How to Skyrocket Your Website Traffic in 3 Months

In 3 Months: From “About to Shut Down” to 3 Million Impressions + 120,000 Clicks

A friend of mine has a website she’s been running for a year.

There was plenty of content, and she had spent money on it too —
but it was only getting around 2,000 impressions per month.

Her exact words were:

“Maybe I should just give up.
This site feels like it’s never going to work.”

I took over.

I didn’t change the product,
didn’t change the domain,
didn’t run ads.

I only redid one thing:

the underlying logic of search traffic.

Three months later, Google Search Console showed:

• 3.75 million impressions
• 147,000 clicks
• Average position: 7.4

In this article, I’m laying out the entire methodology I used —
plus step-by-step actions you can copy directly.

Part 1: Building a Keyword System (This Is Where Everything Starts)

❌ Most people fail at SEO not because their content is bad
❌ but because the keywords they chose were doomed from the start

Core Principle (Mindset First)

It’s not about “finding keywords.”

It’s about building a keyword system.

A healthy keyword system must include all three:

• Keywords that can gain traction quickly
• Keywords that scale in the mid-term
• Keywords that capture long-term traffic dividends

Step 1: Start From a “Demand Pool,” Not From Tools

Before using any tools, I always do one thing first:

I list five types of questions users genuinely search for:

1. What is it (What is / How does it work)
2. How to do it (How to)
3. Comparisons (X vs Y / Best X)
4. Problems (Why / Fix / Error)
5. Decision-making (Pricing / Alternatives / Reviews)

👉 This step determines whether the keywords you uncover later
are worth clicking, or nobody clicks them at all.

Step 2: Bulk Keyword Mining (Never Rely on Just One Tool)

Method 1: Google Keyword Planner (Free, and Great for Early Growth)

Process:

1. Open Google Keyword Planner
   ads.google.com → Tools → Keyword Planner

2. Enter action-oriented core keywords

   • ❌ Don’t use: ecommerce
   • ✅ Use: build an online store / start an ecommerce website

3. Export all keyword results

Why not use broad, generic terms?

Because the data Google provides for broad terms is based on an advertising perspective,
which is almost useless for SEO.

Method 2: Google Suggest + People Also Ask (Often Overlooked)

This is my key method for finding long-tail keywords:

1. Search for your main keyword on Google

2. Record:

   • Autocomplete (Suggest)

I recommend using this tool: https://keywordtool.io/
It generates a large number of keyword suggestions using autocomplete data from multiple platforms.

• People Also Ask
• Related Searches at the bottom of the page

👉 These keywords share one thing in common:
They are actually searched by real users, and their search intent is very clear.

Method 3: Competitor Keyword Reverse Engineering (Most Efficient)

• Use Semrush → Enter competitor domain

• Go to Organic Keywords → Sort by:

  • Position 6–20
  • Search volume ≥ 100

👉 What do these keywords indicate?

They show:

“Google already recognizes this content structure, but there is no ‘optimal solution’ yet.”

Method 4: Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

This is an efficient way to generate, classify, and filter keywords in bulk:

1. Open Semrush → Keyword Magic Tool

2. Enter your core keywords (action-oriented or demand-driven)

3. Classify by intent or topic:

   • Informational
   • Commercial
   • Transactional

4. Set search volume and keyword difficulty (KD) filters:

   • Search volume ≥ 100
   • KD ≤ 40 (easier to gain traction in the early stage)

Step 3: Keyword Selection Criteria (Don’t Only Look at Search Volume)

Filtering keywords by search volume alone is why many people fail at SEO.

My method is the Four-Dimensional Filtering Method, with specific standards for each dimension.

💡 Practical SERP Analysis Tips:

1. Use incognito mode to search first, to avoid personalized results interfering.
2. Analyze the top 10 results and record the distribution of result types.
3. Label the title, description, and URL type to see if your content has a potential entry point.
4. If the top 10 results are dominated by large e-commerce sites or high-authority brands, it means short-term growth will be difficult, so add the keyword to a mid- to long-term observation list.

Step 4: Keyword Tiering (The “Key Point”)

• KD 15–25 (Month 1)
  👉 Quickly gain rankings → send positive signals to Google

• KD 25–35 (Month 2)
  👉 Scale traffic → build topic authority

• KD 35–45 (Month 3)
  👉 Target industry-level keywords → capture large-scale traffic

⚠️ The order is important; if you skip steps, a new site may fail to rank.

Final Deliverable:
An Excel sheet with the following fields:

• Keyword
• Search Volume
• KD
• Intent
• Corresponding Page Type

Part 2: Competitor Analysis (Not Copying, but “Finding Weak Spots”)

The core goal of competitor analysis:

Identify areas they have validated but haven’t executed optimally, and then target those gaps precisely.

