How to Increase Organic Traffic? 8 Tips for Success

Corporate companies strive to increase the number of visitors to their websites, especially focusing on gaining organic traffic. Organic traffic refers to the visitors a website gains naturally through search engines without using any paid advertisements. In this area, various methods are preferred, ranging from paid ads and social media campaigns to content sharing sites and SEO strategies.

In this article, we will discuss methods to increase organic traffic and improve your search engine optimization (SEO) success. However, first, it would be useful to mention some free tools where you can check your website’s organic traffic status.

The Importance of Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is a key way to increase a website’s popularity and, consequently, brand awareness. For sales-focused sites like e-commerce, organic traffic can significantly contribute to increasing sales.

Being on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) provides a more sustainable and permanent flow of visitors through organic traffic. While budget constraints or changes in advertising strategies can affect paid traffic flow, organic traffic is less dependent on such external factors.

Customers searching for a product or service on Google can be directed to your site through organic searches. By answering users’ queries like “what is?”, you can gain blog traffic, acquire more followers through social media shares, and with your original content, both obtain traffic and improve your search rankings. These improvements are directly linked to increases in organic traffic and ultimately strengthen your brand awareness.

Types of Traffic

Traffic flows to websites can come from various sources and can be categorized as follows:

Organic Traffic: Visitors obtained from search engines without ads.
Direct Traffic: Visits where users enter the URL directly into their browser.
Branded Search Traffic: Visits from users searching with the brand name.
Paid Search Traffic: Visits gained through paid ads on search engines.
Social Media Traffic: Users directed to the site from social media platforms.
Email Traffic: Visitors redirected through email campaigns.
Referral Traffic: Visitors coming from external sources like other websites, blogs, or forums.

Benefits of Organic Traffic

Many businesses set gaining organic traffic and SEO efforts as a primary goal when defining their digital marketing strategies.

From a cost perspective, organic traffic can significantly reduce digital marketing expenses compared to traffic obtained through advertising. This may vary depending on the company’s objectives. Sales through potential customers can offer a high conversion rate, so organic traffic is considered a cost-effective investment.

In terms of sustainability, once you stop spending large amounts on ads, your traffic flow will also cease. However, organic traffic continues once a certain search engine ranking is reached. The more visitors increase, the less budget is needed for advertising. This is especially advantageous for cost-focused businesses.

We always advise our clients to be visible both through ads and organically. In terms of time, organic traffic is a model that never expires. With continuous improvements, the amount of traffic gained can increase. Even a well-directed

blog post can help you make sales.

Traffic obtained through paid sources or social media also holds great value and attracts potential customers with high sales potential to your business. As a long-term traffic model, it is sustainable and provides you with a competitive advantage. When your site ranks high in search results, your customers’ trust in you increases and your brand awareness strengthens. As a result, you can achieve higher conversion rates.

Methods to Increase Organic Traffic

Increasing organic traffic means both cost-effectiveness and long-term success for websites. Here are some methods to boost organic traffic:

Page Load Speed

Page load speed refers to how quickly the content on your website is displayed and is a critical factor for user experience.

Research shows that 40% of users leave websites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. Moreover, 80% of these users never return to the site. It is known that slow websites cause an annual loss of $2.6 billion in sales.

If Google notices that users spend less time on your site, it may lower your website’s ranking in the search engine results. A lower ranking reduces your site’s visibility, which negatively impacts organic traffic because users find it harder to discover your site.

It is important to regularly monitor and improve your page load speed and server response times for both mobile and desktop platforms to prevent visitors from leaving your site.

Tools like GTMetrix and Pingdom can be used to measure your page speed and implement improvements. These tools allow you to test your site’s performance and apply recommended optimizations.

Try to keep the images on your webpage under 100 KB. You can use image compression services such as tinypng.com. To keep your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files under 150 KB, tools like Textfixer and Gzip are helpful. Also, enable browser caching, aim to reduce server response time to below 200 ms, and remove unused scripts from your pages.

Backlink Building

Backlink building means adding links to your content both from your own site and other trusted sites, which is a critical step for SEO. Here are some important points to consider when adding links:

It is important that the anchor texts (the linked texts) clearly inform users about the page to which the link will direct them. Make sure that the content you reference with links is up-to-date. Verify that the sites you link to are reliable sources. You may consider using the “rel=’nofollow’” attribute to prevent Google from indexing the sites you link to. To encourage users to spend more time on your site, use internal links that facilitate easy navigation from one page to another.

