How To Reduce Your Dependency On Google Search Traffic
Despite how turbulent things have been with Google lately, there’s one fact that remains true.
We can’t ignore Google for traffic. The potential for acquiring traffic and customers is just too vast.
But it’s also true that we can’t rely on it either.
So, what’s the answer?
We’ve got to develop other marketing channels & implement new strategies so the next algo update won’t hit quite so hard.
In this post, I’ll show you exactly where to focus your efforts so you can reduce your reliance on Google Search Traffic.
Let’s get into it.
Focus on building your email list
The first and most crucial step is to find a way to capitalize on the traffic you’re getting now and whatever other traffic you can drive to your website in the future.
What is the best way to do that? Build an email list.
Now, chances are that you’ve seen a bunch of articles saying that email marketing is dead.
These articles are purely clickbait written by people who have no clue what they’re talking about. They are blithering idiots.
The truth?
Everything we do online requires an account. Each account requires that we sign up with an email address. So, there are more than 4.8 billion email accounts worldwide.
The majority of people on our little blue planet have an email account.
Email marketing is clearly still viable. More difficult than it was 10 years ago, sure. But the data still suggests that conversions from email marketing are still far higher than any other channel.
And there are a bunch of other great things about building an email list:
- It’s personal and immediate.
- You can build a list of people who want to hear what you have to say.
- You control the email list. No social media algo or search algos can wipe it out.
So, it’s time to start building your email list. If you have started already, you need to be asking yourself what you can do to accelerate growth & get more of the right people on your list.
Notice that I didn’t simply say “more people” – that’s not the way to do this. More people won’t help you. You need more people who want email updates from you.
Next steps: First, you’ll need to get yourself an email newsletter tool. I’d recommend MailerLite specifically. It’s a solid option because they offer a free plan with most of the features you’ll need. The UI is pretty slick, too, but most importantly, they offer industry-leading email delivery rates.
Then, put together some sort of offer or lead magnet to encourage people to join your list. This could take the form of a discount on a product or some kind of exclusive content.
Finally, you’ll need to add opt-in forms to strategic locations on your website. In-content forms, slide-ins, popovers, and ribbon-style forms tend to convert best. If you go for popovers, make sure they’re triggered using exit intent.
Increase engagement through your email list
Once you’ve got your email list, you need to maintain it.
This means regularly emailing your list so your subscribers don’t forget who you are. You’ve got to build a relationship and keep building it.
It’s all about building a bond between you and your subscribers. Trust is essential.
You’ll need to pack as much value into the emails that you send to your subscribers so they’re constantly reminded that it’s a good idea to stay subscribed.
However, you’ll need to balance this informative and engaging content with promotional content.
While having an email list full of people who only want to consume your free content isn’t a bad thing, you’re running a business.
Depending on how your business is configured, it may be enough to simply use your email list as a vehicle to promote your content without any consideration of driving sales.
But not every business has that luxury. So, consider how you can use your email list to drive sales whilst delivering valuable free content.
And if you’re a content creator, you’ll need to be thinking of other ways you can monetize your list. This could include solo ads, sponsorships, affiliate offers, your own products, and anything else you can think of.
Next steps: Create a stockpile of content you can send to your email subscribers, then use it to build out an automation sequence. Evergreen content works best for this and you can repurpose content from your blog if necessary.
The idea is that you can keep building trust with your audience & building your business whilst working on other things. Each new subscriber will start at the beginning and receive every email in that sequence.
You’ll also want to block out time to send a regular newsletter to your subscribers. You could do this weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. It just needs to be regular.
Double down on your YouTube channel
Whenever you find search engine market share being discussed, you’ll typically be looking at data from traditional search engines. Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc.
However, this data doesn’t compare against non-traditional search engines. Platforms that aren’t thought of as a search engine, but they offer a search function.
YouTube is one such platform. In fact, it is the second most popular search engine.
And it has a few other things going for it:
- A huge built-in audience to which your videos can be recommended.
- Google is pushing videos heavily in organic search, which means even more potential views for your content.
- You can generate revenue directly from YouTube through ads and memberships.
Some content creators and publishers have had so much success with YouTube that it has surpassed whatever leads and revenue generated directly from organic search.
But there are some problems:
Videos are more costly to create, they take more time, and you can’t edit them once they’re done. That’s it. Or you’ll have to revisit your video editor and publish a new video.
Then there’s the camera gear, audio, and microphones to figure out. You’ll need to look into lighting, and how to get the best from the environment you’ll be shooting in.
I’m still quite early on in my YouTube journey, but it’s been a wild learning curve. And I’ve still got so much to learn.
My biggest regret? Avoiding YouTube. Written content is my thing, and I’ve always resisted working on videos. I just wish I’d pushed through sooner. Maybe about 5-10 years sooner.
Still, there’s no better time than now!