Step 1: Choose the Right Competitors (90% of people get this wrong)

❌ Don’t pick industry giants
✅ Pick sites with similar DA and existing organic traffic

Standard Procedure:

1. Tools: Semrush / Ahrefs / Moz

2. Select candidate competitors:

   • DA within ±10 of your site
   • Ranking keywords ≥ 1,000
   • Traffic sources match your target market

3. Data verification: Check their homepage / blog / product page traffic and whether their ranking keywords cover the core topics you plan to target

4. Final selection: Pick 3–5 competitors for deep-dive analysis

Step 2: Analyze Content Structure, Not Just Word Count

Goal: Make your content more usable and valuable, not just longer

Procedure:

1. Open the top 10 pages for your target keywords on competitor sites

2. Break down the content structure:

   • H1 / H2 / H3 hierarchy
   • Paragraph length, layout, images, tables, diagrams
   • CTA, downloadable resources, FAQ, case studies

3. Build a comparison table

Step 3: Identify “Beatable Opportunities”

Formula:

Opportunity = They are already ranking + Their content is not yet optimal

Steps:

1. Identify potential keywords:

   • Ranking 3–5 → low competition, decent traffic
   • Ranking 6–10 → potential turnaround opportunities

2. Compare content coverage:

   • Is there VS / Comparison / Contrast content?
   • Is localization, scenario-based, or audience-specific content missing?
   • Are in-depth details, charts, case studies, or actionable guides missing?

3. List optimization plans:

   • Add comparison tables / FAQ / case studies
   • Scenario-based examples: localization, industry or audience customization
   • Include downloadable resources or interactive tools to improve user experience

4. Prioritize:

   • Priority = Traffic Potential × Difficulty of Improvement

Step 4: Backlink Analysis → Decide Where to Gain Exposure (Semrush Practical Version)

Goal:

Don’t blindly build backlinks; instead, identify high-value sources your competitors have leveraged that you can reference or improve upon.

Steps:

1. Open Semrush → SEO → Backlink Gap

   • Enter your domain (You)
   • Enter 1–3 competitor domains
   • Click “Find Potential Opportunities”

2. Analyze results:

   • The tool will show three types of backlinks:

     1. Links both you and competitors have → you can reference the content format or expand relationships
     2. Links only competitors have, not you → this is your potential opportunity
     3. Links only you have, not competitors → consolidate your advantage and increase authority

3. Filter high-value links:

   • Focus on sources with high DA / high traffic / strong relevance
   • Exclude low-quality or spammy links
   • Mark as “priority targets”

4. Develop exposure strategy:

   • For high-value resource pages, industry blogs, news outlets:

     • Propose content collaboration / guest posts
     • Provide citable resources or tools

   • For social media or forums your competitors cover but you don’t:

     • Join relevant discussions
     • Provide unique insights or case studies

5. Execution:

   • Build a backlink opportunity sheet

   • Prioritize and execute exposure and content collaboration

Part 3: Content Creation

SEO is not about writing articles.
It’s about using content to “own a topic.”

1. Topic Cluster Construction

Goal: Cover the entire topic and establish authority

Steps:

1. List core topic keywords (3–5 most important)

2. Expand related long-tail keywords using Keyword Planner / Ahrefs / SEMrush / ChatGPT

3. Classify by search intent:

   • Informational: How to / What is / Guide
   • Comparison: vs / Best / Top
   • Transactional: Buy / Price / Cost

4. Generate a content hierarchy for each core keyword:

   • Core page = overview + table of contents
   • Supporting pages = one page per subtopic

5. Internal linking strategy:

   • Supporting pages link to the core page
   • Core page links to supporting pages + interlink supporting pages

💡 Tools: Ahrefs / SEMrush / SurferSEO / Excel (to build the content tree)

2. Page Role Definition

Goal: Ensure each page “knows its role,” increasing its crawl and ranking authority with search engines

3. AI-Assisted Content Creation

Goal: Efficiently generate structured content while retaining human judgment

Steps:

1. Outline Generation

   • Prompt: Generate the article structure covering What / Why / How / Compare / Mistakes / FAQ

2. Content Filling

   • AI generates the first draft
   • Manually supplement with exclusive data, case studies, and experience summaries
   • Verify logic, SEO keyword coverage, and formatting

3. Supplement Missing Questions

   • Sources: PAA / Related Searches / Reddit / Quora / Zhihu
   • Add new FAQ items or subtopic pages

💡 Tools: ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity + Ahrefs PAA / SurferSEO

4. Post-Publication Optimization (Secondary Engineering)

Goal: Increase traffic through optimization rather than creating new content

💡 Additional Tips:

• Use GA / GSC / heatmaps to monitor performance
• High CTR → Keep, Low CTR → Adjust title/meta description
• Top 3 ranking pages → Expand supporting pages to form a complete topic cluster

Part 4: Link Building (Accelerator, Not Foundation)

Key takeaway:

Backlinks are not “the more the better.” The right backlinks at the right stage to the right pages matter most.

I divide backlinks into four types, each with a clear purpose, and execute them in order.

1. Overall Backlink Strategy

In this project, the goal of backlinks was simple:

Push “high-potential” pages into the top 10 rankings faster.

