How My Website Reached Almost 400 Monthly Google Clicks in 3 Months

A focused website structure and basic search setup brought my new directory to 385 Google Search clicks per month after three months.

I launched RoFolk at the end of July. In its first three months, monthly Google traffic climbed from around 300 clicks to 350, and then reached 385 clicks in a 28-day window.

Below is the process I followed, in the order I did it.

Why I built RoFolk

RoFolk is a directory for Romanians living in the Netherlands and Belgium. I am originally from Romania. In community Facebook groups, people ask the same questions repeatedly: does anyone know a dentist, a lawyer, an accountant, a shop, or a restaurant?

People often want services that also speak Romanian, for example accountants, or they are looking for specific shops or restaurants. The Netherlands and Belgium are close together, so it made sense to cover both countries in one directory. I collected the listings myself.

My plan for monetization is to sell promoted listings. Right now, I only run my own listing in the paid spot at the top of the list and inside listing pages. I am still figuring out monetization, so my main focus for now is growing organic search traffic.

Start with keyword research before writing content

If you want organic search traffic, start by researching what people type into search engines in your target country.

I use Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner. Google Keyword Planner is free inside a Google Ads account. You do not need to spend money or run ads to use it. Inside Google Ads, go to Tools, open Keyword Planner, click Discover new keywords, pick your target country, and search for terms. You can also start with a website.

In Ahrefs, typing a term like “restaurant” shows keyword difficulty, related searches, common questions, and top ranking pages. “Restaurant” showed 46,000 searches, while “restaurant Rotterdam” and “restaurant Utrecht” each showed 10,000.

Ahrefs pricing can look high, but they offer a cheaper starter plan. It drops API access, MCP access, and has lower usage limits than the Lite tier, but it gives you enough keyword data to plan a site. If you do not want to spend anything, Google Keyword Planner gives you search volumes for free.

Build dedicated category pages and location pages

Once you pick your keywords, organize your content so search engines understand what each page covers.

Visitors search for specific business types, but they also search by city. On RoFolk, I built category pages and location pages instead of relying only on individual business entries. A category page puts all the shops or accountants in one place, which gives visitors what they need in a single view. Google tends to like category pages because they gather useful information on one topic.

Internal links tie the directory together. Link between your categories, connect the location pages, and put key category links in your footer. This helps visitors find other services and shows Google which pages are central to your site.

Check the basic technical tags before indexing

Search engines need specific tags and files to read a page properly.

Every page needs its own meta title and meta description. These are the titles and descriptions searchers see in Google results. Each page also needs a canonical tag so Google knows which version to index if two URLs have similar content. The site must declare its language, include a robots.txt file, and provide an XML sitemap.

Keep your heading structure clean, with only one H1 tag per page. Coding tools like Claude Code or Codex usually respect standard web development rules when building pages, but you still need to check the markup yourself.

I check pages using a free Chrome extension called Kitamaru SEO Tools. It displays the title, description, canonical link, and heading hierarchy right in the browser.

Your sitemap is an XML file that lists your site’s URLs. On RoFolk, the sitemap lists the categories, and opening each category displays the individual pages inside it. The robots.txt file specifies which search bots can crawl your pages.

Once your files and markup are ready, run the site through Google PageSpeed. It checks performance and generates an SEO score to confirm the page follows standard rules.

Monitor Google Search Console and find pages with low clicks

Google Search Console tracks your organic search performance.

To add your site, open Search Console and click Add Property. Enter your domain name, and Google will generate a DNS TXT record. Copy that record, paste it into your domain registrar’s DNS settings, and click Verify. Google verifies ownership and begins collecting data.

The performance tab displays clicks, impressions, average position, and click-through rate across 7 days, 28 days, or 3 months. Search traffic does not grow in a straight line. It moves in pulses, which is normal for a new project.

You can export your Search Console performance data and feed it to Claude Code to find weak spots. Look for queries or pages with high impressions and low clicks. High impressions mean Google displays your page, but searchers are not clicking. When that happens, update the meta title, write a clearer meta description, or add more information to the page so it can rank higher.

When you edit a page, paste its URL into Search Console and request re-indexing so Google crawls the update. You can also inspect specific URLs to see how Google reads them.

Submit your sitemap in Search Console so Google knows which pages exist. Search Console will report how many URLs it discovered and whether the crawl succeeded. The achievements tab is also useful for following site milestones over time.

Use Umami for total traffic and import Search Console into Bing

Google Search Console only monitors organic search traffic from Google. It will not show direct visits, social links, or traffic from other engines.

I use Umami to monitor total site traffic. Umami has a free plan that tracks page views, visits, session journeys, and referrer sources. You can also use Google Analytics if you prefer it.

Umami showed that RoFolk was getting visitors from Bing. Connecting Bing Webmaster Tools is quick once Search Console is running. Open Bing Webmaster Tools, sign in with your Google account, and import your site directly from Google Search Console.

Bing imports your verified domain and settings automatically. You do not need to add another DNS record. Bing brings less traffic than Google, but it still sends visits, and the setup takes no extra maintenance once connected.

The setup process in order

1. Research search terms with Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs before building your content.
2. Build dedicated category and location pages, and link between them in your body copy and footer.
3. Add unique meta titles, meta descriptions, canonical tags, single H1 tags, language attributes, a robots.txt file, and an XML sitemap.
4. Verify your tags with Kitamaru SEO Tools and test the pages in Google PageSpeed.
5. Add your domain to Google Search Console using a DNS TXT record and submit your sitemap.
6. Export Search Console data, find pages with high impressions and low clicks, improve their titles and content, and request re-indexing.
7. Connect Bing Webmaster Tools by importing your verified Google Search Console property.
8. Install an analytics tool like Umami to track total visits, referral sources, and user journeys.

Tools used

• Kitamaru SEO Tools: Chrome extension to inspect meta tags, headings, and canonical links.
• Google Keyword Planner: free keyword search tool inside Google Ads.
• Ahrefs Starter: lower-cost search research plan for keyword volumes and difficulty.
• Google Search Console: tool to track organic Google search performance, submit sitemaps, and request indexing.
• Bing Webmaster Tools: search reporting tool that imports verified domains directly from Google Search Console.
• Umami: website analytics tool for tracking sessions, page visits, and referral channels.