7 Alternate Traffic Sources to Reduce Your Dependency on Google

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The past 12 months have been extremely turbulent for anyone involved in search engine optimization. Google’s algorithm updates, including the infamous Helpful Content Update (HCU) have been more frequent, more severe, and wider-reaching than they were just a few years ago.

With so many sites losing huge percentages of their traffic, lots of website owners and companies are looking for new ways to attract visitors. While diversification has always been important, the need is now more obvious than ever.

Of course, it’s possible that future Google updates could restore rankings and traffic to some of the sites that have been negatively impacted, but it’s pretty obvious that SEO has significantly and permanently changed, especially for content-based sites. That’s not to say that you should give up on SEO, but working to establish other traffic sources should be a top priority.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the best options for getting traffic without SEO, or at least supplementing your organic search traffic.

1. Email List

Regardless of what traffic generation methods you pursue, you should be building an email list. A strong email list is an incredibly valuable asset regardless of whether you monetize your site with ads, affiliate programs, e-commerce, services, or anything else.

Search engines and social media platforms make algorithm changes and business model adjustments that impact users. Google can deindex your site and take away all of your search traffic overnight. Facebook could ban your page and wipe out your traffic.

The appeal of an email list is that you own your list, and you can reach your subscribers at any time without relying on another platform. (That’s the common logic, but it’s not entirely true. Anyone who was involved in email marketing when Google introduced the “Promotions” tab in Gmail knows that outside forces can impact your reach with email as well, even if it’s not as common as an algorithm update.)

A responsive email list can send traffic to your site and, more importantly, generate revenue. Here are a few keys to success with an email list.

Improve Your Conversion Rate

Continually working to improve your conversion rate will help you get as many subscribers as possible. A higher conversion rate directly translates to more people engaging with your content and becoming loyal followers. Of course, there are many ways to improve conversion rates, but here are a few specific options:

• Use Popups: Implementing timed or exit-intent popups can capture visitors’ attention, increasing the chances of converting them into subscribers. I use ConvertBox to easily create effective popups and optin forms.
• Implementing Quizzes: You can use engaging quizzes to grow your list faster than ever. Use QuizWizard to create custom quizzes relevant to your readers and then require an email address to see the quiz results.
• Offering Valuable Freebies: Providing free resources like eBooks, cheat sheets, or exclusive content incentivizes visitors to subscribe to your mailing list.
• Creating Engaging Landing Pages: Design dedicated landing pages with compelling headlines, clear calls-to-action (CTAs), and minimal distractions to encourage visitors to sign up. ConvertKit makes it easy to create landing pages using a variety of templates.
• A/B Testing: Regularly test different elements of your sign-up forms and landing pages, such as CTA buttons, images, and copy, to determine what resonates best with your audience. ConvertBox has excellent A/B testing capabilities.

Create Compelling Content

Consistently provide valuable content to your subscribers. Whether you email your list daily, weekly, or at some other frequency, you’ll need to keep them engaged and interested in your emails. High-quality content encourages readers to click through to your website.

Increase Email Frequency

In response to the drop in organic search traffic, some marketers have increased the frequency of their emails. More frequent emails can be very effective if the emails are engaging and your subscribers care enough about the topic.

2. Facebook

It’s kind of funny how the general opinion of Facebook as a traffic source has changed. For years, many marketers have said that Facebook is a waste of time for traffic generation, but now that getting (and holding on to) organic search traffic is more challenging than ever, Facebook has regained popularity as a reliable traffic source.

Undoubtedly, some digital marketers and brands are doing extremely well with Facebook. However, it’s not as simple as using Facebook to promote the same content you created to rank in Google searches.

Like other social media platforms, Facebook tends to reward certain types of traffic. Content should be entertaining, inspiring, or attention-grabbing. Hobbies and other topics that people are passionate about tend to do well on Facebook.

Here’s an approach that can work very well with the right content:

1. Run page like ads to grow an audience quickly. Organic reach on Facebook (the percentage of your followers who see your content) tends to be low, so you’ll need to get a lot of people to like your page. Ad campaigns are the best option.
2. Share engaging content. Simply dropping links to your content won’t do. You need to use attention-grabbing images and brief text that encourages engagement (likes, comments, shares, and clicks). You can use Strevio to spy on your competitors and see what content works for them.
3. Increase posting frequency. Post to your Facebook page several times daily to maximize traffic and get the best results. You can reshare content that does well.

👉 If you want to learn how to get traffic from Facebook, I recommend the Facebook for Niche Sites course. It covers a straightforward approach in a logical way (I’m in the process of implementing it for one of my sites now).

3. Pinterest

Pinterest can be an excellent source of traffic, but it works better for some niches than others. Crafty, DIY content tends to do very well on Pinterest, but anything that is visual has strong potential.

The downside to Pinterest, in my opinion, is that you may need to create or design a lot of images, which takes time. You can outsource the work to a VA or social media manager, but be sure to hire someone with a proven track record on Pinterest.

