5 Reasons Your Website Has No Traffic｜And How to Fix It

Research shows that if a newly launched website still has an average of fewer than 50 daily visitors within three months (source: SimilarWeb SMB Benchmark), it’s very likely the ranking will not improve.

About 50% of business websites publish content (articles/pages) that is never actually indexed by search engines (BrightEdge statistics) – like a stone sinking into the ocean.

Are you putting in time and effort but still not seeing visitors? The problem often boils down to five highly measurable areas.

Wrong keywords – or nobody is searching for them

According to Ahrefs research, about 91% of pages get less than 10 monthly organic visits from search engines, with a major reason being a poor keyword strategy.

Either you’re optimizing for extremely low-volume keywords (e.g., less than 10 monthly searches), or the keywords you’ve targeted don’t match the real search intent of users (are they trying to buy? learn? compare?).

Why “wrong” keywords don’t bring traffic

You’ve worked hard to optimize a perfect page, but the target keyword only gets 5 searches a month.

Even if you’re lucky enough to rank first, you’ll only get 5 visits a month.

Ahrefs data shows that keywords with fewer than 10 monthly searches are usually not worth creating a dedicated page for.

Mismatched intent = disappointed users: If someone searches for “price of new iPhone,” they’re in the information gathering or purchase research stage.

If your page is about “20 years of iPhone history” (a knowledge-based article), even if they click in, they’ll leave quickly (high bounce rate).

Google explicitly treats content–user intent match as a core ranking factor.

Mismatched intent not only fails to convert, it also sends search engines the signal that “this page is useless,” which can cause rankings to drop.

Focusing only on “big” keywords and ignoring the long tail

Example: Everyone wants to rank for “travel,” “insurance,” “software.”

• Thousands of authoritative sites compete for the top spots.
• What does “travel” even mean? Book flights? Find guides? Search for hotels? New or small websites have almost no chance.
• Someone searching “travel” might just be browsing, while someone searching “Bali family 6-day trip budget” has a clear need and much stronger purchase intent.

How to find the right keywords accurately (practical steps)

Step 1: Deeply research seed keywords

List 5–10 core words that best describe your business/page topic (seed keywords).
For example, a company selling hiking boots might use: hiking boots, trekking shoes, outdoor shoes.

Type a seed keyword into Google and look at the autocomplete suggestions and related searches. These are real user searches!
For example, entering hiking boots might show waterproof men’s hiking boots, best hiking boot brands, which hiking boots are best.

Keyword Planner (Google Ads) is designed for ads but also provides approximate monthly search volume ranges and competition levels – even without running ads.

Third-party SEO tools (a must):

• Semrush, Ahrefs
• Moz Keyword Explorer
• Ubersuggest

Enter your seed keyword, and they will:

• Provide a large number of related keywords with precise search volume data
• Show Keyword Difficulty (KD) scores estimating your chances of ranking in the top 10 (lower = easier)
• Display keyword trends (seasonality, popularity changes)
• Show search intent distribution (e.g., commercial investigation, informational, navigational)

Step 2: Strict filtering — volume, difficulty, intent, commercial value

Search volume:

Focus on long-tail keywords with 100–1000 monthly searches.
They’re less competitive, have clearer intent, and are easier for new sites to use to get initial traffic and conversions.

Note: Benchmarks vary by industry. In a niche market, even a 50-search/month keyword may be valuable.

Keyword Difficulty (KD):

For new or small sites, target keywords with KD < 40 as an entry point. Big authority sites can go after higher-KD terms.

Search intent (most important!):
Google your selected keywords and take a close look at the current top 10 ranking pages

• Are they e-commerce product pages? Blog articles? Videos? Forum posts?
• What’s the content format? (List, guide, review, Q&A?)
• What problem are they solving? (Directly comparing products? Or teaching knowledge?)

Must match: If you’re writing a blog post, optimize for informational or investigational keywords (e.g. how to choose hiking boots, hiking boot brand comparison).

If you’re selling a product, you need to target transactional or commercial intent (e.g. buy XX brand hiking boots, hiking boots on sale). If the intent doesn’t match, you have zero chance of ranking well!

Commercial value / relevance

A keyword can have search volume, be easy to rank for, and match the intent – but if it’s not related to your core business or your audience isn’t your target customer (e.g. students with low budgets while you’re a premium brand), that traffic has no value.

SERP features

Check whether the search results have rich elements (Featured Snippet, “People Also Ask”, video carousel, etc.).

