I Got 3.5 Million Page Views on My Blog Without Relying on Google
Don’t rely solely on Google as a source of traffic
Many people think that blogging is a boomer thing. Maybe that’s because the golden years of blogging are behind us.
Google’s updates, artificial intelligence, and competition between social media have taken their toll on bloggers. Some have given up. Others always see possibilities and prepare their blogs for the future. If you belong to the latter school, you should definitely read on.
Lately, a lot has changed
A lot is changing in the online landscape. Mainly because of Google’s useful content updates and the rapid boost of AI. And then there’s social media, which eagerly absorbs content on the one hand and pays content creators financially on the other, but can also punish the creators behind that content at will with its algorithm.
Over the last few years, I’ve learned:
1. Don’t rely solely on Google as a source of traffic
We don’t know what updates are coming. Nor do we know exactly what AI will do to your blog’s traffic. Because Google and other search engines will increasingly provide direct answers to users’ questions.
How do you ensure that your valuable articles continue to attract visitors in the future? Not by relying solely on SEO and Google.
For nearly two decades, Google was the holy grail of bloggers. We ignored other search engines en masse because Google was king. During that same time, we heard that Bing only has a marginal market share and that “a good score on Google automatically means you’ll also have a good score on Bing”.
But that doesn’t have to be the case.
Bing has its own set of tools with which you can check your search engine positions and with which you can make improvements to your content to make it even more attractive to this alternative search engine.
There are similarities with Google’s ranking, but also many differences.
For example, Bing places less value on backlinks and more value on a keyword in the domain name and the words that refer to your content.
Bing is also sensitive to your online authority, such as the visibility of your brand on social media.
Did you know that you can also include your news site in the Bing version of Google News to attract extra visitors?
This site clearly explains what you can pay attention to if you want to make the most of Bing. But in any case, I’d recommend signing up for Bing Webmaster Tools, which is similar to Google Search Console. You can easily import your GSC projects into Bing Tools.
2. As a blogger: know what Google wants
Google is still a great source of traffic. You just need to know how to dance around it.
It’s still worth presenting your articles in the most attractive way possible to Google.
3. Don’t depend on a handful of posts for your traffic
The Pareto principle also applies to blogs and websites.
It’s also called the 80/20 rule. This means that only 20% of your blog articles are responsible for 80% of your website traffic.
And if you calculate further: only 20% of your products or services account for 80% of your turnover.
Read Richard Koch’s 80/20 principle and a whole world will open up to you. I took a look at the book, and here’s what I learned:
“80% of the result is achieved with 20% of the effort. That’s the basis of the 80/20 principle”.
According to the author, you see this not only in organizations but in everything in life, and I’m inclined to agree.
The most important lesson: see if you can focus more on that 20%. Then there’s a good chance you’ll achieve more and better results and, at the same time, work less and do more fun things.
By the way, the 80/20 principle also applies to the book itself. 20% of the valuable information in this book leads to 80% of the results. The rest is good for support, but you don’t necessarily need it.”
This 80/20 rule needn’t be a problem if you’ve written almost 500 articles on your blog, as I have. But if you only have a few dozen articles on your blog, with just a few bringing in most of the traffic, you’re in a precarious position.
A competitor can suddenly appear above one or more of your best posts, immediately reducing your website traffic by tens of percent.
But Google could also get back on track and torpedo your most popular blog article with a new algorithm update.
What do you have to do then?
Simply put, you need to do thorough research into your target group’s queries and write more qualitative articles about them.
If you take this seriously, you’ll distribute more of your traffic into high-quality posts, each of which will take up a portion of your traffic.
Instead of that one post with all the traffic, you spread out your chances more.
Not just dependent on social media either
What applies to Google certainly also applies to social media.
You don’t know when Google will decide to send you fewer visitors, but you also don’t know when “the social networks” will decide to pinch you with their algorithm.
It’s important to realize that any visitors and customers you receive from social networks are “borrowed traffic”.
Borrowed traffic rather than your own traffic. In other words: these visitors are not yours, but the platform’s.
The flow of visitors you currently receive from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or wherever it comes from will certainly dry up at some point. So, what do you do?
Don’t rely (solely) on social media for your customers and/or traffic.
Become less dependent if you get all your traffic from just one social media.
Focus more on the content of your own platform and use social media primarily to get visibility and drive traffic to your blog. This way you’ll simultaneously get more traffic from search engines, which will reduce your dependence on social media.
The best way to convert borrowed traffic into your own is through your email list.
Adding followers to your email list should be the number one priority of your marketing efforts this year.
5. Work on your email list to make it more independent
Make your email list a priority this year.
As soon as someone is on your mailing list, that contact is yours!
You are no longer dependent on the algorithm of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or any other medium. And instead of 1% of your followers/contacts (if your post doesn’t go viral), you can quickly reach around 40–60% of your contacts with an email.
The good thing is that with an email you reach your subscribers directly. And also in the evening and the next day. Your email stays in their inbox and they also see new emails from you regularly. As long as you keep sending them.
Of course, some unsubscribe from every email you send. But you have to look at it this way: the quality of your mailing list is getting better and better. Subscribers who keep going become real fans of your newsletter.
And it’s much easier to sell something to them than it is to sell your products or services on social media.
I’ve listed more tips for growing your email list quickly in this article.
6. Pay more attention to Pinterest
It’s often all about Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. The usual suspects. But if you’re having trouble reaching your customers here, you can look to other media.
I’m talking here in particular about Pinterest, a social media that isn’t really a social media, but an additional search engine based on images.
Unlike Instagram or Facebook, Pinterest has no problem directing interested parties to your blog.
I’m experimenting with Pinterest for my Portuguese website and the preliminary results look good. Now that I’m a bit more active with pins, I can immediately see the results of my efforts.
If I learn anything else, I’d like to come back to this in a new blog article soon.
Of course, there are also other ways to use it, such as sending press releases to the media with news about your sector, guest blogging on news sites in your sector, or simply good old-fashioned advertising.
All I’m saying is don’t stick to Google and the usual social networks, because there really is so much more you can do.
To wrap up
A future-proof blog is not only a blog that receives visitors from a variety of sources and engages its readers, but it’s also a blog that you can earn money from in a variety of ways.
For years, bloggers have earned income from advertising or affiliate marketing, but updates such as the dreaded HCU show that you can’t rely entirely on this.
If you want to secure your income in the future, it’s smart to work across several income streams. For example, I have ads and affiliate marketing on my Portuguese site, but I also offer an online course there.
The possibilities for making the most of your blog are greater than you might think.