Mobile Compatibility Optimization

Worldwide, the rate of mobile users has reached 67%, and more than half of internet users prefer to access the internet via mobile phones.

Offering a poor experience for mobile users can lead to significant traffic loss on your site. Since mobile compatibility is an important ranking factor, it is essential to make your site compatible with mobile devices.

To make your site mobile-friendly, prefer using HTML5. Avoid technologies like Flash, as many mobile devices do not support them. Avoid pop-ups that may negatively impact user experience on mobile devices. Design your site to be responsive, adapting to all screen sizes. Since mobile devices do not have keyboards, create a design that allows users to navigate your site easily.

Reducing Bounce Rate

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who leave your page without reading or navigating further. Bounce rate.

the lower the bounce rate, the more succesful your site is

Maintain a good bounce rate by adding videos to your content and using images that encourage users to scroll down the page. Analyze your page metrics to understand why visitors leave your pages. Use exit-intent pop-ups designed to present an offer when visitors are about to leave your site. Set your links to open in new tabs and use effective call-to-action (CTA) messages. This helps keep visitors on the page without interrupting their reading experience.

Removing Unnecessary Code

Brands often focus on page design and back-end development, while neglecting unnecessary code that can negatively impact site speed, search rankings, and user experience.

Reduce or remove in-site JavaScript and CSS so that Google can crawl your site faster and increase organic traffic. Cleaning unnecessary code or reducing lines of code can improve your site’s speed and enhance user experience. Don’t forget to minify your CSS code.

Targeting Featured Snippets

If there is no featured snippet, 26% of clicks go to the first URL. When a featured snippet is present, the URL immediately below it receives 19% of clicks, which represents a 6% drop.

When you own a featured snippet, your chances of getting more clicks and traffic increase.

Use bullet points or numbered lists in your blog content. Identify the questions your target audience frequently asks and create content that answers these questions clearly and effectively. To increase your chances of getting a featured snippet, keep your content between 40-50 words. According to research by Ahrefs, which analyzed 2 million featured snippets, 90% of these snippets came from the top 5 URLs on the search engine results page. This indicates that focusing on featured snippets can boost your site’s traffic and improve your ranking in search results.

To highlight your content:

Identify frequently asked questions by your target audience and prepare clear, concise, and valuable answers.
Keep your answers short and easy to understand, ideally within 40-50 words.
Use formatting like bullet points or numbered lists to organize information neatly and make it easy to scan.

When creating content for featured snippets, you can use tools like Ahrefs to research which topics have featured snippets and what questions appear in that section. This way, you can tailor your strategy toward high-potential topics and questions, becoming more visible in search engines and increasing your organic traffic.

Focusing on High-Value Keywords

Cost Per Click (CPC) indicates how much advertisers pay for each click in Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns. High CPC values mean that investors find those keywords valuable and want to attract genuinely interested users.

Targeting high-CPC keywords is a way to connect your content with a relevant and interested audience. Users rarely spend time on topics they are not curious about.

Focus on keywords relevant to your niche.
Use SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to identify the most effective keywords.
Use long-tail keywords to rank higher in more specific queries.

This strategy can reduce your site’s bounce rate and increase the average time users spend on your site, which leads to better search engine rankings and, consequently, more traffic.

Producing High-Quality Content Aligned with User Intent

User intent refers to the real goal behind a search query. If the content you provide does not match what users are looking for, it can negatively impact your Google ranking. Simply put, if your content doesn’t deliver what users want, it results in a poor user experience.

Google uses various algorithms to detect bad user experiences and evaluate your site accordingly. Based on this evaluation, your site may either be promoted or pushed down in the rankings.

To create content suitable for your audience and niche:

Develop a comprehensive content strategy.
Craft engaging titles and links that stay true to the promised topic.
Identify your target audience’s search intents and create detailed content plans accordingly.

Create high-quality content that meets user intent. This method is one of the most effective strategies for gaining organic traffic and fundamentally relies on customer satisfaction. By providing users with the information they are searching for, you encourage them to return to your site repeatedly.

