Usually there's a good reason for the hockey stick event - finding a new popular merchant, having a post go viral, getting a backlink from a huge site. Usually it doesn't drop off afterwards if your basics are all in place.

The problem with the hockey stick is the sudden drop afterwards!

I agree. If you can identify what caused the uptick, go with it.
Jim

Partha is the one to listen to nothing I say would compare to his comments!

But I would be happy with a hockey stick, as long as it isn't upside down!

Barbara

Hey Sharon,

The "Hockey Stick" effect is a GOOD thing, and a phenomenon that most websites achieve, as long as keyword research is good.

Okay, let's break this down.

Realistically, in 2022, the first 3 months of a website will typically produce very little traffic.

In fact, I have even front-loaded a website before with 200 articles, and I still didn't get a great deal of traffic for those first 3 months.

Basically, you're an unknown entity to Google and the other search engines.

Why would they even consider giving lots of traffic to an unknown entity?

This is also why I say that initially you must find keywords that are "easy to rank" that are" underservced keywords", i,e. topics that the authority websites in your niche have typically ignored because they feel it isn't worth their time writing that article.

Now, by starting a website with these types of keywords and articles, you should find that you start ranking for the main keyword phrase almost immediately.

However, traffic does not simply come from one keyword phrase per article.

No, no, no, you must remember that every single word you ever write in an article can in fact be a keyword.

So, what naturally happens to articles, especially those that have focused on "easy" and "underserved" topics is that they will start to rank for more-and-more keywords as they mature.

As an example, you write an article and rank for the main keyword straight away. Then in month 2 you rank for a further 10 related keywords, month 3 you rank for 50 related keywords, month 4 you rank for 100 related keywords.

This is how an article increases in traffic month-after-month.

Even though you specifically focus on ONE keyword when writing the article, the aim is to rank that ONE article for THOUSANDS of keywords.

Quick point, always focus each article around ONE keyword, never try to "trick" the search engines by adding loads of irrelevant keywords, that won't work, this a natural process.

Now, I've often said that for a fairly new website you need to allow your articles 8-9 months to reach their traffic potential (some SEOs are saying that this has potentially increased to 10-14 months after the last Google Core Update on 25th May 2022).

This follows on from what I've mentioned above, i.e. you'll rank for more keywords each month

And it's also around this time, funnily enough, that the hockey stick effect starts to kick in.

The best way to view the hockey stick effect is in Google Analytics at the end of 12 months.

You will typically notice a very flat line for the 3 months.

Then months 3-6 you'll notice little bumps where traffic was higher one day or one week compared to the rest of the month.

Then from about month 6 onwards it starts to really kick in, and after month 8 you can really see this trend of an upward curve in your Google Analytics.

When you look at your Google Analytics graph at the end of the first year you should a flat line that then dramatically curves upwards over the last few months.

Basically, your graph looks like a hockey stick.

What has happened is that during the year you have become less of an "unknown entitty" and more "trusted" by Google.

Plus, Google can often make sweeping changes to a website overnight.

As an example you have 50 articles.

You have 10 keywords ranked on page one of Google.

You have 40 keywords ranked on page 2 of Google (so NO TRAFFIC from these).

Then Google starts ranking you for more-and-more keywords for these 50 articles, and then on month 6 you have:

30 keywords ranked on page one

200 keywords ranked on page two

500 keywords on page three.

FOR THE SAME 50 ARTICLES

Google decides you're more of an authority now, and suddenly those 200 keywords from page two are "promoted" to page one.

Suddenly your traffic goes through the roof overnight.

I generally notice that if I'm adding LOTS of content every single month, from around month 6 or 7 my traffic increases by 25-100% EVERY SINGLE MONTH.

Here's a prime example of what I would expect from a website in terms of traffic in the first year (if all I have done is write articles and publish, so I'm not including any other forms of traffic generation, plus let's say that I publish 20 articles every single month).

Month 1 - 10 visitors during the month
Month 2 - 100 visitors during the month
Month 3 - 600 visitors during the month
Month 4 - 1,500
Month 5 - 1,900
Month 6 - 3,000
Month 7 - 5,000
Month 8 - 9,000
Month 9 - 14,000
Month 10 - 19,000
Month 11 - 27,000
Month 12 - 38,000 visitors during the month

And if you looked at these statistics in Google Analytics, it would look like a hockey stick (long flat line, massive curve upwards towards the end).

Hope that helps (sorry for going on so much, LOL)

Partha