Arbitran_one_
Newbie
- Sep 25, 2023
- 20
- 7
good luck
My journey to building a massive website
- Thread starter Carolus Rex
- Start date
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Just a quick update on the traffic. Yesterday the site had its first day with over 150 clicks from Google, and over 300 unique visitors from all sources (GA4). Starting to panic about the Russian traffic though, seems I rank really good on Yandex.
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
We're closing in on the end of the first month of the new year. The site is still growing but won't make an update until the beginning of February.
I've been playing around with the major SEO tools lately, both with this site but also some of my other sites. Thought I'd just share it in here, hoping to hear what you guys think, if you agree or disagree, and if you know any tool that is better in 2024.
So, I have Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz and Ubersuggest. First of all, they ALL show different data, even if I connect my GSC/GA4 with the tools, they are absolutely terrible.
Let's start with the worst ones. Moz and Ubersuggest.
Moz don't update frequently, at all. Their site is not mobile friendly and the tools they offer are extremely primitive. Other than inventing the DA rating, these guys are clearly left behind. The data they show is probably furthest from the truth out of all the tools. I'd give this tool 1/5.
Ubersuggest is ok for basic keyword research and checking up basic stats, for an affordable price. I found they show number of ranking keywords more accurate than their competitors, but their keyword difficulty is a joke. Search volume is hit or miss, but a lot of the times they get it right. The UI is not very mobile friendly, I'd say their UI is not friendly at all, no matter the device. 2.5/5 simply because of the price and ease of use for lighter SEO tasks.
Ahrefs is probably the most popular tool out there, the oldest standing one I believe? They have a lot of fluff, functions that you'll probably never use. But they also have a lot of great functions for more advanced SEO tasks. Pricing is way off, it was an amazing tool when you had the $7 trials but I don't feel the functionality offered weighs up to the current price tag (don't get me wrong, I'm willing to spend on tools but I want value for my money). When it comes to the actual data, they are, to my findings, the worst. They don't update as frequently as other tools, they are not able to show all backlinks, their way of calculating Authority Score is questionable, I'd never rely on their scores when doing competitor research. All-in-all, I'd give them 2/5, if the price dropped they'd gotten 3/5 simply because of the many functions, but their poor data keeps them from getting more points.
Semrush is the one I like the most. They have a lot of the same functions that Ahrefs do, without all the fluff. Their backlink analysis updates quickly, and they show the most backlinks compared to the other tools in my tests. The best thing about them is that they still offer a 30-day trial that can be abused, making it the best tool for newbies and people who don't want to spend a lot on tools. The data is still way off, especially their estimations for volume on keywords and your estimated traffic. 4/5 mostly because of the free trial abuse and the accuracy in backlink analysis, as well as a plethora of powerful functions.
Not a single tool got the GEOs right, at all, for any of my sites. All they do is guesstimate everything except for the ranking keywords and backlinks. So I still use most of these tools for keyword research and backlink analysis, but that's it.
Do you know any better tools I can try? Might look at some tools specifically built for keyword research only.
Hope you get a great weekend guys!
I've been playing around with the major SEO tools lately, both with this site but also some of my other sites. Thought I'd just share it in here, hoping to hear what you guys think, if you agree or disagree, and if you know any tool that is better in 2024.
So, I have Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz and Ubersuggest. First of all, they ALL show different data, even if I connect my GSC/GA4 with the tools, they are absolutely terrible.
Let's start with the worst ones. Moz and Ubersuggest.
Moz don't update frequently, at all. Their site is not mobile friendly and the tools they offer are extremely primitive. Other than inventing the DA rating, these guys are clearly left behind. The data they show is probably furthest from the truth out of all the tools. I'd give this tool 1/5.
Ubersuggest is ok for basic keyword research and checking up basic stats, for an affordable price. I found they show number of ranking keywords more accurate than their competitors, but their keyword difficulty is a joke. Search volume is hit or miss, but a lot of the times they get it right. The UI is not very mobile friendly, I'd say their UI is not friendly at all, no matter the device. 2.5/5 simply because of the price and ease of use for lighter SEO tasks.
