New Website Has No Traffic After a Month丨5 Essential Google SEO Actions

Submit Your Website to Google Search Console and Verify It

Data shows that over 74% of new site traffic issues come from not being indexed by Google — it’s like opening a store but forgetting to put up a sign. Of course, people can’t find you.

Even though Google’s crawler is powerful, with over 2 billion new pages every day across the web, your site might get ignored if you don’t submit it manually.

In real cases, sites that haven’t been verified in GSC often wait over 3 weeks just to get partially indexed. But sites that submit and verify their sitemap see 85% get crawled within 48 hours.

Why is this a must-do?

1. Indexing is everything: Google clearly says being in the index is step one to ranking. Without GSC, it’s like flying blind — you don’t know if your site is even being crawled or which pages are being skipped.
2. Early error detection: New sites often have technical issues (like server misconfigs or broken links), causing 30%+ pages to fail crawling (e.g., 404s or robots.txt blocks). GSC’s “Coverage Report” flags these right away.
3. Control what gets seen: Submitting your sitemap manually helps Google focus on your key pages first, instead of wasting crawl budget on test pages or unimportant stuff.

How to do it right? (Step-by-step)

▷ Step 1: Choose your verification method

• We recommend beginners go with “URL prefix” mode: Just enter https://yourdomain.com (include the protocol), much easier than domain-level verification.
• Pick one of these two methods:
  • HTML file upload: Download the file Google gives you, and use an FTP tool (like FileZilla) to upload it to your root directory (public_html/ or www/).
  • DNS record: Log into your domain provider (like Alibaba Cloud or Cloudflare) and add a TXT record — more for tech-savvy users. Takes around 10 mins to go live.

▷ Step 2: Submit your sitemap

• Find your sitemap URL: It’s usually at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml (WordPress users can auto-generate with plugins like Rank Math).
• Where to submit in GSC: Go to “Index” → “Sitemaps” in the left menu, and just enter sitemap.xml.
• Important step: Click “Test” to make sure there are no issues, then hit “Submit.”

▷ Step 3: Monitor crawling status (this part’s key!)

• Within 24 hours: Check the “Coverage” report. You should see at least one green “Valid” page (usually your homepage gets indexed first).
• Things to look out for:
  • Yellow warning: “Submitted but not indexed”: Might be due to content quality or duplication. Improve originality.
  • Red error: “404 Not Found”: Check if you have broken internal links or accidentally deleted pages.

Optimize Site Speed and Mobile Friendliness

If users wait more than 3 seconds to load a page, 53% of mobile visitors bounce instantly.

Google’s core algorithm already treats speed and mobile-friendliness as key trust signals. Data shows every 1-second delay in load time causes 7% drop in conversions.

Since 2019, Google’s been using “mobile-first indexing”, and now over 62% of new site crawls happen on mobile.

Why do these two matter so much to Google?

1. Speed = user trust signal: Google uses “Core Web Vitals” to score page experience. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) over 2.5s will hurt your score. Only 31% of new sites pass this metric.
2. Mobile-friendly = traffic gateway: 61.5% of global searches come from phones. If buttons are too small or text layout breaks, Google flags it as “poor mobile experience” — which lowers indexing priority.
3. Hidden cost chain: Slow speed wastes crawl budget (each timeout = 3–5 fewer pages crawled), which directly limits how much of your site gets indexed.