This means Google sees the query as important. If you provide complete information, you can gain extra traffic sources (e.g. by winning the Featured Snippet spot).

Step 3: How to use these keywords on your page

Each piece of content (especially important pages) should focus on 1 core keyword and a few closely related variations / long-tail terms.

Avoid “keyword stuffing” — integrate them naturally.

Placement:

• Title Tag: The core keyword should appear as close to the start of the title as possible.
• H1 heading: Usually the main article title, containing the core keyword.
• First 100 words: The core keyword or a close variation should appear early in the text.
• Subheadings (H2/H3): Use long-tail keywords or question formats.
• Image Alt text: Include relevant keywords when describing images.
• URL (friendly URL): Include the target keyword (use hyphens between words for English sites).
• Meta description: Not a direct ranking factor, but including keywords can boost CTR.

Poor-quality content won’t keep users or Google

Publishing ≠ getting traffic. Google clearly says that content is one of the most important ranking signals.

Research shows: Pages with a bounce rate over 65% have much lower chances of ranking high (Backlinko).

Pages where users stay less than 1 minute 45 seconds on average have 53% less conversion potential than those with higher dwell time (Chartbeat).

Why “low-quality content” kills traffic

Google uses user behavior data (like bounce rate, dwell time) as indirect indicators of page quality and relevance.

If lots of visitors leave quickly, it’s a strong signal your content doesn’t meet their needs or lacks quality.

Ahrefs research confirms: Bounce rate and rankings have a strong negative correlation. Over 65% bounce rate = much lower chance of top-10 ranking.

Chartbeat data: The average “effective reading” rate for a page is only around 20%. If your content doesn’t grab users in the first few seconds and keep delivering value, up to 80% will leave — and Google notices.

Lack of depth and coverage = not a “good answer”

If someone searches for a specific problem (e.g. “potted pothos leaves turning yellow — what to do”), they expect a full solution. If your article only says “probably underwatering” and doesn’t cover other causes (low light, over-fertilizing, pests, diseases, etc.) with detailed fixes, they’ll go back to the SERP and click elsewhere.

This directly tells Google your page is less valuable than ones with complete answers.

Copied or low-originality content = zero unique value

If your content is very similar to what’s already out there, or outright copied, Google has no reason to rank your page above others.

Outdated or incorrect info

Especially in YMYL fields (“Your Money, Your Life”, e.g. health, finance), outdated or wrong info can have serious consequences.

Google is extra strict with this type of content. If you don’t update it, it’ll be judged as “low freshness”.

How to create content that keeps users and pleases Google

The secret: E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) + deeply meeting user needs + maximum usability.

Practical steps:

Principle 1: Aim to be “the only” or “the best” answer

• Task: Analyze the top-ranking content for your chosen keyword.
• Goal: Your content must clearly outperform others in breadth (cover all sub-questions) and depth (actionable details / evidence).
• Example (potted pothos leaves turning yellow):
  This is an HTML blog article. You need to translate the original text into English without changing the structure (including the HTML code) — just translate, keeping a natural tone.

Principle 2: Clear structure, high readability, and quick access to information

Headings (H2/H3/H4) with keywords: Clearly divide the content (e.g., Cause 1: Lack of water; Symptoms: xxx; Solution: xxx) so readers and search engines can quickly locate what they need.

Short paragraphs: Strictly limit to 1–4 lines. Large text blocks are reading killers, especially on mobile.

Layered information:

• Core summary upfront: At the start (100–200 words), summarize the key points and steps. This meets the needs of quick scanners (data shows that users spend on average only 40 seconds “scanning” before deciding whether to read on).
• Extensive use of bullet points/numbered lists: Ideal for steps, checklists, pros/cons, and features. Visually easier to digest.
• Bold key sentences: Even skim readers can grasp the main points at a glance.

Visualized information (not just decoration!):

• Infographics: Essential for complex processes or data comparisons. According to HubSpot, content with infographics gets 50% more links and shares than text-only content.
• High-quality original photos/videos: Show real products, processes, and before/after comparisons. Pages with good images can increase dwell time by up to 50% (Content Square). Example: photos of pothos with different disease symptoms, repotting process video.
• Tables: Very effective for comparing parameters, pros/cons, etc.

Principle 3: Provide exclusive value & prove credibility

Incorporate real experiences/cases: “Based on feedback from 100 users, this method had a 90% success rate.” or “In our lab tests, Plan A worked 3 days faster than Plan B.” Numbers are the most convincing.

