How to Increase Website Traffic Organically: 20 Ways to Get More Visitors (and Make Your Site Show Up on Google)

To increase website traffic organically: make sure Google can find and index your site, publish helpful content targeting what your audience searches, optimise titles, headings and internal links, refresh and expand pages that are close to ranking, earn backlinks and mentions, and distribute content through email, social media, YouTube and communities. Organic traffic grows steadily when you publish consistently and improve what already works.

First: make your website show up on Google

1. Add your site to Google Search Console and verify it
2. Submit your XML sitemap
3. Use URL Inspection to request indexing of key pages
4. Make sure pages aren't blocked by robots.txt or noindex
5. Ensure the site is mobile-friendly, fast and HTTPS
6. Create a Google Business Profile for local businesses (see How to create a Google Business page)

SEO and content strategies

7. Target low-competition questions your audience asks (see How to choose keywords for SEO)
8. One strong page per topic that fully answers the search intent
9. Optimise titles and meta descriptions for clicks (see What is a meta description?)
10. Improve "striking distance" pages ranking in positions 8–20 (see How to get on the first page of Google)
11. Refresh old content: update facts, add sections, improve structure
12. Internal links from high-traffic pages to important pages
13. Topic clusters: groups of related articles linking to a pillar page
14. Structured data for rich results (FAQ, Product, Review, Event)
15. Earn backlinks with linkable assets and PR (see How to build backlinks)

Distribution channels

16. Email newsletter sending readers to new content (see How to write a newsletter)
17. Social media: native posts and short videos with links where possible
18. YouTube: videos that link to related articles (see How to make great YouTube videos)
19. Communities: Reddit, LinkedIn groups, Quora, forums (help genuinely, follow rules)
20. Partnerships and guest content with complementary brands

Technical improvements that increase traffic

• Fix crawl errors and broken links
• Improve Core Web Vitals and page speed
• Consolidate duplicate or thin pages
• Use clean URL structures and breadcrumbs
• Ensure canonical tags are correct

How to improve site traffic quickly (paid options)

Organic growth takes time. For faster traffic:

• Google Ads for high-intent keywords
• Social ads with engaging creative (see How to advertise your business on Facebook)
• Remarketing to bring back visitors (see What is remarketing?)
• Sponsored newsletters and influencers

Measure traffic growth

Traffic only matters if it converts: pair growth with CRO (see What does CRO mean?).

Frequently asked questions

How do I increase website traffic organically?

Publish helpful content targeting what your audience searches, optimise on-page SEO, improve pages close to page one, build internal links and backlinks, and distribute content via email, social and video.

How do I make my website show up on Google?

Verify it in Google Search Console, submit a sitemap, request indexing, ensure pages aren't blocked, and create content that matches searches.

How long does it take to increase organic traffic?

Often three to six months for noticeable growth, depending on competition and publishing consistency.

What is the fastest way to get website traffic?

Paid ads, email to an existing list and social promotion are fastest; SEO builds sustainable traffic over time.

Does updating old content increase traffic?

Yes. Refreshing and expanding existing pages that already rank on pages one or two is one of the quickest organic wins.

Why is my website not getting traffic?

Common reasons include not being indexed, targeting overly competitive keywords, thin content, poor titles, technical issues and lack of promotion.