15 Proven Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog

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  • Monthly postulation 84

  • Linking websites 179

  • Tweets 174

Data from Content Explorer

Shows however galore antithetic websites are linking to this portion of content. As a wide rule, the much websites nexus to you, the higher you fertile successful Google.

Shows estimated monthly hunt postulation to this nonfiction according to Ahrefs data. The existent hunt postulation (as reported successful Google Analytics) is usually 3-5 times bigger.

The fig of times this nonfiction was shared connected Twitter.

Struggling to summation traction connected your blog? Consumed tons of “ultimate guides” and courses, but postulation didn’t budge?

A fewer years ago, we recovered ourselves successful the aforesaid predicament. Traffic to our blog had plateaued contempt america pursuing “blogging champion practices.”

But today, we get an estimated 250,000 visits per month—and that’s from Google alone. 

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How did we do it?

Here are 15 tried and tested tactics we utilized to summation our blog traffic:

  1. Write astir topics radical hunt for
  2. Make definite you lucifer hunt intent
  3. Build an email list
  4. Reach retired to radical mentioned successful your post
  5. Boost important posts with interior links
  6. Build links
  7. Promote contented successful communities
  8. Create shareable images
  9. Share your contented connected Reddit
  10. Refresh and republish your content
  11. Craft click-worthy headlines
  12. Repurpose contented into a Twitter thread
  13. Get contented included successful niche newsletters
  14. Publish archetypal research
  15. Run ads

1. Write astir topics radical are searching for

It tin beryllium tempting to constitute astir immoderate excites you—the latest manufacture topic, breaking news, oregon adjacent conscionable a random rant. But these types of posts person abbreviated shelf lives.

You whitethorn spot a spike successful postulation soon aft publishing. But erstwhile involvement successful the news, trend, oregon fad fades, your blog postulation volition dwindle to nothing.

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The solution? Write astir evergreen topics that radical hunt for.

For arsenic agelong arsenic your nonfiction ranks connected Google for applicable hunt queries, you’ll person accordant and passive integrated hunt traffic.

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This is the instauration of our attack to the Ahrefs blog. Every station we people targets a word with hunt postulation potential.

The question is, “How bash you find these topics?”

The easiest mode to commencement is to participate a applicable keyword into Ahrefs’ escaped keyword generator tool and power the tab to Questions.

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Look done the database of ideas and prime retired those that are applicable to your blog.

Recommended reading: Keyword Research: The Beginner’s Guide by Ahrefs

2. Make definite you’re matching hunt intent

Search intent is the why down a hunt query.

Why does this matter?

Google aims to supply users with the astir applicable results for their queries. So if you privation to fertile precocious and get much hunt traffic, you request to beryllium the astir applicable result—and that means creating contented that aligns with hunt intent.

How bash you fig retired what benignant of contented to create? Do a hunt successful Google for your people keyword, past analyse the top-ranking pages for the 3 Cs of hunt intent. 

A. Content type

Content types usually autumn into 1 of 5 buckets: blog post, product, category, landing page, or video. 

For example, if we hunt for “how to invest,” you’ll announcement that the apical fewer results are mostly blog posts. 

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So if you privation to fertile for this keyword, you’ll apt person to make a blog post. 

Another example: If you look astatine the SERPs for “how to ski,” you’ll spot that the apical fewer results are mostly videos. 

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If you privation to fertile for this topic, it is apt you’ll person to make a video. 

B. Content format

Content format applies mostly to blog posts, arsenic they’re usually either how-tos, listicles, quality articles, sentiment pieces, oregon reviews.

For example, the top-ranking results for “best wireless headphones” are mostly listicles:

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Whereas the apical results for “how to marque a tiktok video” are mostly how-tos:

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To basal the champion accidental of ranking, travel suit.

C. Content angle

Content space refers to the main “selling point” of the content. For example, radical searching for “how to bash a squat” privation to bash it properly/correctly:

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Recommended reading: What Is Search Intent? A Complete Guide for Beginners

Every week, we nonstop a newsletter containing each the contented we’ve published that week to ~160,000 subscribers. 

We tin bash that due to the fact that those radical person subscribed to our play Ahrefs Digest via opt-ins like this:

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Why bash we inactive take email arsenic a connection channel?

The crushed is simple: With email, you tin pass with your fans anytime. Other platforms, specified arsenic Facebook, tin deliberately bounds your scope oregon adjacent region you from their platforms. 

Building a database isn’t complicated. As you tin see, we simply connection to present a play update of each our content. If radical bask what they work connected our blog, they’ll privation much of it. 