On the positive side, Pinterest can be a relatively stable long-term traffic source, especially compared to other social media platforms. And it also has the potential to send a large volume of traffic.

If your website or business involves a visual topic, Pinterest is an obvious choice.

📌 To learn more, I recommend The Golden Compass to Pinterest Traffic, created by Ling from Finsavvy Panda. Ling has been crushing Pinterest for years, and she uses it to get traffic to several sites in different niches.

4. Reddit

Is there a more polarizing traffic source than Reddit?

Reddit has the potential to generate huge amounts of traffic, but you have to familiarize yourself with the platform and play by the rules, or you’ll be banned in a heartbeat.

One of the nice things about Reddit is there are subreddits (communities focused on a specific topic) that cover absolutely anything you can imagine, and a lot of stuff you’d never imagine. Reddit isn’t like Pinterest or other platforms that tend to favor particular niches. You can use Reddit to promote just about any type of website or business.

Each subreddit has its own rules, and you’ll need to follow them carefully. Warnings aren’t very common on Reddit. If you mess up and break the rules, you’re likely to be banned from the subreddit.

Most subreddits have rules against self-promotion, so you can’t simply drop a link to your latest blog post in these communities. Promoting your site or content on Reddit requires a more indirect approach. For example, you might write an informative or inspiring post and casually include a link to your content somewhere in the post or at the end. Some subreddits have rules against this, but others are ok with links as long as your post provides value.

Another option is to promote your site in a thread’s comments. In fact, the biggest traffic day ever for Flip My Site came from a simple Reddit comment. The key is to find posts before they go viral, add some value with your comment, and include a link to your site. For example, your comment and link might answer a question or piggyback on the topic of the post.

I’ve used Reddit at times in the past for a few different sites, and it can work very well. Every time, I eventually stop using it because I don’t enjoy the platform and would rather spend my time somewhere else. But there’s no doubt that Reddit has outstanding potential for traffic generation.

5. Flipboard

Flipboard is a social media platform much smaller than the ones already mentioned, but it offers excellent traffic potential. I discovered Flipboard accidentally several years ago when I noticed a spike in traffic for one of my blogs. Today, Flipboard seems to be more popular with marketers than ever, and it makes sense as an alternative to search traffic.

Flipboard is like Pinterest in some ways but different in others. Like Pinterest, it’s a visual platform with content organized by categories (you create “boards” on Pinterest, but they’re called “magazines” on Flipboard).

Unlike Pinterest, you don’t need to create custom images or graphics to promote your content on Flipboard. Your flips simply use the featured image from your content, which saves a lot of time compared to designing custom graphics.

Establishing traffic on Flipboard does take some time, as you’ll need to build up your audience an attract followers by curating magazines with interesting content. However, it can be faster than the traditional approach of building an audience via Google search traffic.

While I’ve used Flipboard casually for several years, I just started diving into it seriously for a new site I started last month. So far, the results have been very good, and I’m optimistic about what’s possible.

If you’re interested in growing traffic from Flipboard, try these resources:

• Brilliant Bloggers (Slack community with Flipboard sharing groups)
• Flipboard User Group (Facebook group)
• The Insiders (Facebook group)

6. Paid Traffic

Everyone wants organic search traffic because it’s quality traffic for free, but don’t ignore the potential of paid traffic. Of course, paid traffic comes at a cost. However, there are some significant benefits:

• You don’t rely on search or social media algorithms
• You can turn it on and off whenever you want
• You can scale up and grow quickly
• You can learn more about your audience

Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and other paid traffic sources have always been popular for selling products, but you can also use ads simply to drive traffic, even if you’re not selling anything.

A growing number of site owners and marketers use an arbitrage approach to profit by earning more from ads or affiliate programs than they spend on traffic.

Of course, ads can also be extremely effective for growing an email list, leading to even more traffic in the future.

7. Affiliates

This one isn’t talked about very much as a traffic generation method, but it’s an approach I followed for several years (until I sold the sites). If you sell products, you can set up an affiliate program and allow others to earn money by promoting your products. You can use this approach with digital or physical products, but I like digital products because of the possibility to promote freebies.

The approach I used with my sites was to create freebies and allow affiliates to promote the freebies with their affiliate link. When the affiliate refers a visitor who winds up purchasing a product (you can use funnels to increase conversion rates), they earn a commission.

Most bloggers and social media users are much more likely to promote a freebie than a paid product. If you have some affiliates with large, established audiences, you can get a lot of traffic to your free resource and leverage that to grow an email list and sell your premium products.

Platforms like ThriveCart make it easy to set up an affiliate program.

What’s Your Strategy?

All of these options have the potential to generate plenty of traffic. What’s right for you depends on the details of your website and business.

Regardless of what you choose, don’t rely exclusively on one traffic source. It’s ok to focus on growing one at a time so you can master a platform and get the best results, but be ready to move on and establish another traffic source once you’ve succeeded with the first.