So I only built backlinks to pages that meet at least one of these criteria:

• Already ranking in Google top 20
• Has stable impressions
• Is a core page in the keyword cluster

Method 1: Resource Backlinks (Most Stable, Controllable, Most Used)

This is my most recommended and cost-effective method.

Step 1: Create a “Link-Worthy Page”

• ❌ Not just an ordinary blog post
• ✅ Tool-focused / Data-driven / Aggregated content page
  Examples I’ve used:
• “200 Independent Site Tools (categorized by stage)”
• “Complete Cost Structure Analysis of Independent Sites 2024”
• “Common SaaS Tools Comparison Table for XX Industry”

📌 Judging criterion:

Would someone need to cite this page in their article?

Step 2: Find “Potential Linkers”
Formula I use:

site:blog OR site:resources
[Keyword] + "tools" / "guide" / "resources"

Then filter:

• Content relevance
• DA ≥ 20
• Updated in the last 6 months

👉 Usually yields 30–50 highly relevant sites

Step 3: Outreach Email
Template I often use:

Hi {{Name}},

I was reading your article on {{Article Title}} – very solid breakdown.

I noticed you mentioned {{Tool / Topic}}.
I recently put together a curated resource:
“{{Your Resource Title}}”

It includes {{specific value points: number / categories / data}}.
I’ve also referenced a few tools you mentioned.

If you think it’s useful, feel free to include it as an additional resource.

Best,
{{Your Name}}

Method 2: Forum & Community Backlinks

Core idea: Not about authority, but letting Google see real mentions in authentic contexts.

Step 1: Only choose “content-focused communities”

Examples I’ve used:

• Reddit (specific subreddits)
• Indie Hackers
• Industry forums (non-SEO forums)

Step 2: Behavioral Strategy

My rules:

• First 7 days: only answer questions, no links
• Post 2–3 high-quality replies per day
• Include experience, judgment, and trade-offs in answers

Once the account looks “human,” only post links when genuinely useful

Method 3: Competitor Backlink Mining (Efficient & Precise)

Core idea:

If they linked to competitors, they might link to you too.
Key: find highly relevant, high-authority, active sites

Step 1: Preparation

1. Select 3–5 top 10 ranking competitor pages (preferably core keyword pages)
2. Confirm page type: resource page / data page / tool page / industry guide

Step 2: Use Tools to Mine Backlinks

Recommended tools: SEMrush → Backlink Analytics, Ahrefs (optional), Majestic (optional)

Process:

1. Enter competitor domain or URL

2. Filter valid backlinks (DoFollow / DA≥20 / relevant content)

3. Export a list including:

   • Linking page URL
   • Target page (competitor page being linked)
   • Page AS

Step 3: Outreach Strategy

Similar to resource backlinks:

1. Present your resource as a value-added supplement
2. Specify where it can be referenced
3. Do not directly ask for a link; offer it as additional reference

Template:

Hi {{Name}},

I was exploring your article on {{Article Title}} and found it super helpful.

I noticed you referenced {{Competitor / Topic}}.
I recently published a resource:
“{{Your Resource Title}}”

It includes {{specific value points: data / tools / categories}}.
It could serve as an additional reference for your readers.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Best,
{{Your Name}}

Method 4: Partnerships & Brand Mentions

This is suitable for B2B / SaaS / tool sites

• Find 5–10 upstream and downstream tools

• Proactively propose:

  • Co-created content
  • Tool comparisons
  • Case studies

They usually mention you in:

• Blog posts
• Help Center / Knowledge Base
• Newsletters

Part 5: Technical SEO Audit

Goal: Ensure search engines can crawl, understand, and index your site, while improving user experience and page performance.

Great content alone cannot rank if technical issues exist.

1. Crawl & Index

Goal: Ensure all core pages are crawled and indexed

💡 Tip: Prioritize pillar pages and high-value supporting pages, avoid wasting crawl budget on low-value pages

2. Performance & UX

Goal: Improve page speed and mobile experience

💡 Tip: Optimize pillar pages first, then supporting pages in order of traffic

3. Structured Data / Schema

Goal: Help search engines understand page content and improve SERP appearance

💡 Tip: Prioritize core pages, supporting pages can be batch-processed

4. Internal Linking & URL Structure

Goal: Ensure internal link equity flows to core pages and URLs are clean and readable

5. Routine SEO Health Checks

💡 Tip: Conduct a full-site technical SEO audit quarterly, prioritize fixing core pages

6. Data Loop & Priority Strategy

1. Prioritization:

   • Tier 1: Pillar Pages + high-traffic supporting pages
   • Tier 2: FAQ / Comparison Pages

2. Toolset:

   • Screaming Frog / Sitebulb / Ahrefs → full-site crawl
   • GSC → index coverage
   • PageSpeed / Lighthouse → performance optimization
   • Google Rich Results Test → schema validation

3. Loop Process:

   • Technical optimization → content publishing → data monitoring → secondary optimization
   • Regular review, record issues in a sheet, track optimization completion