How much of that traffic is actually useful?

MajestySEO · 2026-08-18T16:02:10+0100

I used to focus on the traffic number. then I started looking at where that traffic was actually coming from.
I rejected a DR 74 site yesterday. Traffic looked fine in Ahrefs. SEMrush showed a fraction of that number, most pages were unindexed, and the content had nothing to do with the niche I needed. DR meant nothing there.
A site can show 50K or 100K estimated monthly traffic, but that doesn't tell you much.
Maybe 80% of the traffic is going to 2-3 pages. Maybe those pages rank for keywords that have nothing to do with your niche. or most of the traffic is coming from a country you are not interested in.

That's why I now look at a few things before judging a site
- Which pages are bringing the traffic?
- What keywords are those pages ranking for?
- Which countries are sending the traffic?
- Is the traffic stable or did it suddenly appear?
- Does the site's content actually fit the niche?

I also don't put too much weight on DR/DA. they are useful for getting a quick idea, but they don't tell you the whole story.
I would rather see 1-2K and consistent organic traffic than 100K estimated traffic coming from pages that have nothing to do with the site I am working on.

Curious what others check first. what's the first thing you check after seeing the DR/DA and traffic numbers?

SerpStory · 2026-08-18T17:56:11+0100

Traffic only matters if it brings the right visitors. I would rather have 1,000 visitors who are interested in the product than 10,000 visitors who leave immediately. I usually look at conversions, engagement, returning visitors, and the pages bringing traffic instead of focusing only on total traffic numbers.

thaaz · 2026-08-18T20:17:16+0100

After relevance, check the exact page or section where the link would sit. Is it indexed, linked internally from pages that receive traffic, and surrounded by related content? A domain can have legitimate traffic while the proposed placement is buried in an orphaned section. Domain-level numbers won’t show that.

joydoable · 2026-08-18T21:26:53+0100

Check where the traffic comes form and what keywords.

MajestySEO · 2026-08-19T03:24:26+0100

Tanolitayyab said:
First thing I check is topical relevance of the traffic-driving pages, exactly what you mentioned. A site can have great DR but if 80% of its traffic is coming from 2-3 unrelated pages, that authority isn't really passing any real value to a guest post/link in a completely different niche.

DR shows the authority of the whole domain, but links come from specific pages. If those pages are not related to your niche, the link may not be very useful.

SerpStory said:
Traffic only matters if it brings the right visitors. I would rather have 1,000 visitors who are interested in the product than 10,000 visitors who leave immediately. I usually look at conversions, engagement, returning visitors, and the pages bringing traffic instead of focusing only on total traffic numbers.

Right. source and keyword matter more than volume. a site with 3K monthly traffic all coming from one relevant keyword beats a 100K site where most of that is entertainment or unrelated informational traffic.

thaaz said:
After relevance, check the exact page or section where the link would sit. Is it indexed, linked internally from pages that receive traffic, and surrounded by related content? A domain can have legitimate traffic while the proposed placement is buried in an orphaned section. Domain-level numbers won’t show that.

Good point on conversions and engagement. from a link placement angle I would add index status to that list. A page that's crawled but not indexed isnt passing much regardless of what the domain numbers say.

joydoable said:
Check where the traffic comes form and what keywords.

This is something many people miss.
A site might have 50K visitors and a strong backlink profile, but if the specific page where your link is placed gets no traffic and has no internal links, the link may not be very good.

so always check the exact page where your link will be placed.

Proxy_Soxy · 2026-08-19T03:53:22+0100

I also look at what the site has been linking out to lately

If every second new article suddenly has links to completely unrelated niches, the traffic can still look fine today but I’d probably pass on it

Sarah Mathews · 2026-08-19T06:13:08+0100

MajestySEO said:
I used to focus on the traffic number. then I started looking at where that traffic was actually coming from.
I rejected a DR 74 site yesterday. Traffic looked fine in Ahrefs. SEMrush showed a fraction of that number, most pages were unindexed, and the content had nothing to do with the niche I needed. DR meant nothing there.
A site can show 50K or 100K estimated monthly traffic, but that doesn't tell you much.
Maybe 80% of the traffic is going to 2-3 pages. Maybe those pages rank for keywords that have nothing to do with your niche. or most of the traffic is coming from a country you are not interested in.

That's why I now look at a few things before judging a site
- Which pages are bringing the traffic?
- What keywords are those pages ranking for?
- Which countries are sending the traffic?
- Is the traffic stable or did it suddenly appear?
- Does the site's content actually fit the niche?

I also don't put too much weight on DR/DA. they are useful for getting a quick idea, but they don't tell you the whole story.
I would rather see 1-2K and consistent organic traffic than 100K estimated traffic coming from pages that have nothing to do with the site I am working on.

Curious what others check first. what's the first thing you check after seeing the DR/DA and traffic numbers?

For me, the main thing I check is whether the backlink can be placed naturally within a unique, relevant article and I also look at the sites niche relevance and overall content quality before considering all metrics.

Sloan Boone · 2026-08-19T08:27:47+0100

MajestySEO said:
I used to focus on the traffic number. then I started looking at where that traffic was actually coming from.
I rejected a DR 74 site yesterday. Traffic looked fine in Ahrefs. SEMrush showed a fraction of that number, most pages were unindexed, and the content had nothing to do with the niche I needed. DR meant nothing there.
A site can show 50K or 100K estimated monthly traffic, but that doesn't tell you much.
Maybe 80% of the traffic is going to 2-3 pages. Maybe those pages rank for keywords that have nothing to do with your niche. or most of the traffic is coming from a country you are not interested in.

That's why I now look at a few things before judging a site
- Which pages are bringing the traffic?
- What keywords are those pages ranking for?
- Which countries are sending the traffic?
- Is the traffic stable or did it suddenly appear?
- Does the site's content actually fit the niche?

I also don't put too much weight on DR/DA. they are useful for getting a quick idea, but they don't tell you the whole story.
I would rather see 1-2K and consistent organic traffic than 100K estimated traffic coming from pages that have nothing to do with the site I am working on.

Curious what others check first. what's the first thing you check after seeing the DR/DA and traffic numbers?

It is always my habit to go through the traffic drivers before the domain total itself. If there are any pages for the domain that do not have any traffic, weak keywords nd are abandoned, the 50K figure does not mean anything.

How much of that traffic is actually useful?

MajestySEO

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