Speed Optimization in Practice (Low-Cost Strategy for New Sites)

Step 1: Pinpoint the Bottlenecks

Use Google’s official tool PageSpeed Insights and enter your URL. Pay close attention to these three red flags:

• LCP > 4 seconds: Usually caused by uncompressed images or render-blocking JavaScript
• FID (First Input Delay) > 100ms: Often slowed down by third-party plugins or ad scripts
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) > 0.25: Happens when images or ad spaces don’t have preset dimensions, causing page jumps

Step 2: Targeted Fixes Like Surgery

• Image Compression is a Must:
  • Use free CDN tools (like Cloudflare Polish) for automatic compression, or manually compress with TinyPNG (can reduce file size by 60%-80%)
  • Force Format Conversion: Convert PNG to WebP (96% supported on Chrome). E-commerce tests show 1.8x faster load times
• Optimize Critical JS/CSS:
  • Remove unused code: WordPress users can install the “Asset CleanUp” plugin to disable non-essential scripts
  • Lazy-load non-visible resources: Add the loading="lazy" attribute (works in 95% of browsers)
• Speed Up Server Response:
  • For new sites, use a LiteSpeed server with the LS Cache plugin (can lower TTFB to ≤200ms on Apache)

Acceptance Criteria: LCP ≤ 2.3s, FID ≤ 80ms

▷ Mobile Optimization Tips to Avoid Pitfalls
Testing Tool: Mobile-Friendly Test
Common Issues & Fixes:

• Touch targets too small (e.g., buttons smaller than 48×48 pixels)
  • Fix: In CSS, add min-width: 48px; padding: 12px to make sure buttons are easy to tap
• Fonts smaller than 12pt force users to zoom in
  • Fix: Use rem units + set the viewport width:
• Horizontal scrollbars appear (usually from absolutely positioned elements spilling over)
  • Use Chrome’s device emulator to check, and apply max-width: 100% to prevent overflow

Key Metrics: Mobile FID must be ≤100ms, and clickable elements should be spaced at least 8px apart

New Site Resource Allocation Priority

1. Fix LCP issues over 3 seconds first (affects 50% of performance score)
2. Next, tackle mobile interaction issues (affects 30%)
3. Finally, work on secondary metrics like CLS​​

Amazon found that every 100ms of delay can reduce sales by 1%. If your new site is slow and poorly optimized for mobile, Google may lower your ranking.

​​​​Create High-Quality, Purpose-Driven Content

In 2023, Google strengthened its EEAT principles (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). If your new site’s content lacks these, it’ll likely end up in the “low-value content” bin.

61% of new blogs fail because the topics don’t align with real user needs—even if they get indexed, they don’t get clicks.

Example: A new tools website published 10 “industry trend” posts, each 2000+ words. But users were actually searching for “How to install XX tool.” Result: bounce rate hit 92% in just 6 weeks, Google flagged it as unhelpful, and traffic stayed stuck at just 5 visits a day.

Why “Purpose-Driven Content” Builds Trust

Google crawlers evaluate how well your content matches user intent:

1. Top 3 results usually cover 3.7 different user intent angles (like “step-by-step guide,” “price comparison,” or “things to watch out for”), while new site content often only hits 1–2
2. Pages weak in EEAT (like no author bio or sources) have an index rate of just 27%, compared to 73% for high-quality content
3. User behavior signals matter: If average time on page is under 40 seconds, rankings drop by 53% (data from SEMrush)

▷ Step 1: Lock in Real Keyword Intent (No More Self-Indulgence)
Tool Combo:

• Google Keyword Planner: Filter mid- and long-tail keywords with monthly search volumes between 500–3000 (e.g., “WordPress site speed optimization steps” instead of “What is SEO”)
• Competitor Page Analysis: Use Ahrefs to check the top 10 ranking pages of competitors and their “traffic keywords” (focus especially on “question” and “action” based intent terms)
• Google Autocomplete Insights: Search your main keyword and explore the “People also ask” section (e.g., “What to do if a new site has no traffic” might reveal 5 hidden subtopics)

Execution: Title = Precise Keyword + Pain Point Trigger
Bad Example: “Why Website Speed Optimization Matters” → Gets under 2% of user searches
Good Example: “3-Step Fix for Slow New Site: Real Test Shows LCP Cut from 6s to 1.2s” → Hits the core need + data-backed

▷ Step 2: Inject EEAT Signals (Your Google Trust Passport)