Ahrefs is probably the most popular tool out there, the oldest standing one I believe? They have a lot of fluff, functions that you'll probably never use. But they also have a lot of great functions for more advanced SEO tasks. Pricing is way off, it was an amazing tool when you had the $7 trials but I don't feel the functionality offered weighs up to the current price tag (don't get me wrong, I'm willing to spend on tools but I want value for my money). When it comes to the actual data, they are, to my findings, the worst. They don't update as frequently as other tools, they are not able to show all backlinks, their way of calculating Authority Score is questionable, I'd never rely on their scores when doing competitor research. All-in-all, I'd give them 2/5, if the price dropped they'd gotten 3/5 simply because of the many functions, but their poor data keeps them from getting more points.
Semrush is the one I like the most. They have a lot of the same functions that Ahrefs do, without all the fluff. Their backlink analysis updates quickly, and they show the most backlinks compared to the other tools in my tests. The best thing about them is that they still offer a 30-day trial that can be abused, making it the best tool for newbies and people who don't want to spend a lot on tools. The data is still way off, especially their estimations for volume on keywords and your estimated traffic. 4/5 mostly because of the free trial abuse and the accuracy in backlink analysis, as well as a plethora of powerful functions.
Not a single tool got the GEOs right, at all, for any of my sites. All they do is guesstimate everything except for the ranking keywords and backlinks. So I still use most of these tools for keyword research and backlink analysis, but that's it.
Do you know any better tools I can try? Might look at some tools specifically built for keyword research only.
Hope you get a great weekend guys!
The only tool which would give you any data closer to your actual data is Similarweb.... others are just guesstimating as you said.... freaky how similarweb gets so close with the actual data [at least in case of my sites]
OccultKingdoms
BANNED
- Mar 11, 2013
- 5,542
- 9,750
Internet marketing in a nutshell. Think about $100k per month and abuse trials at the same time. haha
I do it every time. Free stuff is good.
Even free water is nice.
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
I don't mind paying but I wouldn't pay $100k for a Volvo either. They need to up their game to justify these prices in my opinion. I'm game to abuse free trials any day.
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Just a quick note. The growth in January is looking very good, will post an update sometime next week. On the 25th I thought we would get the first day with 200+ clicks on GSC but it stopped short at 199. But, we had our first 400+ day in Google Analytics with all sources combined, so that's good.
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Update
Well, let's just cut to the chase. Last week I mentioned I was just short of 200 daily clicks.. Well, two days later the site saw its first day with over 250 clicks from Google. There are a bunch of different things I did that could potentially be the reason for this increase. But, I think the biggest factor is that I changed the meta title on my home page. I was ranking well for the less searched main keyword. After changing this I can see the main keyword jumped to the top in GSC, have not checked my positions for any of the keywords yet though.
Anyways. This is the third (second full) month of the website being live, and we crushed 5k monthly clicks from Google, as well as 10k total visitors (9.8k unique) from all sources according to Google Analytics. This is amazing, and I have so much more to do which can boost the traffic even more. Some changes I've done still have not had the time to take effect. Not to mention the backlinks I've been building and still continue to build, I'm expecting the traffic to grow a lot in the first 6 months.
Diving deeper into Google Analytics I can see there is already some traffic to a few of the translated pages. This means the translations are being indexed and ranking properly, which is great news.
Here's the Search Console (you can probably see where I changed the main keyword):
Stats according to Google Analytics
Total users: 10k
Average time on page: 1m 07s
Average pageview per session: 1.9
I'm very happy with the progress so far. For the month of February I'm hoping to double the traffic once again, 10k+ clicks from Google would be great. Might put adsense on the site just to get some earnings, even if I'm only able to pay for one additional backlink every month, it might be worth it.
Currently working on translations as well as building backlinks. Translation will probably take up most of February. I'm also considering purchasing a PR package to get some more reach and hopefully get additional organic backlinks from other journalists. Will keep building forum and reddit links for now.
