Why your content isn’t getting traffic from Google and ChatGPT

I recently asked my audience what their biggest challenges are when it comes to SEO and marketing their business, and a couple of things were super common. Most of the people who responded said they’re creating content, but they get very little traffic from Google and none from AI search like ChatGPT. 

 

I bet there’s a good chance you can relate to this. You’re doing what you’ve been taught and creating content on a regular basis, but Google and ChatGPT don’t seem to care about it at all because no one is finding it. You may find yourself asking, why isn’t my content getting organic traffic (or traffic from Google) despite regular posting?

 

And, that’s really frustrating, isn’t it? It’s hard to keep moving forward and doing the things that we’re told work when it seems like they don’t work for us.

 

So why is it that they’re creating content but not getting traffic?

 

Are you creating the right content for your audience?

 

Creating content regularly is important, but creating the right content is even more important. I always recommend my students write one new blog post each week, but if you can’t do that, I’d rather you create one great piece per month instead of pushing to create four pieces that aren’t very good just to check “create content” off your task list.

 

So think for a minute about the content that you’re creating. Is it helpful to your reader? Are you answering their questions? Are you providing value? Is there information in your piece that they can’t get somewhere else?

 

If you are creating generic content that’s not unique or super helpful, you’re likely not going to get much visibility from Google or AI-based search because it’s not really anything different than what every other website already has covered.

 

Your first step is to look at the content you’re creating and ask yourself, is this really helpful to the reader? Are they going to benefit from reading this? Can they get this information from another website, or am I sharing a unique perspective? Google grades content using a set of signals called E-E-A-T. These stand for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. If your content doesn’t share these types of things, Google really doesn’t want to share it with searchers.

 

This is why it’s important to write about topics that you are very experienced with, share insights, include anecdotes, etc. to make your content special and unique, and not the same as everyone else’s version of the same topic.

 

If you’re creating good content that’s helpful to your audience, and you’re still not getting traffic, then it’s not content quality causing the issue. It’s probably content optimization or visibility causing the issue.

 

Are people interested in the topics you’re writing about?

 

Another reason your content might not get traffic is if you’re writing about topics that no one is interested in.

 

I don’t see this as the issue often, but every once in a while, it can happen. If you’re not sure if there’s an audience for the content you’re creating, spend a few minutes on Google and ChatGPT searching for information that’s similar to what you cover.

 

When I teach SEO, I teach my students and clients to use keyword research to help shape our content strategy, so we make sure that the pieces we create are things that our audience is searching for, and then we make sure they’re high-quality and helpful to them, so they want to read.

What does content optimization have to do with website traffic?

 

If you’re creating content that’s helpful and provides value for your reader, but you’re still not getting traffic, then it’s likely that you need to optimize that content for the search engines.

 

The search engines need you to help them understand what your content is about and who to show it to.

 

If you’re like 90% of the people who responded to the survey, you’re trying to do SEO on your website and blog, but you’re not sure if it’s working. I’ll be honest, if it were working, you’d know, you wouldn’t be struggling to get traffic to the content you’re creating.

 

 

Are you doing SEO on the content you’re creating?

If you’re creating content on a regular basis and it’s not getting traffic, you’ve likely missed the most critical piece, and that’s SEO.

 

SEO, or search engine optimization, is how you get your content in front of the right people.

 

In my experience, a lack of SEO or incorrect SEO is the reason that people create content and don’t get traffic to it most of the time. I very seldom see issues where the content isn’t a topic people are interested in or it’s low quality so the search engines won’t show it to people. It doesn’t mean that those things don’t happen, because I’ve seen both situations over the years with new students who’ve joined me in Simple SEO Content because they weren’t sure what to do to get traffic to their content. But most often, it’s that the SEO is either missing completely or is incorrect.

 

If you’re trying to do SEO on your own, it’s probably not working

 

I don’t say this to be mean. I say this because after teaching SEO to entrepreneurs for almost a decade now, I can tell you that most people who are trying to do this on their own aren’t doing it right.

 

In my reader survey, 52% of the people said they were actively working on SEO for their websites. And yet, 50% also said, I’m creating content, but it’s not getting any traffic, and I don’t know why. My friends, if you’re creating content, trying to do SEO on it, and you’re not getting traffic, you’re doing something wrong. It’s that simple.

 

If you find yourself wondering, how can I improve my content’s search engine ranking… it’s pretty simple, by doing proper SEO on it. In my experience, content that doesn’t rank on the search engines either has no SEO on it, incorrect SEO, or uses a keyword that the site won’t rank for.

 

If you are doing SEO and it’s working, you’ll know it because the content you create will be getting traffic. You’ll see both organic traffic and referral traffic (from ChatGPT and Perplexity) in your analytics reports.

 

How much website traffic do you get from Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity each month?

 

 

If you want traffic to the content you create, you need to do SEO the right way

 

I’ve asked over 2,000 people who’ve gone through the free SEO class what they’re trying to do for SEO, and 45% of them are choosing keywords. And yet, 95% of those who are trying to do SEO on their own aren’t seeing results. They’re not seeing their websites rank at the top of Google for anything other than their business name, and they’re not showing up in ChatGPT when searching for phrases or keywords that are related to their business. So there’s a breakdown.

 

If you’re choosing keywords but you’re not ranking at the top of Google or showing up in ChatGPT when folks search for those words or phrases, something is broken with your SEO implementation.

 

Don’t keep trying to do it yourself. Join me in Simple SEO Content and learn once and for all what to do so that the content you create gets traffic. I’ll teach you how to choose the right keywords and where to use them so that you have a better chance of getting traffic from Google and ChatGPT. I get traffic from both every month, as do my 1:1 clients and students. Let’s make it work for you too.