Experience

• Show real author identity in the byline (not “admin”): “10-Year SEO Consultant, Served XX Brand”
• Use first-person case studies: “Last week I helped a client speed up using Cloudflare CDN, screenshot below:”

Expertise

• Cite authoritative sources: Link to Google Developer Docs / Moz research (not forum posts)
• Use data visualization: Create comparison tables for compression tools (e.g., TinyPNG vs Squoosh)

Authoritativeness

• KOL Endorsements: Try to get guest articles from relevant experts (early-stage sites can do exchange posts)
• Build internal topic clusters: Link related core topic posts (e.g., link speed optimization article to GSC guide)

Trustworthiness

• Show content update info: “Tested July 2023 (originally published 2022)”
• Be honest about flaws: “XX plugin still has mobile layout issues. See Section 3 for alternatives.”

Step 3: Structure Optimization to Boost Crawlable Value

• H2/H3 Subheadings Must Contain Keywords: Googlebot primarily scans tagged text blocks. Untagged paragraphs lose up to 70% weighting
• Info Slicing:
  • Keep text blocks ≤3 lines (fits mobile screen height)
  • Turn complex processes into step-by-step cards (click-through rate ↑ 19%)
• Avoid “click to expand” collapsible content — Googlebot has downgraded hidden content since 2019

How to Get Lots of Backlinks

New sites often fall into two traps when it comes to link building: either chasing “high-authority links” and making no progress (a single DA80+ link can cost over ¥3000), or bulk-buying useless links (over 60% of backlinks to new sites aren’t even indexed by Google).

The real truth is: Google’s link voting system is essentially a numbers and indexation game.

Case Study — A new tool site focused on getting “indexable links from DA>1 domains” at a pace of 10/day. After 8 weeks, they had 400+ links and their organic traffic surged by 218%.

Compare that with a competitor who only went after “highly relevant backlinks” (got just 37), and their traffic remained in the single digits.

Why Do Link Quantity + Index Rate Build Trust?

1. Not Indexed = No Vote: Google’s official documentation says links must be “accessible to regular users” (i.e., no redirect blocks / robots.txt), or they won’t be counted. Common issue for new sites: About 45% of forum signature links fail due to nofollow or JS redirects.
2. Anchor Text Diversity: The Algo Logic:
   • Google’s 2023 Anti-Spam Guidelines state that if over 40% of your links use exact-match anchors (like “SEO optimization company”), it may trigger a manual review
   • Natural anchor text spread should be: Brand Terms (30%) + Generic Words (35%) + Natural Long-Tails (35%) (e.g., “our site,” “see more,” “XX tool homepage”)
3. DA Score: What Really Matters: DA>1 means a domain has basic link juice (Moz data). Compared to DA80+ backlinks, DA1–20 links cost just 1/10 and have a 92% index rate.

How to Get Indexed Backlinks at Scale

Strategy 1: Bulk Deals via Link Exchange Platforms

• How-To:
  1. Join backlink marketplaces (like Linkcentaur or Linkody) and filter for “DA1–20” sites indexed in the last 30 days
  2. Trade links using your site’s traffic or keyword library (e.g., “My site gets 200+ visits/day, happy to exchange cross-industry links”)
• Cost Management: Keep per-link costs ≤¥80 (reference: DA1–10 links average ¥50, DA11–20 around ¥75)
• Acceptance Criteria:
  • Use Google Search Console’s “External Links” report to verify indexing
  • New Site Goals: 5 links/day in week 1, ramp up to 10/day by week 2

Strategy 2: Community Contributions for Links

• High-Index Channels List:
  • Localized forums (like Reddit’s city-specific subs): 3 valid comments = 1 profile link (index rate: 87%)
  • Industry Q&A platforms (like Quora): Drop links in answers naturally (e.g., “More on this in our article [link]”)
  • Execution Tip: Always link to deep content pages (not homepage), and make sure they’re already indexed (check via GSC)