Earnings: Still at $0
Expenses
Backlinks: $850
Other: $100
Well, let's just cut to the chase. Last week I mentioned I was just short of 200 daily clicks.. Well, two days later the site saw its first day with over 250 clicks from Google. There are a bunch of different things I did that could potentially be the reason for this increase. But, I think the biggest factor is that I changed the meta title on my home page. I was ranking well for the less searched main keyword. After changing this I can see the main keyword jumped to the top in GSC, have not checked my positions for any of the keywords yet though.
Anyways. This is the third (second full) month of the website being live, and we crushed 5k monthly clicks from Google, as well as 10k total visitors (9.8k unique) from all sources according to Google Analytics. This is amazing, and I have so much more to do which can boost the traffic even more. Some changes I've done still have not had the time to take effect. Not to mention the backlinks I've been building and still continue to build, I'm expecting the traffic to grow a lot in the first 6 months.
Diving deeper into Google Analytics I can see there is already some traffic to a few of the translated pages. This means the translations are being indexed and ranking properly, which is great news.
Here's the Search Console (you can probably see where I changed the main keyword):
Stats according to Google Analytics
Total users: 10k
Average time on page: 1m 07s
Average pageview per session: 1.9
I'm very happy with the progress so far. For the month of February I'm hoping to double the traffic once again, 10k+ clicks from Google would be great. Might put adsense on the site just to get some earnings, even if I'm only able to pay for one additional backlink every month, it might be worth it.
Currently working on translations as well as building backlinks. Translation will probably take up most of February. I'm also considering purchasing a PR package to get some more reach and hopefully get additional organic backlinks from other journalists. Will keep building forum and reddit links for now.
Earnings: Still at $0
Expenses
Backlinks: $850
Other: $100
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Small mid-month update
So I have not been updating for a few weeks now. Last update I mentioned we were at an all time high of 276 clicks from GSC. Well, we've seen multiple days of 300+ now and on the 15th the site got 346 clicks. Probably won't get to 10k clicks for the month of February, but should land on around 8k at least.
Been trying to index the site on Bing for a while now. GA4 says I have 27 visitors from Bing in February but my Bing webmaster tools say 0 clicks and 0 impressions. The pages also don't seem to be indexed, they all say crawled but not indexed. The only issue I can find is "HTML is too big", so will have to look into that a bit more. Anyone faced this problem before?
Been working hard on translations the past few weeks. There's a lot of strings that have to be manually translated but I'm almost done now. Will give a more detailed update early March.
So I have not been updating for a few weeks now. Last update I mentioned we were at an all time high of 276 clicks from GSC. Well, we've seen multiple days of 300+ now and on the 15th the site got 346 clicks. Probably won't get to 10k clicks for the month of February, but should land on around 8k at least.
Been trying to index the site on Bing for a while now. GA4 says I have 27 visitors from Bing in February but my Bing webmaster tools say 0 clicks and 0 impressions. The pages also don't seem to be indexed, they all say crawled but not indexed. The only issue I can find is "HTML is too big", so will have to look into that a bit more. Anyone faced this problem before?
Been working hard on translations the past few weeks. There's a lot of strings that have to be manually translated but I'm almost done now. Will give a more detailed update early March.
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
February Update
Another month has passed and the site is still growing, now almost 4 months old. The site reached its first 100k monthly milestone (Impressions)! For a long time I thought we would never be able to even get close to 10k clicks this month, but miraculously we did. Hopefully the site will grow just as much in March and get us closer to 20k.
Been busy working on translations the entirety of February, both manual and automated. Because of the nature of the website, a fair amount of strings have to be manually translated, or the automated translations will mess everything up. But I'm done with that for now! Will add more languages once the site starts earning.
Here's some GSC for you:
Highest clicks in a day is now 611 and we completely skipped the 400-500 range! Not sure what caused the increase in clicks. Maybe it's because the translated pages start to pick up, will have to look into it.