If you privation to beryllium a small much aggressive, you tin effort offering a “carrot”: a escaped eBook, course, etc. All these tin work well. 

4. Reach retired to radical mentioned successful your post

If you’ve written an in-depth article, chances are you’ve linked to utile resources from different bloggers. Why not scope retired and fto them know?

It’s the archetypal happening I bash erstwhile I people thing new.

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If you’re lucky, they whitethorn stock it connected their societal profiles and nonstop immoderate other postulation your way.

That said, the superior extremity present is to scope retired and physique a relationship, which whitethorn yet extremity up arsenic thing bigger—links, mentions, concern partnerships, and more. 

Executing this is beauteous simple. Fire up your blog station and look for mentions of bloggers successful your space.

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Then find their emails and scope retired to fto them know.

5. Boost important posts with interior links

Internal links are links from 1 leafage to different wrong the aforesaid domain. And adding interior links from relevant, high-authority pages to those pages that request a boost tin assistance amended their show successful the hunt engines. 

Here’s however to do it:

  1. Enter your domain into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer (free for your ain tract successful Ahrefs Webmaster Tools)
  2. Go to the Top pages report
  3. Filter for positions #2–5 (since these pages are adjacent the top, a fewer bully interior links whitethorn amended their rankings)
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Note down these pages.

Next, you’ll request pages to adhd interior links from. The easiest mode to find these is with the site: hunt operator. For example, if I privation to adhd interior links to our usher connected online advertising, I’ll hunt for this successful Google:

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Then I’ll spell done each of these pages and adhd interior links to the people leafage with applicable anchor text.

We spell done this process each clip we people a caller station connected the blog.

Backlinks are an important Google ranking factor. How bash we know?

Google’s Andrey Lipattsev said so successful 2016. Our own study of implicit a cardinal webpages besides confirms the narration betwixt backlinks and integrated traffic:

15-referring-domains-vs-traffic

So however bash you get much links to your site? You person to physique them. There are tons of link gathering strategies around, but 1 we’ve utilized successful the past was impermanent blogging. 

Guest blogging is erstwhile you constitute a station for different blog. When that happens, determination are usually plentifulness of opportunities for you to nexus backmost to your ain blog posts.

How bash you find these opportunities? Here’s how:

  1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
  2. Set it to an In title search
  3. Enter a word related to your niche
  4. Toggle Filter explicit results
  5. Check One leafage per domain (we don’t request to interaction a tract much than once)
  6. Check Exclude homepages (we’re looking for content)
  7. Check Exclude subdomains
  8. Set the Language filter to English (or the connection you write in)
  9. Set the Live/broken filter to Only live
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You tin besides usage the Domain Rating (DR) filter to constrictive the database down to those sites you’re comfy penning for.

To larn much astir impermanent blogging astatine scale, ticker this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQK1Vbgb-RY

Recommended reading: The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building

7. Promote contented successful communities

Online communities similar Facebook groups, Slack channels, oregon Discord servers are large places for promoting content. After all, radical who are funny successful your niche are each gathered successful 1 place, truthful each you request to bash is to transportation them to cheque retired your blog. 

But promoting successful online communities doesn’t mean joining a mates of groups and spamming the heck retired of them. That’s a large no-no unless you privation to get booted and banned.

There is an creation to doing this properly, and the key is preparation.

Before you adjacent deliberation astir promoting thing successful a group, you should archetypal articulation it and survey its “culture.” Figure retired what radical typically discuss, what kinds of posts get precocious engagement, and what posts aren’t allowed.

You should besides survey the group rules:

17-ahrefs-insider-rules

Along the way, you should go an progressive member. Leave comments, enactment successful discussions, inquire questions, and so on.

If you’re active, the admin/moderator volition notice. Build a narration with them. Message them and inquire however other you tin beryllium helpful.

This strategy should get you successful bully lasting with astir communities. From there, you’ll beryllium capable to stock your contented without worrying astir immoderate backlash.

8. Create shareable images

At Ahrefs, we bask creating unsocial images to exemplify our concepts oregon showcase data. Here’s an example:

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And adjacent successful a “boring” niche similar SEO, our images inactive get tons of engagement connected Twitter:

— Ahrefs (@ahrefs) August 15, 2021

We person in-house illustrators who make each our images. But you don’t person to spell each fancy like us. 

With tools similar Canva, creating shareable images isn’t arsenic hard arsenic it was before. And if you person the budget, you tin find bully designers connected marketplaces similar 99Designs.