Cite authoritative sources with links: Reference data from the CDC, government websites, reputable journals, and well-known research institutions, and link to the source. This strengthens your credibility (the A and T in E-E-A-T).

Author name + professional background: If the content is written by an industry expert or experienced practitioner (especially for YMYL topics), prominently display the author’s name, title, and qualifications.

Integrate user-generated content (UGC): Show real reviews, Q&A (e.g., Q&A module), and success stories. This is strong social proof.

Principle 4: Keep content updated for lasting value

Regular review & updates: Show the article’s last updated date. For time-sensitive topics (e.g., software tutorials, laws, statistics), set a schedule to review at least every six months and update outdated information and links. Updating old content can bring up to 106% more traffic (HubSpot).

Dynamic maintenance: Actively answer new user questions in the comments and add frequently helpful answers to the main content.

Speed, mobile-friendliness, security, and no access barriers

If your site:

• Takes more than 3.5 seconds to load (Portent data: every 1-second delay reduces conversion rates by 7–20%)
• Displays poorly or is hard to use on mobile
• Has many 404 dead links or crawling issues (such as complex JavaScript rendering, poorly configured robots.txt)
• Still uses HTTP instead of HTTPS

If technical issues are not resolved, even the best content and keyword strategy won’t help.

Slow & poor user experience

Core Web Vitals

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures how quickly the main content (e.g., image, headline) loads.

Google requirement: ≤ 2.5 seconds is good. Exceeding this threshold significantly reduces user experience.

First Input Delay (FID): Measures how quickly the page becomes interactive (e.g., clicking a button or link).

Google requirement: ≤ 100 milliseconds is good. Higher delay makes the page feel “laggy.”

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. Do elements shift unexpectedly while loading?

Google requirement: CLS ≤ 0.1 is good.

According to Cloudflare Radar, only about one-third of websites meet all three CWV metrics. Semrush data also shows that pages meeting CWV standards appear significantly more often in the top 10 search results.
Slow speed – what does it cause?

• High Bounce Rate:​​ ​​If a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, the bounce rate increases by about 32%​​ (Pingdom). After 5 seconds, more than 74% of users leave.
• ​​Lower Rankings:​​ Google clearly states that speed is a ranking factor, especially in mobile search. ​​Akamai reports: a 100-millisecond delay can lead to a 7% drop in conversion rates​​.
• ​​Lower Indexing Efficiency:​​ Slow loading consumes a large amount of Google’s crawl budget, resulting in fewer pages being crawled and indexed.

Poor Mobile Experience

Google’s mobile-first indexing is now the norm (mobile content is prioritized for indexing). ​​Statcounter data shows that as of 2023, over 57% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices.​​

In regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa, this percentage exceeds 70%.

Common issues and related data:​​

​​Non-responsive Design (Not Mobile-Friendly):​​ Pages don’t automatically adapt to mobile screens, requiring users to zoom or scroll horizontally.

​​Google Search Console will directly flag “Mobile Usability Issues”​​.​

Over 60% of users are unlikely to purchase again from a site with poor mobile experience​​ (SocPub).

​​Touch Elements Too Close:​​ Buttons or links placed too close together (Google recommends a tappable area of at least 48×48 pixels with 8 pixels spacing), leading to high mis-tap rates.

​​Slower Mobile Loading Speed:​​ Mobile networks are often unstable, and unoptimized websites perform even worse on mobile.

Crawling and Indexing Errors

404 Errors (Dead Links):​​ When a user or crawler clicks a link and gets a ​​“404 Not Found”​​, it’s a bad experience.

• ​​Impact:​​ Wastes crawler resources (attempting to access invalid pages), damages user experience and site reputation. A large number of 404s can affect indexing.
• ​​Scale:​​ ​​A single 404 may have limited impact, but hundreds or thousands of dead links (especially from internal links or key external links) are a serious problem.​

Crawl Restrictions (robots.txt errors):​​ Misconfigured robots.txt files can ​​accidentally block important pages or even the entire site from being crawled​​ (Disallow: /). Overuse of Disallow can also reduce crawl efficiency.

Rendering Issues:​​ Heavy reliance on JavaScript to generate content without server-side rendering (SSR) or prerendering may cause crawlers to see only an empty HTML shell. Multiple render passes consume more resources and have a lower success rate.

