A few months ago, I caught up with an old friend—let’s call him Ryan—whom I hadn’t seen in years. Life had thrown him a curveball: after a tough breakup, he was back in the dating game for the first time in ages.

Determined to make a fresh start, he signed up for Tinder. He uploaded some photos, wrote a confident (but slightly cheesy) bio, and hit publish. Then he waited. Nothing. No matches. Was Tinder slow to update? Was his bio too much? He tweaked it – made it sharper, more intriguing. Still nothing. It was like throwing a party and having no one show up.

Just like Ryan I was left wondering why no one was swiping right, I found myself asking the same question – why wasn’t anyone visiting my website?

That’s exactly how I felt when I launched my website. I had written what I thought was a brilliant article—insightful, engaging, and packed with value. I hit “publish,” waited a few days, and checked my analytics. Zero traffic. Surely, Google was just slow to update? I refreshed the page over and over. Still nothing. It felt like setting up the perfect party—decorations up, playlist ready—only to have no one show.

Sound familiar?

Like Ryan, I realized I needed to make changes. But instead of rewriting a dating profile, I had to fix my website’s SEO. That’s when I decided to figure out how SEO really works and fix my website once and for all. And guess what? It worked. A few simple tweaks later, my rankings improved, traffic started flowing, and my website finally had a pulse.

Let me save you the trial and error. Here’s exactly what I did—and what you can do today—to improve your website’s SEO and start getting the traffic you deserve.

1. I Started Writing for Google (Not Just Myself)

My first mistake? Writing about what I found interesting. Google doesn’t care about that—it only cares about what people are searching for. So I started using Google Keyword Planner to find out what my audience actually wanted. That’s when I discovered search phrases like “How to improve SEO for my website”—real questions that people were actively asking.

To fix this, I began researching keywords before writing, making sure to use them naturally without stuffing them in, and focusing on answering real search queries. Once I aligned my content with actual demand, my articles started showing up in search results. But even great content won’t matter if your website frustrates visitors. That’s why speed matters.

2. I Fixed My Slow Website (Because No One Likes Waiting)

I didn’t realize my website was slow until I tested it on Google PageSpeed Insights. Turns out, it was taking five seconds to load. That’s an eternity online. Visitors won’t wait—they’ll just leave.

To speed things up, I compressed my images using TinyPNG, switched to a faster hosting provider, and removed unnecessary plugins. After these changes, my load time improved from five seconds to under two seconds. My bounce rate dropped, and visitors stayed longer. Now that my site was fast, I had to make sure people could actually use it – especially on mobile.

3. I Made My Website Mobile-Friendly (Because Most People Browse on Their Phones)

One night, I opened my site on my phone and was horrified. The text was tiny, buttons were impossible to click, and images weren’t resizing properly. Since over 60% of searches happen on mobile, I knew I was losing visitors.

To fix this, I switched to a mobile-friendly theme, used Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check for issues, and adjusted my font size for readability on small screens. Traffic from mobile users improved almost overnight. Now my site was fast and mobile-friendly—but visitors still weren’t staying long. I needed to keep them engaged.

4. I Started Linking to My Own Content (Like Wikipedia Does)

Ever wondered why Wikipedia ranks so high? Internal linking. My articles were like islands—disconnected and isolated. So I started linking relevant posts together. For example, in my SEO guide, I linked to my post on writing compelling headlines. The result? Visitors stayed on my site longer, Google saw my site as more structured and valuable, and my rankings improved. Now, every article I write includes at least two internal links. But even great content and structure won’t help if no one clicks. That’s where better titles come in.

5. I Improved My Titles (And Got More Clicks)

Originally, my article was titled: “SEO Tips for Beginners.” Boring, right? I thought so too, so I changed it to: “How I Fixed My SEO (And How You Can Too).” Which one are you more likely to click?

Google ranks articles based on engagement. If no one clicks, your article drops. More clicks signal value, boosting your position in search results. To improve my titles, I made them specific and directly related to my content, kept them under 60 characters so they wouldn’t get cut off in search results, and used power words to make them more compelling.

For example, instead of “SEO Tips for Beginners,” try “5 SEO Mistakes That Are Killing Your Traffic (And How to Fix Them).” More clicks = higher rankings. But to truly boost my site’s authority, I needed backlinks.

6. I Got Backlinks (Without Begging for Them)

Google trusts websites that earn links from other sites. But getting backlinks felt impossible—until I changed my approach.

Instead of begging for links, I focused on creating link-worthy content like detailed guides, case studies, and research-based articles. I also wrote guest posts for reputable marketing sites and reached out to bloggers with outdated content, offering to update it with fresh data. The result? Other sites started linking to me—naturally. No begging required. But even with great content and backlinks, my site’s structure was still messy. That was my final fix.

7. I Fixed My Messy Website Structure

When I first built my website, I threw pages together with no real organization. Google couldn’t figure out what my site was about, and visitors got lost.

To fix this, I organized my content into clear categories, created an SEO-friendly URL structure without random numbers, and added a sitemap so Google could crawl my site easily. I used Yoast SEO to generate my sitemap and submitted it through Google Search Console. Within weeks, my rankings significantly improved.

The Bottom Line: SEO Isn’t Magic—It’s Strategy

A few months ago, my website was invisible—just like my friend’s Tinder profile. But instead of giving up, I made strategic changes.

Just like he swapped out his blurry photos for high-quality ones, I optimized my website for speed and mobile users. Just like he rewrote his bio to match what people were actually looking for, I started writing content based on real search queries. And just like he finally started getting matches, my website finally started attracting visitors.

If your website isn’t getting traffic, don’t panic. Make these changes, and watch what happens.

Which of these fixes will you try first? Let me know in the comments!