Almost everyone who starts a new website for the first time asks themselves this question: How long does it take to start driving traffic to your website? New blogs are launched online every day these days, but how long exactly does it take for a new blog to start seeing traffic? Some new bloggers may naively start a new website and think that they will get traffic almost immediately, but unfortunately, there are barriers to entry and so search engines do not work when ranking new websites.
Generally, it takes 6-9 months for a new blog to start getting significant traffic, depending on producing a lot of high-quality content and targeting keywords with suitable low competition. However, in some cases, it can take 12-18 months before the blog actually starts getting traffic.
Therefore, there is a significant waiting period that new blog owners have to endure, even if they do everything right before their blog actually starts getting good traffic. It can be tough in these early days when you’re working really hard but not seeing immediate results.
It is also because some new bloggers do not realize that this waiting time for a new blog to get traffic is very typical and normal that they either give up on their project after a few months or worse.
Different time periods when a new blog starts to gain traffic
In general, 4-6 months is a good average time to expect to wait for new blog content to start getting traffic, assuming you’ve created enough and targeted keywords that can reasonably be expected review on the new blog. low authority blog.
So, let’s break it down into a few different possible scenarios:
Shorter
Some blogs can take off in the first few months, especially if you’ve found a niche that has very little competition, with a real lack of relevant, quality content for many of the keywords in that niche. Therefore, you fill important gaps in search results and search engines like Google may be willing to rank your content earlier. Also, if you have a large, ready-made social media audience to send your new content to, this can also accelerate traffic growth for the new blog, but it’s rare that this is the case.
Average
For most new blogs, assuming you’re doing everything right and producing enough quality content, you can expect a normal time frame of 5-7 months before your initial batch of content starts ranking in the search engines and actually starts driving traffic. This is what is most often seen on new blogs.
Longer
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out why, but some new blogs just take longer to really get traffic going, even if the owner is doing everything right. Sometimes it can take 12-18 months for a new blog to really start getting significant traffic. For whatever reason, Google takes longer to trust certain websites and certain content. So new bloggers must be prepared to be patient and trust the result if they have done everything right on the front end in terms of creating quality content. The actual increase in traffic can sometimes take longer than expected.
What traffic growth looks like on a new blog
As for what traffic growth looks like on a new blog, it will usually be pretty obvious in Google Analytics once your content starts to really take off.
Assuming you published a decent amount when you started your blog, and its quality content targeted at the right keywords, then you’ll often see a “hockey stick” growth graph in your traffic analytics where your traffic suddenly skyrockets over a period of 6-9 months. when all of your content starts to “hit” at once and Google tests your content long enough to really trust it in its rankings.
Creating quality content is essential to getting traffic to your new blog
If you want to get the traffic growth curve you want on your new blog, you need to produce good content that will attract that traffic. The phrase “content is king” which also quote by Bill Gates in 1996 is as true in blogging now as it has ever been.
Let’s break down the topic into both quality and quantity of new content:
Content Quality
I believe this is more important every year as the internet is now more and more competitive. You need to write high-quality, detailed, and useful content, even for low-competition keywords these days, especially on a new site. Your content must stand out from the crowd with its usefulness and, most importantly, its thoroughness and completeness. It needs to give the reader exactly what they came to the article for and more. Make the articles as long as possible, including multiple subsections covering different aspects of the topic, including images, infographics, tables, bulleted lists, and videos.
Content Quantity
You really need to produce a good amount of content – aim for at least 60-100 articles in your first batch of content and try to do it in the first 3 months. Some articles will perform well, but others will be “rogue” and will not bring the expected traffic, especially on a new blog where you are doing everything for the first time. That’s why you need a good amount of content to cover up all the stupid articles and also signal to the search engines that there is something going on in your blog that needs attention. Search engines like to see link speed on a new site – new links are created that just show that something worthwhile is happening in that corner of the internet.
Targeting the right keywords is essential to getting traffic to your new blog
A very common mistake among new bloggers is that they immediately go after really competitive keywords and search terms, thinking that this is where the real traffic is and therefore the “big money” in terms of monetization. In the start, you try to target low-competition keywords which have a high google rank volume. There are many free keyword research websites but I personally recommended Sem scoop which is totally free.
While this is true, if you straight up write articles targeting these super-competitive keywords without first proving yourself with some search wins with lower competition, then Google won’t rank the content because it has no reason to trust your position above everyone else.
Building authority and thereby increasing traffic to a new (or existing) blog requires you to write your content in a very specific order. Here’s Income School’s concept of the content mix needed to build authority and drive traffic to a new blog:
Low Competition Keywords
Super specific, low competition, lower search volume with average or poor search results. Short, quick posts with answers.