Next steps: Figure out how you’ll approach your videos and get the gear you need. You’ll need a good camera, memory cards, a tripod, a photography light, and a microphone. I use a DJI wireless microphone for convenience. Then, start filming and get comfortable with the process.
Once you’re ready to edit, you have plenty of options. Online tools like Kapwing offer a simple editing experience with a smaller learning curve than most software. Alternatively, you can use the free version of Da Vinci Resolve. There is a pro version, but you should be able to do everything you need with the free version.
Then, once you’re comfortable, start putting together a list of video ideas. Start with some YouTube keyword research using a tool like Keyword Tool and mix in some videos on trending topics. You’ll need to optimize your videos by saying your target keyword in the first 10 seconds of the video, including tags, etc. Then, get your video live and promote it!
Get in on the growing TikTok SEO trend
TikTok for SEO? Who’d have thought that? I certainly wouldn’t.
But it’s a thing.
TikTok has a vast audience, and its users are using it more and more as a platform to search for information. So, TikTok SEO is becoming more of a thing.
And its algorithm is more generous than the likes of Instagram or Facebook.
For example, when I first started learning to ride freestyle BMX, I posted a handful of videos on a new TikTok account.
With less than 10 followers, I was able to get over 5,700 views on a video of me attempting to bunny hop for the first time.
Meanwhile, on my guitar-related account with a similar number of followers, I regularly logged over 1,000 views on videos of me doing nothing more than opening guitar cases.
And for live videos, I’ve seen folks with a handful of followers live-streaming local events to well over 30,000 people.
So, even if you were to just repurpose content from your other social platforms directly to TikTok, there’s a lot of potential here.
But if you go down the TikTok SEO route, you’ll be able to ensure that your videos get a more steady stream of views over the long term.
Now, it’s not going to drive the same amount of traffic to your website as Google. Nowhere near, but it’s well worth doing.
Next steps: Start off by putting together a dedicated TikTok strategy. Research to find competitors that are doing well and identify what’s working for them. Then, identify what they aren’t doing. This is where the opportunities are. As Hondo would say, “Stay liquid and fill the gaps.” – that’s what you’ll need to do here.
For the SEO side of things, use a tool like Keyword Tool to research keywords on TikTok and create videos around those keywords. You’ll need to include those keywords in voiceovers, captions, text overlays, hashtags, and descriptions.
Launch your own digital products
For a lot of content-based sites, display ads, sponsorships, and affiliate marketing are go-to revenue strategies.
But when you rely on Google Search for traffic, your revenue can fluctuate massively when algo updates roll out.
They can also fluctuate massively regardless of whether an algo update is rolling out or not. Just as Semrush Sensor has shown for the past 30 days. This is insane:
This is a challenge, and you can overcome it by launching your own digital products.
If your products are good enough, your existing customers will help you sell your products through recommendations.
It also provides a revenue stream that you have more direct control over, and you’ll get all of the revenue from each sale. Aside from a small processing fee that goes to your ecommerce platform or payment provider (e.g. Stripe).
You also have the option of launching products in third-party marketplaces. These sites will take a cut of your revenue but provide access to their customer base. You can strategically use sales on these platforms to build your email list and get your customers over to a platform you have control over.
Try to avoid selling your products on external platforms that require exclusivity because you don’t want to be sending your existing audience over to a third-party platform to buy a product where the platform takes a huge cut or they potentially buy competing products instead.
Always have your own store that your existing audience can buy from.
Next steps: First, you’ll need to figure out which types of products your audience would benefit from. Then, create a plan for a series of products that all lead into each other. Think of this like your sales funnel.
Your first product should be top-level and be designed to get people into the funnel. You could use a free product for this (e.g., lead magnet) or both. So, your free product would be offered on the front end of your website, and the paid product would be offered as an ebook on a platform like Amazon.
Your next product should be a flagship course. You can follow that up with additional courses or mini-courses if it makes sense.
You can create a simple store using Sellfy. You can use this to sell any paid ebooks or subscriptions directly to your audience. For courses, I’d recommend Thinkific. And if you use WordPress, I’d recommend building your sales funnel & landing pages with OptimizePress. It’s packed with templates for all sorts of sales funnels.
Then, you’ll need to build this all into your email marketing tool of choice. Most of them will have automation functionality built in.
Offer an industry-leading affiliate program
There’s another reason why I suggested creating your own products.
Instead of being the affiliate of another brand or content creator, you launch your own affiliate program.
Then, you’ll have other content creators putting a shift in to promote your product to their audience.
You’ll grow your audience and make sense as a result.
But here’s the deal:
You’ll need to give affiliates free access to your product(s) and offer competitive commission rates.
And when I say competitive, I really mean it. You can’t just say the words on a page on your website despite competitors offering better terms and expect that people won’t catch on.
I get this a lot with SaaS brands I’ve promoted as an affiliate in the past. They use terms like “industry-leading commission rates” and then offer way lower than everyone else.