If you’re successful a visual-heavy niche similar cooking, you don’t adjacent request illustrations. Grab your smartphone, instrumentality a fewer photos, and your societal shares whitethorn spell done the roof—especially connected networks similar Pinterest.

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If you person perfectly nary endowment for drafting oregon designing similar me, don’t hide that “ugly” artwork tin inactive basal out. Just instrumentality a look astatine Tim Urban’s illustrations from WaitButWhy:

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Will these beryllium connected show astatine the British Museum immoderate clip soon? Probably not.

Are they unique, distinct, and memorable? Definitely.

Don’t fto your idiosyncratic plan skills (or deficiency thereof) halt you from creating highly shareable images.

9. Share your contented connected Reddit

Unlike astir communities, Reddit tin beryllium a pugnacious seed to crack. Redditors are notoriously allergic to self-promotion, which results successful galore bloggers getting called retired and adjacent banned.

All that caution aside, it is possible to bash good connected Reddit. 

First, you should travel extremity #7. If you don’t survey the civilization and recognize what Redditors are looking for successful antithetic subreddits, you won’t beryllium capable to taxable a station successfully. If you bash not survey the rules diligently, you’ll beryllium banned. Simple as that.

Next, cheque if the subreddit you’re posting successful allows nexus submissions. If it does, past you tin simply taxable a nexus to 1 of your articles. In fact, that was however I kickstarted my now-defunct breakdance blog.

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If the subreddit doesn’t let nexus submissions, past you’ll person to make a substance post. Do this by taking contented from the blog post, stripping distant each links successful it, and formatting it appropriately successful markdown. 

Only astatine the extremity bash you permission a nexus backmost to your archetypal blog post. 

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10. Refresh and republish your content

The quality of blogging is that you tin try again.

If your blog station isn’t ranking, oregon it’s not matching hunt intent, oregon it has outdated content, conscionable rewrite and republish it. 

We bash this each the clip astatine Ahrefs. In fact, it’s a halfway portion of our contented selling strategy. 

For example, I rewrote this station astir the buyer’s journey recently. Look astatine the hunt postulation maturation aft we republished it:

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How bash you cognize which posts to republish? The easiest mode is to usage our free WordPress SEO plugin to place underperforming posts. 

Then travel the usher beneath to larn the champion mode to republish your content.

Recommended reading: Republishing Content: How to Update Old Blog Posts for SEO

11. Craft “click-worthy” headlines

The quality betwixt idiosyncratic clicking done and speechmaking your station versus them simply skipping it is your headline.

Your header indispensable seizure their attraction and compel them to click. 

How bash you make specified a headline? 

If you’re matching hunt intent, past the instauration of your header is somewhat set. For example, if you’re targeting the taxable “best workout apps,” past it is apt your header volition see things similar a peculiar fig and the year. 

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But that successful itself is inactive not compelling. After all, you tin spot from the SERPs that each tract uses astir the aforesaid headline. So you inactive request to basal out. Otherwise, you can’t get the click. 

Use these tips to marque your header much click-worthy:

  • Add concreteness – Make your header specific. Instead of “Protein Powders for Weight Gain,” effort “15 Tasty Protein Powders to Help You Gain 1lb per Week successful Muscle.”
  • Surprise and delight – This extremity is much for articles not designed to lucifer hunt intent (e.g., designed for dispersed connected societal media). Say thing absorbing and antithetic truthful that radical volition beryllium intrigued. For example, a fewer years back, we utilized the header “I Asked 235 People to Tweet My Article and All I Got Is This Cheerless Case Study.”
  • Create curiosity gaps – Don’t springiness everything away—leave thing to beryllium desired successful the header truthful radical privation to click. For example, this header “How to Craft the Perfect SEO Title Tag” is curiosity-inducing. A cleanable rubric tag? Does that exist? Let maine cheque it out. 

Recommended reading: How to Write an Irresistible Headline successful 3 Easy Steps

12. Repurpose your contented into a Twitter thread

Joshua Hardwick, our caput of content, wrote an article astir keyword cannibalization. Later on, helium turned it into a Twitter thread:

If you’re trying to lick keyword cannibalization, you mightiness beryllium cutting disconnected your chemoreceptor to spite your face. 🔪👃😱

Here’s why.

//THREAD//

— Joshua Hardwick (@JoshuaCHardwick) December 8, 2021

Compared to our brand account’s tweet astir the article, it got mode much attention. 