Medium Competition Keywords
Broader, medium competition topics with some results from other sites. It requires more meat content.
High Competition Keywords
A very broad search for short-end keywords in your niche, very high volume, and very high competition, with lots of high-quality results from well-known sites. The contest requires very long and detailed content. Follow these terms only after you have written a few articles in the first two categories.
Getting backlinks to your content to grow traffic
A factor that can sometimes accelerate the growth curve of a new blog is getting external links to it from social media or other platforms. This can act as an “upvote” for your content and speed up the search engine ranking process.
Here are a few different ways you can organically grow backlinks to your content:
Social Media
If you already have a ready-made social media audience to send to your new blog content, it can definitely speed up your rankings and traffic growth curve. However, it is rare that this is the case. Driving interest in your content through social media posting can be valuable, but it can also be a serious time drain if you get too caught up in it. For new bloggers, focus primarily on content creation if you don’t have a ready-made social media following.
Quotable Stats
One great way to draw organic backlinks to your content is to include useful and useful statistics so people will want to link to your post to cite and link to that statistic. They are perfect for drawing backlinks to your content without forcing them and can speed up rankings. You can find more about it here.
General Usefulness
Just making your content really helpful, useful, and complete will also encourage people to share it, especially if you’ve created a ‘perfect guide’ to something where you really cover all the bases and make a great introductory resource for someone who just getting to the point.
Errors that cause a new blog to fail
In fact, we’re just covering the opposite of what we’ve already mentioned above, but it’s really important to point out what not to do if you want your new blog to get traffic.
Here are some common beginner mistakes that can prevent you from getting traffic to your new blog:
Writing low quality content
this is something that I think is becoming more important every year as the internet is now more and more competitive. Don’t just throw out low-quality, short-form, lazily written content, even for low-competition keywords. You used to get away with it sometimes, but not anymore
You are not writing enough content
Pretty obvious. Just churning out a few articles, even if you think they are high traffic keywords, won’t cut it. You need to publish a decent amount of initial content (40-50 posts) to catch the attention of search engines and get your content indexed and ranked in a decent time frame. Make sure you have enough undisturbed free time set aside to publish a really good amount of content on the new blog. If you give up after a few articles or get distracted, your blog is going nowhere.
Targeting the wrong keywords
This is a major rookie mistake that can stop a blog from running despite having a huge amount of content. Don’t target too competitive keywords – where there are already a lot of articles from big sites on the first page – right away on a new blog. Even if you write great articles, Google won’t rank them because your website hasn’t gained any attention or authority yet. Start a new blog writing content for smaller, less competitive keywords where search results are much worse, with forums and thin content.
Choosing the wrong place
Links to the above point about competition. If you pick a niche that’s too competitive, it really makes sense to break into it because there are so few keywords that aren’t already covered by established sites. It’s really hard to find topics with low competition to engage with. Recipes, finance and fitness are 3 well-known niches that are considered high competition, but this niche (blogging/making money online) is also really hard to break into.
You’re not writing your content fast enough
If you’re just putting out one or two posts a week in the early stages, it can be difficult for your blog to get noticed in the search engines. Really try to keep up a good pace of content publishing until you’ve published at least your first 40-50 articles.
The sandbox
It takes time for new websites to start ranking on Google (usually 3 to 6 months, sometimes up to a year).
This delay effect is often called “Google Sandbox“. This is so spammers don’t create new blogs to rank for big keywords and make a quick profit. It worked in the past, but not today.
No matter how experienced you are in SEO, the sandbox is consistent for every new site. You always have to go through it.
This is frustrating for many people who want to see results right away. Imagine putting in a lot of work for 3 months straight and not seeing any results.
But if you’re like me and repeatedly create new niche sites, you’ll come to respect and expect the sandbox. Blogs are a long-term game for me anyway.
There’s really no need to argue that I don’t see results in the first few months because I know I can eventually grow it into something much bigger.
What I am trying to say is that there is no need to worry about traffic and ratings. Stay motivated and stick to your strategy and keep working and believe that your SEO and blogging strategy is good.
Conclusion
SEO is the most reliable, repeatable, and consistent traffic source for the long-term growth of your blog. Be aware that new blogs can take up to a year to start seeing significant traffic numbers from Google.
Other modes of transport, such as social media and community sites, are essentially instantaneous. Done right, you can get traffic to your blog instantly.
Unfortunately, these sources of traffic are short-lived. One day you see a spike in traffic and the next day it goes back to zero. Moreover, they are not repeatable strategies that you can do over and over again.
So, the best traffic strategy is to focus on SEO (you might also want to check out this three-month blogging plan). Publish really quality content and build lots of strong links.
If you do, you will eventually see your rankings and traffic start to grow and grow month after month.