Fake Ecommerce + 1 Post = 📈

A few days ago I was looking for something in one of the many tabs I never close on Chrome and I accidentally clicked the wrong tab.

What appeared on-screen was one of my Google Analytics accounts.

And I had to do a double-take.

A Forgotten Test

I’d set this site up ages ago for a test. Almost a year ago.

Woocommerce install with a shop where all the products are a “coming soon” image. Fake employee pictures. Address is a co-working space.

And a single blog post.

Here’s what I saw on my screen -

Apparently the core update loves this site? Cause late June is when it started taking off big time.

And it’s almost exclusively Google traffic.

The target keyword shows 5K monthly searches, and I’m ranking #2 right behind Reddit (eye roll).

Yes, there is an AI overview, but it’s a small paragraph and this keyword requires a list result/answer.

The bad news is that display ads is really the only viable monetization option here….and the ranking post is full AI.

I really want to capitalize on this Google love…but I don’t wanna be writing content from scratch. So, that limits ad networks for me.

And I know from working in this niche in the past that this audience doesn’t click a lot so you really gotta be with an ad network that pays out on impressions instead of clicks.

So, not sure what I’m going to do with this. Regardless, I think it’s an interesting data point when it comes to getting a niche site ranked…just be a fake ecommerce site…which I’ve been saying for a while now.

If you’ve got a HCU-hit site, it might be worth trying on a fresh domain. Might take almost a year, like this site, but wouldn’t it be nice if it worked out for you?

Coming up…

More on what I’m working on and how it’s going.

Stay awesome,

Shawna

P.S. If you’re looking for high level discussions or tips on things like local SEO and Rank & Rent, I highly recommend Jacky Chou’s Advise community. I’ve been in it for over a year now (I think?) and there’s tons of value in it, including a SOP for local SEO.

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