What is Website Traffic? Does Buying Traffic Improve SEO?
Understanding Traffic and Its Role in SEO
Traffic refers to the number of visitors that come to your website within a certain period. The traffic on a website can come from various sources, such as Direct (direct access to the website), Social (through social media links), Referral (from external sources without using search engines, including backlinks), and more.
In SEO, traffic plays a crucial role in how search engines evaluate websites. A website with engaging content will often attract more visitors, indicating to search engines that the site is valuable. Consequently, search engines use this metric to assess and rank websites appropriately.
Should You Buy Traffic for Your Website?
When starting with new websites, it becomes evident why many people explore and use services to buy traffic. Even if you've meticulously managed your website, its young age means it hasn't yet gained attention from search engines. New websites often see minimal traffic, and waiting for organic traffic growth can be a long and uncertain process.
Therefore, buying traffic is seen as a necessary choice for new websites. This practice involves purchasing visits to increase traffic metrics quickly, making it easier to improve SEO rankings.
However, is buying traffic a surefire way to top search engine rankings? Is all traffic equally effective, or are there specific requirements?
Characteristics of Quality Traffic
Whether you purchase traffic or attract it naturally, it is considered quality traffic if it demonstrates the following characteristics:
High Onsite Time:
Onsite time measures how long a user stays on your website from entry to exit. Higher onsite time indicates that users find your content valuable and engaging. Poor content will lead to users exiting the site quickly, resulting in low onsite time. Poor content might include overly short articles that fail to capture readers' interest.
Low Bounce Rate:
Bounce rate is calculated by dividing the number of users who remain on your site after reading an initial article by the number of users who leave your site after reading the initial article. This rate helps search engines evaluate the relevance and appeal of your entire website. If users leave after reading just one article, it suggests that the keywords on your site have low relevance.
Organic Traffic and Diverse User Base:
Organic traffic refers to naturally occurring visits from search engines. If your site has organic traffic, it indicates that your brand is recognized and sought after on search engines. This is a crucial factor for search engines in ranking websites and assessing their potential.
To achieve this naturally, you need a clear keyword strategy for your website content, regularly publish articles in your field, build relevant backlinks with high DR (Domain Rating), DA (Domain Authority), TF (Trust Flow), CF (Citation Flow), and PA (Page Authority) scores, and consistently share your content on large social network platforms.
Evaluating Purchased Traffic
If you decide to buy traffic, it's essential to assess whether the traffic has positive metrics. Does it ensure high onsite time, a low bounce rate, and include organic traffic? Buying high-quality traffic can positively impact your SEO efforts, whereas poor-quality natural traffic can harm your website's ranking on search engines.