And here are the stats for February according to GA4.
Total users: 16k
Average pageviews per user: 2.1
Average time on page: 58 seconds
Mind you, this is all organic, world wide traffic. I have not started promoting on any social media yet.
Rankings
Looking at my keywords it seems my 2 main keywords rank #5-6. These alone should be able to pull 100k+ monthly visitors once I rank #1. The alternative main keyword I was optimized for before is ranking #3 with a 20% CTR but it's not even bringing in 50 of the total visitors, glad I changed that! All the other keywords are ranking in the top #5 so still a lot of traffic that can be squeezed out of the SERPs.
I should have over 10k total pages now but only about 40% is currently indexed. Don't want to force Google to index everything, will let it take its time.
To do In March
In March I want to focus on adding a bunch of new pages as well as getting the script optimized a bit. I think the script is a bit heavier than it has to be and that might be the reason why Bing is being so stubborn. Not sure what other things I can focus on in the short term for the most gains, but let's start there.
I also decided to apply for AdSense, and after just 3 days the site was accepted. Let's hope the site can start earning some money on its own now. This far I see about $1/day, and the first earnings are the biggest motivator for me in any project.
In the Future
The site is still very young but doing exceptionally well. I'm not half-assing this project, been working almost round the clock since early October and not planning on slowing down until everything is done. I'm projecting around 100k total visitors per month by June or July, by this time I want to hopefully make $1000/month. That would be 1% of the target but a massive milestone. Let's see what happens in the next few months.
Not sure if the backlinks have started to give any effect yet, think I need quite a few more to grab the #3 spot for my main keywords. Won't be ranking #1 for a very long time though, this is probably going to be a 5+ year journey.
I also want to mention that after the summer I plan on moving to Spain to study the language. This means I will have to quit my day job and my income will be significantly lower. I'm hoping the site will be able to hold itself by then, allowing me invest somewhere around $500-1000/month in backlinks. Currently saving up some capital for the move which means I won't be buying as many backlinks the next couple of months.
Next month I will be able to show some earnings.
Total expenses
Backlinks: $1020
Other: $170
Another month has passed and the site is still growing, now almost 4 months old. The site reached its first 100k monthly milestone (Impressions)! For a long time I thought we would never be able to even get close to 10k clicks this month, but miraculously we did. Hopefully the site will grow just as much in March and get us closer to 20k.
Been busy working on translations the entirety of February, both manual and automated. Because of the nature of the website, a fair amount of strings have to be manually translated, or the automated translations will mess everything up. But I'm done with that for now! Will add more languages once the site starts earning.
Here's some GSC for you:
Highest clicks in a day is now 611 and we completely skipped the 400-500 range! Not sure what caused the increase in clicks. Maybe it's because the translated pages start to pick up, will have to look into it.
And here are the stats for February according to GA4.
Total users: 16k
Average pageviews per user: 2.1
Average time on page: 58 seconds
Mind you, this is all organic, world wide traffic. I have not started promoting on any social media yet.
Rankings
Looking at my keywords it seems my 2 main keywords rank #5-6. These alone should be able to pull 100k+ monthly visitors once I rank #1. The alternative main keyword I was optimized for before is ranking #3 with a 20% CTR but it's not even bringing in 50 of the total visitors, glad I changed that! All the other keywords are ranking in the top #5 so still a lot of traffic that can be squeezed out of the SERPs.
I should have over 10k total pages now but only about 40% is currently indexed. Don't want to force Google to index everything, will let it take its time.
To do In March
In March I want to focus on adding a bunch of new pages as well as getting the script optimized a bit. I think the script is a bit heavier than it has to be and that might be the reason why Bing is being so stubborn. Not sure what other things I can focus on in the short term for the most gains, but let's start there.
I also decided to apply for AdSense, and after just 3 days the site was accepted. Let's hope the site can start earning some money on its own now. This far I see about $1/day, and the first earnings are the biggest motivator for me in any project.