At Ahrefs, we promote our authors to crook their posts into Twitter threads truthful they tin get much vulnerability to their content. Here are a fewer much examples of threads from my colleagues:

17 (free!) online selling courses for marketers of each acquisition levels—each researched and vetted by me. 🧵

Psst: Full station connected the @ahrefs blog!

— Rebecca’s the sanction (@RebLiew) December 6, 2021

Google claims that it uses rubric tags ~87% of the clip aft the astir caller updates.

Well, we analyzed 953,276 pages and got a overmuch little 66.6% lucifer complaint 😈

A fewer much highlights from our latest @ahrefs information survey 👇 pic.twitter.com/JHn1PkevTm

— Michal Pecánek (@michalpecanek) November 16, 2021

As you tin see, they get a batch of traction.

How bash you constitute a large Twitter thread? I’ll spell meta and stock a Twitter thread from 1 of Twitter’s apical creators:

Twitter threads are the caller blogs.

Over the past 5 weeks, I’ve 32x my Twitter pursuing posting a thread a day.

These 15 learnings volition assistance your threads go viral 🧵

— Alex Garcia 🔍 (@alexgarcia_atx) May 6, 2021

13. Get your contented included successful niche newsletters

Like communities, determination are plentifulness of niche-specific newsletters dedicated to sharing the champion articles of the week. For example, my colleague, Michal Pecanek, wrote an nonfiction astir hiring SEO consultants that was featured connected the #SEOForLunch newsletter:

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In this case, Michal’s nonfiction was included organically. But you don’t person to basal by and hold for specified a concern to happen. You tin scope retired and effort to get the newsletter exertion to see your nonfiction too. 

Don’t scope retired each azygous clip you people something, though. That tin beryllium annoying. Reach retired only with your champion articles truthful you basal the highest accidental of getting included. 

I urge pursuing the principles successful this article connected outreach for maximum success. 

Even if the exertion doesn’t adhd your nonfiction this clip around, don’t worry. Use this accidental to physique a narration with the editor. 

Newsletters are sent connected a predominant ground anyway, truthful there’s ever different accidental to beryllium included. But this tin lone hap if you person a bully narration with the editor. 

14. Publish archetypal research

Bloggers and journalists are perpetually looking for statistic to backmost up claims successful their articles. When they find the close statistic from a credible source, they’ll usually nexus backmost to the page. 

So by publishing archetypal research, you’re creating opportunities for top-tier publications to nexus to you. In fact, this is however we acquired links from authoritative sites similar Inc., TechCrunch, and Search Engine Journal. They each linked to one of our studies connected featured snippets:

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That said, you can’t conscionable make immoderate random information survey and expect journalists to flock to you. It indispensable beryllium thing interesting—or astatine slightest thing that journalists privation answers to. 

If you’re successful the industry, you already cognize what those questions are. For example, successful the SEO industry, plentifulness of radical inquire the question, “How agelong does it instrumentality to fertile connected Google?” So we created a study to effort and reply the question objectively. 

The result? We acquired ~2,700 backlinks from ~1,600 unsocial websites:

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Alternatively, you tin simply effort to recreate fashionable but outdated studies. Here’s however to find them:

  1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
  2. Enter a hunt word similar [industry] + “study,” [industry] + “survey,” [industry] + “research,” oregon [industry] + “data”
  3. Set the filter to an In title search
  4. Set the Published filter to an older day scope (e.g., 2010–2015)
  5. Sort the results by referring domains
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Voila! A database of fashionable and outdated studies you tin recreate. 

When you’re done with your study, travel our complete usher to blogger outreach. There, you’ll larn the creation of promoting your contented to radical who are interested. 

The astir nonstop mode to get much postulation to your blog is simply to tally ads. Pay a platform, and you’ll get postulation astir instantly. 

At Ahrefs, we tally ads to each caller nonfiction we publish:

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Facebook isn’t the lone level you tin tally ads on. Quora, Twitter, oregon adjacent show advertizing tin work too. 

Find a level wherever your assemblage is, support your clicks affordable, and you’re acceptable to get rolling. 

Final thoughts

Do these tactics enactment individually? Definitely.

But deliberation astir it this way:

When you fertile connected Google for your people keywords, you get hunt traffic. If you tin past get those radical to subscribe to your email list, you tin get adjacent much postulation to aboriginal posts. And if immoderate of those radical past nexus to your posts, you whitethorn fertile adjacent higher connected Google faster.

Bottom line: If you privation to turn postulation to your blog quickly, harvester the tactics.

Did I miss anything? Let maine cognize on Twitter.