​​Disorganized Site Structure:​​

1. Too deep hierarchy: important pages require 4 or more clicks from the homepage to reach.
2. Lack of or poorly structured XML sitemap (sitemap.xml) to help crawlers discover important pages.
3. ​​Poor internal linking:​​ Important pages receive too few internal links (anchor text), making them harder for crawlers to find and lowering their perceived importance.

Incorrect Redirects:​​ Especially using 302 (temporary) instead of 301 (permanent) redirects, which can prevent proper transfer of page authority in search engines.

Missing HTTP Protocol Best Practices

​​Browsers like Chrome clearly label HTTP pages as “Not Secure”​​, which greatly reduces user trust.

​​Google uses HTTPS as a lightweight ranking signal​​ – not a major factor, but a basic standard.

​​HTTP/2 Not Enabled:​​ HTTP/2 (automatically supported under HTTPS) offers multiplexing and significant performance improvements compared to HTTP/1.1.

Solutions

Must-have Testing Tools:​

• ​​Google PageSpeed Insights (free, essential):​​ Provides LCP, FID, and CLS scores along with targeted improvement suggestions (separate reports for desktop & mobile).
• ​​Web.dev/Measure (free):​​ Another official Google tool, with easier-to-read reports.
• ​​GTMetrix or Pingdom Tools (free):​​ Monitor exact load times and waterfall charts.
• ​​Chrome DevTools (free):​​ Essential for developers – pinpoint performance bottlenecks (Network, Lighthouse, Performance panels).

Fix Plan

• Compress images: Use tools like ShortPixel, TinyPNG, and Imagify to automatically compress images and convert them to modern formats like WebP (usually 30–70% smaller than JPEG/PNG). Prefer using responsive images (srcset).
• Enable server-side GZIP/Brotli compression: Compress HTML, CSS, and JS files (usually over 70% reduction possible).
• Clean up code: Remove unused code, whitespace, and comments. Merge/minify CSS and JS files (plugins like Autoptimize and WP Rocket can help).
• Use browser caching: Configure the HTTP header (Cache-Control: max-age=31536000) so the browser stores static resources (images/JS/CSS) and avoids repeated downloads.
• Upgrade hosting/CDN: Choose a reliable hosting provider (pay attention to TTFB – Time to First Byte, target <200ms). Deploy a Content Delivery Network (CDN) such as Cloudflare, StackPath, or BunnyCDN to load static files from the closest server to the user.
• Optimize CLS: Define width and height attributes (width & height) for images and videos, avoid dynamic ad injection that shifts layout, and ensure font loading doesn’t cause layout changes.
• Minimize JavaScript execution impact: “Defer” non-critical JavaScript (defer) or use the async attribute. Remove unused JS. Avoid excessive use of large JS frameworks.

Mobile experience fixes

• Test the page with Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
• Force responsive design (Responsive Web Design, RWD): This is Google’s recommended method. Ensure CSS media queries work correctly.
• Optimize touch elements: Buttons should be at least 48×48px, with at least 8px spacing (to prevent accidental taps).
• Mobile-specific speed optimization: Use more aggressive image optimization, modern formats (WebP), reduce render-blocking resources, enable AMP if suitable (carefully evaluate first).
• Hide desktop plugins on small screens: Sidebar pop-ups on small screens may block main content.

Remove crawl barriers & improve indexing

Tools: Google Search Console > Coverage report (identify 404 errors); Screaming Frog SEO Spider to scan all site links (free version limited to 500 pages).

Actions:

1. Fix internal links pointing to 404 pages (point them to the correct page).
2. For deleted pages with valuable backlinks, set a 301 redirect to the most relevant replacement page.
3. Provide a user-friendly 404 error page with navigation links.

Properly configure robots.txt: Only block non-essential files (such as admin login, temporary files). Always allow crawlers to access CSS and JS files (critical for rendering). Use the robots.txt Tester tool to verify.

Submit a complete XML sitemap:

• Ensure sitemap.xml includes all important, publicly accessible pages.
• Submit to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Update regularly.

Optimize site structure & internal linking:

1. Important pages should be reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage.
2. Within relevant articles, naturally add internal links to important pages (with keyword-rich anchor text).
3. Use breadcrumb navigation.

Fix rendering issues:

• Follow the principle of progressive enhancement: core HTML content should be readable even without JS.
• For SEO-critical pages, prefer server-side rendering (SSR) (Next.js, Nuxt.js) or static site generation (SSG).
• Consider using a pre-rendering service such as Prerender.io.