Related reading: SaaS SEO: A Scalable Process You Can Use To Rank Faster
It’s also important to understand that creators will have to put a lot of work into promoting your product. They’ll only get paid when they make a sale, so if your offer doesn’t convert well, they may be deterred from supporting your products in the future.
So, be generous with commission rates but also ensure that there’s enough margin to make your business sustainable.
Next steps: Ensure that whatever platform you use to sell your products offers the ability to launch your own affiliate program. Or integrates with an external affiliate platform. Both Sellfy and Thinkific have this feature built-in. Then, draft out your affiliate terms, create a partnership page on your site, and start recruiting affiliates.
Focus on the metrics that matter most
Everyone needs a north star metric. But traffic probably shouldn’t be the one you choose.
Sure, traffic is an easy metric to track, but it is not the most critical metric.
If you know exactly how well your site converts, traffic can be a more meaningful metric, but most businesses aren’t that simple.
Instead, use profit or revenue as your north star metric.
That way, you’ll be more clued into whether or not your marketing activities are moving the right needles or not.
The question should never have been, “how can I get more traffic?” – it should always have been, “how can I grow revenue?”
After all, traffic has always been and always will be a means to an end.
And definitely don’t chase engagement as a metric. That way lies madness.
Next steps: Start off by looking at each specific channel that can generate revenue for your business. You need to understand the ROI of each channel. That will show you what to focus on. From there, find what works and do more of it.
Squeeze more profit from your existing traffic
When website traffic decreases, what you do with that traffic becomes more important.
So, now is the time to get everything you can out of all you’ve got.
This means optimizing your website for conversions. You need every touch point on your website to convert better than it did before.
Your opt-in forms need to convert better, your landing pages need to convert better, your sales pages need to convert better, and so do your checkout pages.
Even the structure of your content needs to convert better.
Every part of your sales funnel needs to work harder.
Next steps: Exactly how you tackle this will depend on your business and your tech stack. You can use heatmap tools like Mouseflow to identify issues with your content. Use this as your starting point to form a hypothesis.
Your hypothesis is just a theory as to what’s stopping your page from converting or could make it convert better. Once you have that figured out, you’ll need to run A/B tests to test your hypothesis.
VWO is a solid option for A/B testing, but other tools will have this feature built-in. For example, OptimizePress included its own A/B testing tool, some opt-in form tools have the feature, and MailerLite does too. So, you can even test your headlines & email content if you like.
Build a strong network of contacts
You grow faster and stronger when you’re part of a network of like-minded people who can support each other.
So, surround yourself with people who want to grow their business and are happy to help you grow yours, too.
You can help each other with things like:
- Finding affiliate partners
- Link building
- Advice + insights
- Business opportunities
- Promoting your products and/or content
The important part of this process is that you’ve got to be committed to helping each other. This isn’t a case of taking what you can. It’s the giver’s gain.
Next steps: Join a mix of online and offline groups. Try to find other business owners that are happy to help you. And you’ll help them in return. It could be as basic as free advice on something specific. Or something more revenue-driven. You’ll want to aim to find non-competing business owners to network with where possible.
Become the go-to resource for your industry
I’ve left this one till last because it’s not easy to do. It takes a lot of time and effort.
You need to become the resource that people go to for answers in your industry. You need to be top of mind when news breaks.
This means staying on top of trends and breaking news.
You’ll need to be the first (or one of the first) to publish content on these topics. As such, you’ll find that your content gets more traction because those topics will be uncontested.
Whether people are searching on Google, YouTube, TikTok, or some other platform – you need to be the one they find.
The key is to become the source of news rather than covering other sources. It isn’t easy to pull off, but it’s worth the effort.
If you time things right, you will be the one who gets quoted in both mainstream and industry news publications.
Then, as a result, you’ll see your audience grow. Your search engine traffic will grow, too. Especially with all those juicy links!
Next steps: Block out some time each day that you can dedicate to scouring social media platforms and news sites. Ideally, you will need to publish the news before it’s happened. Breaking stories is better than chasing them. As soon as you find a viable topic to cover, you’ll need to drop everything else and cover that story asap. One content medium is good, but multiple mediums, including a blog post, long-form video, and short-form video, will offer more reach.
Final thoughts
It’s been a painful time for site owners. Google’s updates have hit small site owners hard, but they’ve also hit large sites too.
I’ve seen millions of monthly visitors wiped off some large sites. And some sites go from 100,000 visitors per month to just under 5,000 per month.
Google’s shaking up the pot. And while they’d likely say these traffic losses are because these sites are publishing “unhelpful content” – that’s not the case.
But, the potential traffic from Google Search is massive. So, now isn’t the time to give up.
It is, however, the time to develop other channels and build a stronger brand that is capable of enduring whatever Google throws at us.
This is the way.
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