Effective Use of Heading Tags

Long and hard-to-read blocks of text can cause users to quickly leave your site. Once users have such an experience, it can be difficult to bring them back.

Increase readability by dividing your content with headings, subheadings, and bulleted lists.
Use clear and concise sentences to make your text more accessible.
Improve your readability score by using tools like hemingwayapp.com, aiming for a Grade 3 level or below if possible.
Keep each section under 300 words and break the text into smaller parts with subheadings when necessary.

Optimization of the Sitemap

By creating and optimizing your XML sitemap, you enable Google to easily find and index your pages. This process will help increase your site traffic.

If you use a content management system like WordPress, you can create your XML sitemap through plugins such as All in One SEO Pack or Google XML Sitemaps.
Submit the sitemap you create to Google via Google Search Console.
The maximum file size for sitemaps is 50 MB, but it is beneficial to keep the file size as small as possible. Gzip compression can help reduce the size of your sitemap.
When you make significant changes to a page, update the page’s last modified date accordingly.

Fixing Errors in Structured Data Markup

If you’re familiar with technology, you know that machines can interpret the content of web pages in different ways. Structured data helps search engines analyze and index your content more effectively.

You can detect and fix structured data errors on your site using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
To easily mark up structured data on your site, take advantage of Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.
Identify the pages that need manual editing and make the necessary corrections on those pages.
After completing the fixes, retest your pages to verify the accuracy of your structured data markup.
These steps help search engines better understand the content and purpose of your site, making it easier for users to find your content. As a result, your content’s chance to reach your target audience increases, and your click-through rate improves.
Although structured data markup may not directly increase organic traffic, when combined with an effective marketing strategy, it can help attract more visitors and boost user engagement on your site.

Google My Business Registration

One way to achieve a better position in search engines is by creating a Google My Business listing. According to Moz, Google My Business is an important ranking factor, especially in local map searches, helping businesses become more visible in organic searches, which can increase traffic.

Add your business to Google Maps through Google My Business and create an account.
Fill out all details completely, including your business name, description, photos, videos, working hours, and contact information.
Respond regularly to incoming questions and comments.
The Google My Business description has a 750-character limit. Include your business’s best features and relevant keywords here.

Fixing Broken Link Issues

Broken links can harm your site’s traffic and ranking. Finding and fixing any broken links on your site improves the user experience.

Use tools like Screaming Frog, DeadLink Checker, Broken Link Checker, or Google Search Console to find broken
links on your site.
Export the list of broken links to a spreadsheet.
Fix the broken links and update them in your content management system.
I recommend watching a video tutorial on how to use Screaming Frog to find broken links.

Determining the Ideal Blog Post Length

It is difficult to find a definitive answer about the ideal blog post length to rank high on Google. There are varying opinions on this topic; some believe that 500 words are sufficient, while others advocate for posts longer than 2000 words.

Research shows that articles between 2000-3000 words attract the most organic traffic.
Buffer suggests that the ideal blog post length is around 1600 words.
In some industries, 1500-word articles may be sufficient. However, when determining the ideal blog post length, you should consider your own site and target audience. Since every business and audience is different, analyze your data to understand how much content your readers prefer.

Active Use of Site Links

Site links are additional links that appear alongside the main result or within the meta description in Google search results. Examples include links directing to your homepage, blog page, or contact page. If your blog posts include a table of contents, links that allow users to jump directly to specific sections may also appear in the site description.

Site links help visitors navigate your website or blog posts easily, boosting internal traffic and click-through rates, building trust, and thus positively impacting organic traffic.

Although there is no guaranteed method to make site links appear automatically on Google, adding a table of contents section to your content can increase the chances of these links showing up in search results

Image Optimization

This method is often overlooked by many SEO experts and brands. However, properly optimizing images is extremely important.

Before publishing, compress your images. Using tools like TinyPNG or Compressnow can help increase image quality while improving page load speed. Include keywords in your images’ alt text, meta descriptions, titles, and captions. This not only provides information about the image content but also helps your images rank better in search engines.

Using Visual Content

While visual content can’t replace text, supporting your text-based content with images or videos can boost user engagement and interest. Adding pictures or videos to your blog posts makes your content more appealing, encourages users to read the entire article, and increases the time they spend on your site.