In the Future
The site is still very young but doing exceptionally well. I'm not half-assing this project, been working almost round the clock since early October and not planning on slowing down until everything is done. I'm projecting around 100k total visitors per month by June or July, by this time I want to hopefully make $1000/month. That would be 1% of the target but a massive milestone. Let's see what happens in the next few months.
Not sure if the backlinks have started to give any effect yet, think I need quite a few more to grab the #3 spot for my main keywords. Won't be ranking #1 for a very long time though, this is probably going to be a 5+ year journey.
I also want to mention that after the summer I plan on moving to Spain to study the language. This means I will have to quit my day job and my income will be significantly lower. I'm hoping the site will be able to hold itself by then, allowing me invest somewhere around $500-1000/month in backlinks. Currently saving up some capital for the move which means I won't be buying as many backlinks the next couple of months.
Next month I will be able to show some earnings.
Total expenses
Backlinks: $1020
Other: $170
Last edited:
Kikerinka
Elite Member
- Dec 18, 2010
- 2,584
- 9,440
You're doing fantastic, keep it up! Sure you have some interesting project in your hands, since getting 10K clicks/month in 4 months is not something typical nowadays... But then your website is certainly not a typical niche website 
. Any case, good luck and I'll keep my eye on this one!
. Any case, good luck and I'll keep my eye on this one!Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Thank you! Excited to see what happens in the next 6 months.You're doing fantastic, keep it up! Sure you have some interesting project in your hands, since getting 10K clicks/month in 4 months is not something typical nowadays... But then your website is certainly not a typical niche website
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Yesterday the site crossed 1000 daily visitors (total traffic) on GA4. While this includes traffic from low tier countries I don't really care too much about these stats, but it's still a major milestone in the early days.
I'm not too scared of the ongoing Google update, as this site should be safe. But it's such a huge update that anything can happen. The only thing I can think of being a target is that I have scaled the site very quickly, and if they don't manually inspect the site it could come off as thin content. I'll just keep working and let you guys know if there's anything going on with my rankings.
I'm not too scared of the ongoing Google update, as this site should be safe. But it's such a huge update that anything can happen. The only thing I can think of being a target is that I have scaled the site very quickly, and if they don't manually inspect the site it could come off as thin content. I'll just keep working and let you guys know if there's anything going on with my rankings.
blogmen
Elite Member
- May 16, 2021
- 1,986
- 2,375
So you think nowadays it's riskier to have multiple smaller websites than one big site?
I was wondering about the timeline with such a big goal. Fair estimate.
Very cool journey. I was tempted to create a functionality type website before but the competition was always fierce. You seem to have found a crack in the shell. I don't know how I missed this journey so far, looks promising.
Good luck!
Carolus Rex
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2023
- 244
- 208
Ok, I think I jinxed myself. Today I'm seeing -50% traffic or more. I'm not deindexed at all, and no manual action, it's just that rankings dropped over night.
This could simply be some google dance, since the site is only 4 months. Most likely it's just something related to the ongoing Google update, and that the rankings will jump up and down for a few weeks. I will keep following the plan I have, not do any changes to the actual content/pages until the update is finished.
Might launch a second site under a different GSC account and compete with myself, just in case. Just uploading the top performing 100 pages and letting it sit.
I think a strong, large site that is built properly will stand a stronger chance compared to smaller sites, especially weak niche sites.
I've only seen a few niches with tools that could work as well, if this one goes as planned I will probably try some other niches too.
This could simply be some google dance, since the site is only 4 months. Most likely it's just something related to the ongoing Google update, and that the rankings will jump up and down for a few weeks. I will keep following the plan I have, not do any changes to the actual content/pages until the update is finished.
Might launch a second site under a different GSC account and compete with myself, just in case. Just uploading the top performing 100 pages and letting it sit.
I think a strong, large site that is built properly will stand a stronger chance compared to smaller sites, especially weak niche sites.
I've only seen a few niches with tools that could work as well, if this one goes as planned I will probably try some other niches too.