep up the great work.
WOW Lisa!!! These stats are amazing.
I am now thinking to myself, what am I doing wrong 🙁 Still confused if backlinks are still worth it.
Congrats on the success with that site.
Backlinks are still worth chasing in my opinion, but this experiment by Lisa helps to prove that linkbuilding isn’t the be all and end all that people would have you believe. 🙂
I absolutely do remember that article from months ago! Thanks for the follow-up.
Back when you posted that article I remember we were building a new website and I was still working out my strategy for improving its web presence. Everywhere I looked it was all about link building but your approach gave me a new perspective on things.
While I still did a small amount of link building I didn’t focus on it and I tried to have things develop as organically as possible. At this point I am extremely happy with the results as I get a very consistent stream of traffic.
The game with Google is obviously changing and the link spammers are seeing their sites die off, so approaches like this are a much needed breath of fresh air!
Excellent post, Lisa, as always. I think when it comes to backlinking less is important. You should aim for quality links and not necessarily quantity. I also think content is still king.
Lisa, sorry – in my previous comment – I meant to say that I have never bee “great” with seeking out backlinks. I guess you could say that I am very “late” with the process! 😉
Very inspiring – as I have never been late with seeking out backlinks.
One question, though – Roughly how many pages/posts does the site have?
Neena
So, correct me if I am wrong, but the conclusion I get from this information is that finding a good long-tail niche keyword you can exploit is a good way of getting organic traffic? So do you use the Google keyword tool for that? Many thanks 🙂
Yes and yes! 🙂
congratulations Lisa.
content is still king. I assume you have content on your site, as well as other mediums such as YouTube and maybe a FB fan page?
maybe a similar post to this down the road sharing the monetization aspect as anonymously as possible? always refreshing to hear such case studies.
I’ve been struggling with making a decision to go for natural longer tailed keywords but your post shed a lot of light! thanks
Well that’s a great experiment there. Long term keywords is the key!
Very interesting Lisa. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story. Hopefully all will be revealed. 😉
Thanks for posting this .. admittedly, I get lazy with looking for key words .. so I need to be more active in this area of blog posting.
Monica.
Thanks Lisa for sharing. Awesome results, indeed. Like tony_rovere, I want to know your steps of picking your topic and keyword research. For real this time. I struggle a lot, a hell lot on this one and it is regarded as a fundamental step to success. Please, please share. I have asked you this before via email before and your answer was simply that you use Google Keyword tool. Thanks.
And that is the truth. I don’t have any detailed steps that I go thru. In fact, I don’t even use the tool for every page I create — only for my main concept.
Proof that GOOD content will always be the most important thing you can do. Good content IS a link building plan, since good content will get shared everywhere and linked to.
Great experiment Lisa.
Yes indeed. Thanks for coming by JP! 🙂
Hi Lisa, hope all is well over in your neck of the woods. I’m just wondering about this site, you do not have to say ofcourse, but do you have any Affiliate links on it. I’m just wondering would you get the same traffic if affiliate links were located on the site? As I have my doubts that you would with the way affiliate sites have been targeted by Google and the likes.
I do but very, very, very minimal. And I wonder if I removed them if I would get more. I haven’t tried as I monetized pretty early.
Worth experimenting each way, taking them off for a month, then adding in quite a few later to see what the difference is.
Oh my god!! Its really amazing, I can not believe it that it is possible to get lots of visits without backlinks. So can you please suggest me which type of strategy I’ve to use if I want to get more visits??
Lisa, this is like watching a really suspenseful mystery movie.
When are you going to reveal your site to us?
Just curious, is there any paid advertising involved?
Also, how many emails do you send out during a month to get that many people to your site?
Is it a blog or a static site?
The only email that goes out is the automated RSS email for new posts and I don’t write new posts that often. Most of the traffic is organic. Just sold my first paid ad last week.
I haven’t decided if I ever will reveal it. It’s not to be cruel but to protect my site. It’s a WordPress site with static and blog pages — mostly static pages.
Hi Lisa , I salute to your efforts . Really mind blowing SEO technique you described above and all above the wonder is you do all this without backlinks . Really so motivated post once again . I am big fan of yours dear .
Thanks .
My website also contains around 1600 pages and i update it regularly but i was not getting any page rank update even on 4th feb when google made latest page rank update.
