257k Views in 5 Years on my Book Blog | Case Study
I am running this book blog for past 5 years. Here is how I made the website’s traffic. Bookaapi Book Blog.
257000
Visitors
Background
5 years back I created my first blog on WordPress. On com, not on org.
I learned using WordPress, and realize that I need the org version. I migrated to .org.
Bookaapi is a book blog, where I write the book reviews. I wanted a website where I can publish my reviews and get free books in exchange. So I did.
For long time, I only published reviews. Got many free books and paid beta-reading projects.
Goals
- To bring the traffic to the website
- Try the SEO thing
- Check if I can plan and execute content
Primary Research
After researching the SERP, I knew that I cannot compete with:
- Professional bloggers
- Goodreads Reviews
- New York Times Reviews
- London Reviews
- Judy Reviews
- etc etc…
I did not compete on that front. Instead, I researched and found the gap on SERP.
Future Keyword Strategy
I call it Future Keywords. Maybe there is a more proficient name for this, that I don’t know.
In this Keyword Research Strategy, I find the keywords that are not popular yet, but will be in the future.
I create content for that keywords, and rank for it in present. When that topic becomes popular, my content is already ranking on that keyword.
I don’t have any study or stats to show that there is first mover advantages in SEO. But I observe it does.
If you are the early one to talk about the topic, Google will consider you an authority on that topic. You will find it easier to keep ranking on that topic, as your page will gain more authority with time.
What I did?
Content
- Future keyword research
- Long term keyword research
- Goodreads helps me in researching the upcoming popular books
Technical Solutions
- Fasten up the WordPress speed – It is on shared hosting, so I don’t do much.
- Added Book Review Schema and Content Table for quick-link
- Sitemaps, Search Console, Analytics everything basic
On Page SEO
- Exact keyword internal linking
- Internal links for all the blogs
- Keyword in heading, first paragraph and suitable places
Link Building
- Made some directory links (spam)
- HARO links (quality)
- Blogger outreach for interview links
Results:
- For a long time, no traffic came to these posts.
- But then the books went mainstream and I was already ranking
- Images in rich snippets and on top searches
More Case Studies?
I am not currently working on the blog, and took the old route — writing the book reviews.
But I work as growth hacker at ServerGuy, and I increase their traffic:
That’s it for now.
There are many keyword research strategies.
You have to play at your strength. Do not compete where competitor is strong.
I will share the Future Keyword Strategy in detail in a separate post.
Until then, you can subscribe to my blog.