Anchor Text Pitfall Guide

• Safe Ratio Setup：
  • Branded Anchor Text (30%): Brand Name, Brand Name + Official Site
  • Generic Anchor Text (40%): Click here, See details, Source
  • Long-Tail Anchor Text (30%): Improve website loading speed, Basic SEO guide
• Penalty Risk: The same keyword anchor text should account for no more than 15% of total backlinks (Example: For 500 total links, the anchor “SEO Optimization” should appear fewer than 60 times)

Regular Maintenance & Data Monitoring

Google updates its algorithm 3-5 times a day on average, and 61% of new sites get penalized for not fixing 404 errors or outdated content quickly enough.

Real case: An e-commerce site saw a 37% drop in traffic just 3 months after launch. Turns out, 142 broken product links created 404 errors (15% of total pages), and Google flagged it for “poor site maintenance,” leading to a full deindexing.

Pages with no updates for over 12 months lose about 43% of their traffic share from Google (Data from Ahrefs).

Why Ongoing Maintenance Builds Long-Term Trust

1. Constant Algorithm Checks: Google’s “Freshness Factor” expects core pages to be updated at least once every 90 days (like adding new data or case studies). Otherwise, chances of ranking drops go up 3x.
2. User Behavior Now Matters More: If bounce rate is over 70% or time on page is under 40 seconds, Google may flag it for “low content value” (This was reinforced in the 2023 update).
3. Technical Issues Can Kill Traffic: Just one 404 error can cost you about 3.2 sessions/day. (For a new site with 200 pages, 10 broken links = loss of 960 visits/month.)

Essential Monitoring Tool Kit

Must-Have Tools:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Tracks real user behavior (make sure it’s installed in the website’s head section)
• Google Search Console (GSC): Checks technical health and search performance
• Third-Party Add-ons: Screaming Frog (for broken links) + Google Sheets (for manual update logs)

Daily 3-Point Check (Takes Less Than 5 Minutes)

GSC “Coverage Report”:

Red Errors: Fix 404s ASAP (Use 301 redirects to relevant content)

Yellow Warnings: “Submitted but not indexed” pages → Check for original content (Keep duplication below 15%)

GA4 Real-Time Dashboard:

Traffic spikes or drops (±30%) → Check “Traffic Sources” and “Landing Pages” to find the issue

If session time drops sharply (like from 2 mins → 40 secs), that page needs immediate improvement

Server Logs:

5xx server errors ≥10/day → Contact your hosting provider to upgrade your server

Weekly Deep Maintenance Tasks

Task 1: Keyword Ranking Shuffles

• Export the “Queries” report from GSC and filter for:
  • High impressions but low CTR (Click-Through Rate ＜3%): Optimize titles/meta descriptions (Example: “10 SEO Tips” → “3 SEO Tricks That Work for New Sites in 7 Days”)
  • Keywords ranking between 11–15: Add targeted content blocks (like “FAQs”) to push into the Top 10

Task 2: Content Freshness Updates

• Check GA4’s “Page Value” report and for your Top 10 pages:
  • Update outdated data (like changing “2021 Study” to “2023 Google Stats”)
  • Add real-world examples (like screenshots of user reviews)
  • Expand 2-3 sub-sections (aim to increase word count by ≥30%)

Monthly Overhaul to Prevent Collapses

• Full-Site Broken Link Scan: Use Screaming Frog to crawl all links, export 404 errors → Set 301 redirects to relevant pages (You’ll retain about 85% of traffic)
• Backlink Health Check:
  • Use Ahrefs to find “Lost Links”: If a high-authority backlink (DA > 10) is gone, contact the site owner to restore it
  • Remove toxic backlinks: Use Disavow Tool to reject spammy sources
• Speed & Mobile Recheck: Use PageSpeed Insights on key pages. If LCP > 2.5s, it needs re-optimizing

In the end, traffic goes to those who respect the rules of the game. Now, it’s your turn to step into the arena.