Use 301 Redirects Properly: Always use a 301 redirect for all permanent redirects.

HTTPS Security (Essential)

• Request and install an SSL/TLS certificate from your hosting provider or Let’s Encrypt.
• Force all HTTP requests to the HTTPS version with a 301 redirect (via .htaccess or server configuration).
• Add and verify the HTTPS property in Google Search Console.
• Enable HTTP/2 (usually enabled automatically once HTTPS is active).

Too Few or No External Links

Backlinko’s research shows that 91% of web pages have no external links, and thus almost zero organic traffic.

Every link indexed by search engines that passes “link equity” is like a vote of confidence, boosting your website’s credibility and ranking in search results.

For new websites or niche topics, natural link growth is extremely slow. Without actively building links, it’s very difficult to achieve good rankings.

Why Are External Links “Votes of Trust”?

Google interprets links from other websites as a public endorsement of the target content’s quality or value.

Essentially, it’s the collective judgment of other independent entities about your site’s value. The number of links (frequency of votes) is a basic quantitative metric of importance.

Effective vote = link must be indexed!

Search engines only give value to links they have discovered, crawled, and indexed.

If the page containing the link is not indexed (Google Search Console’s “Coverage” report shows “Discovered – not indexed” or an error), then the link will not pass any value.

Quantity is the baseline requirement

For most non-authority websites, without enough valid links (even lower-authority ones), you won’t even qualify to compete in keyword rankings.

Data shows: The average #1 ranking page has over 3.8× more referring domains than others (Ahrefs). First, solve the “have enough” problem — then work on “getting better.”

According to Semrush, top-ranking pages on page one have more than 3× the number of referring domains compared to position 10.

How to Build a Large Number of Valid “Voting Links”

Focus on increasing the number of referring domains first, and make sure these links are indexed by search engines. Stick to the “effective vote” principle.

Create Valuable External Links

Guest Blogging: Write high-quality, exclusive, and useful articles on websites (DA > 1).

Get a backlink with your target URL. The page containing the guest post must be indexed!

Submit your information (free or paid) to local or industry-specific directories (e.g., Yellow Pages, Chamber of Commerce websites). While each link may have low value individually, quantity and stable indexation are key.

Educational/Government Sites (.edu/.gov): These domains generally have higher baseline authority, often require payment, and are limited in number.

Paid Links (Independent Sites)

Optimal cost per valid link (indexed) is 50–80 RMB — best value for money.

DA > 1 means the page is indexed and has link equity. The higher the DA (e.g., > 80), the more the cost increases exponentially.

In the initial link-building phase, it’s much more practical to aim for a large number of DA > 1, stably indexed links (50–80 RMB each) rather than a few extremely expensive ones.

Natural, Diverse Anchor Text

Excessive use of exact-match keyword anchors (e.g., “blue hiking shoes price”) is considered unnatural and may trigger algorithmic filtering (filtering = vote invalid).

• Brand terms as the majority (> 50%): Use your site name or brand name (e.g., “XX Outdoor Gear Official Site”).
• Generic anchor text (> 30%): e.g., “click here,” “see details,” “read more,” “visit website.”
• Naked URLs (< 10%): e.g., www.xxoutdoor.com.
• Natural variations & long-tail phrases (< 10%): Occasionally use descriptive keyword-containing phrases (e.g., “professional review of outdoor gear,” “their hiking shoe guide is really helpful”). Must be integrated naturally in the context!

Almost No Active Promotion

Relying only on organic search, new content typically gets less than 20% of its traffic in the first month (BuzzSumo). Initial visitors from social media, email lists, and communities interact more — significantly boosting Google’s assessment of the content’s value.

Why Promotion is Irreplaceable

A newly published page is like an unknown entity. Real user visits from different channels are the most direct “proof of value.”

Google prioritizes crawling and indexing pages that already show user activity.

Boost Early Engagement for Positive Ranking Feedback

• Early user dwell time > 2 minutes increases the likelihood of stable rankings by 3× (Search Engine Journal case study).
• Over 10 real social shares within the first 24 hours after publication often leads to steeper organic traffic growth curves (BuzzSumo tracking).

Break Through the Search Engine Sandbox Effect: New or low-authority sites need time to gain trust. Active promotion accelerates the accumulation of trust signals.

Reach Non-Search Audiences: Target users aren’t just on search engines — reach them directly on their active platforms (social media, forums, email) to expand your base.

Successful SEO is not luck — it’s systematic diagnosis, optimization, and execution.