Hope i will correct my practices to achieve my goals.
keep writing.
That is very good.I believe that content is still and will remain the key.I get not as many page views as your site, but the average visit time is 5 minutes, which makes me very happy that people really read what I spent hours writing.Cheers!
Thanks for the awesome post. Will sure try out adword keyword tool.
Lisa,
As always, great stuff. But I do have a question/request/favor to ask.
I think it would be TERRIFIC if you could put together a video of exactly how you did this. I realize that the website is secret because you don’t want the experiment to be compromised but if you could go through the steps of picking your topic and keyword research.
I believe everyone here would great a good deal of benefit out of it.
Hi Tony
Great idea! I would love to do that. I guess sometimes I struggle with presenting that kind of stuff because unlike some marketers / content producers I am not very methodical about my approach. I know who I want to target, think about what they want and start writing. But maybe I’m doing more than I realize.
I will put some thought into this for a video. Thanks for the feedback!
I second that request! I would definitely pass it on to my clients.
Hi there,
sorry for the daft question….
what do you exactly mean with “building backlinks”? Also, I thought that linking schemes were a thing of the past and very much frowned upon by the almighty Google.
I mean, on my website I get numbers more or less similar to yours and have never really done anything else but writing content. OK, I have done a few guest posts here and there, but nothing to write home about.
This only difference is that I have an active community on FB that drives between 35 and 70% of traffic (depending on the content shared or the post published on any one day…). No twitter activity (or at least, next to zero)
So my question is, what am I missing and what should I be doing?
Oh, I am already building a mailing list.
TIA
Hi Andrea
It is frowned upon and has been frowned upon for awhile but you would be surprised how many people are still running around looking for link exchanges or doing whatever for “low quality” links.
You’re not necessarily doing anything wrong. A lot has to do with the niche so you can’t really compare our stories. I’ve tried other sites with similar strategies and they bombed traffic wise because perhaps I was going for keywords that were too competitive, etc. So it’s not that you’re doing anything “wrong” per say it’s just different niches produce different results.
Lisa, my mentor !
I’m always inspired by your success online and all the achievements you’ve made and continue to make. I think my biggest mistake with my current website is not using WordPress ! Coding everything from scratch is a slight challenge because I miss out on many of the amazing plugins. I know it shouldn’t really matter anyway because you have proven content is key.
Keep up the good work. I keep on bragging about you to my friends about your success and how you’ve helped me online both through your posts and on Facebook. Congrats on your success ! 🙂
Awesome post as always Lisa. Lots to learn from long tail keywords – they are the new short tail from 10 years ago!
You da best, Lisa! 🙂
wow… this is amazing and ultimate too… i don’t think anyone has ever achieved that…. without backlinks…
Hi , I run a niche blog, don’t have any backlinks but update 2 or 3 articles a day. I am page one for over 20 search two word search terms now and get around 600 visits a day , and that number is increasing.
Thanks for sharing this Lisa,
This is still a very inspiring accomplishment even though you’re not sharing the URL or NICHE…
yet
Maybe one day soon?
Here’s a question though.
Without back links why do you think Google is sending so much traffic?
I would imagine your average time per visit and pages per visit is pretty good.
Average time per visit is 3-5 minutes so the site has very good engagement. Bounce rate is between 40 and 50%.
its about 20% to 30% average of bounce rate traffic on your website, then its get better result.
Hi Lisa, what a cool experiment.
I know you don’t want to reveal the niche of the site, but I’m curious to know how you developed your content. Is it something you already have expertise in or did you research a topic in order to gain some insights.
Thanks for keeping us updated with the progress of the site.
Hey Ileane,
It was something I’ve always had experience with. For whatever reason, I don’t find enjoyment researching and then writing. It’s always easier when I can talk about what I know or have experienced.
Great post, Lisa! Building serious traffic by writing content and targeting long-tail (less competitive) keywords. this made my day!
Wow, that is amazing traffic Lisa. I am now convinced that the more keyword research you do, the less backlinks you need. Would you mind sharing what software you use to discover your longtail keywords.
Mostly Google AdWords Keyword Tool.
hi Larry James, for keyword research you can use “long tail pro” as well as use free Google AdWords Keyword Tool these are the best 2 tools which gives you much more good results to your future articles.
are you neil patel’s, the seo’s relative?