My Website Is Getting Indexed by Google. So Why Am I Still Getting Almost No Traffic?

Lately, I’ve gotten into the habit of checking one number:

Did anyone click through to SmartConvert from Google?

This week, the answer was:

1 click.

Still very little.

But compared to when I was getting almost no exposure at all, at least something has changed.

Google has started indexing SmartConvert, and so far, 13 pages are in the index.

But here’s the problem:

The site is being indexed, but the traffic still isn’t there.

I’ve been noticing this more and more lately.

---

This week, I didn’t add more tools

I didn’t add a bunch of new tools to SmartConvert this week.

Instead, I started working on some basic things I had been putting off.

I did four things:

Added user login

Added a blog

Added Chinese language support

Submitted SmartConvert to Bing

None of them feels as immediately rewarding as shipping another tool.

But after doing this for a while, I’m starting to realize that building a product is very different from just writing code.

Before, whenever I felt the tool list was too short, my first thought was:

Build more tools.

Now I ask myself one more question:

What happens after I build them?

Will people search for them?

Will Google index them?

Will they get impressions after being indexed?

And if they get impressions, will anyone actually click?

So lately, I’ve been trying to slow down a little.

---

One problem I’m dealing with right now: Google is indexing the site very slowly

At the moment, Google has only indexed 13 pages.

But SmartConvert actually has more than 20 pages in total, and the rest are still waiting to be indexed.

This has been one of the more frustrating things this week.

I’ve already done most of the basic things:

Updated the sitemap.

Resubmitted the relevant pages.

Checked and verified the sitemap.

But those remaining pages are still not getting indexed.

When I first noticed this, I honestly wanted to keep digging into the technical details.

Is there something wrong with the sitemap?

Is there a problem with the page configuration?

Am I missing something?

After checking everything, I haven’t found anything obviously wrong.

So now I’m leaning toward a much simpler explanation:

SmartConvert is still a new website, and maybe I just need to give it more time.

I also don’t want to simply call this the “Google Sandbox.”

More accurately, I think Google is still gradually getting familiar with the site.

The pages need time to be discovered, crawled, processed, and evaluated.

So there isn’t that much I can do right now.

Submit what needs to be submitted.

Check what needs to be checked.

And keep watching.

---

SmartConvert is getting indexed by Google, but traffic is still tiny

Google has now indexed 13 pages.

At least that means the website has started entering Google’s search system.

But according to Google Search Console, the search traffic is still very limited.

Over the last 7 days:

36 impressions

1 click

Overall so far:

404 impressions

5 clicks

Average position: 71

So the question now isn’t really:

“Has Google found the website?”

It’s more like:

“Google has started finding it, but when will it start giving it more exposure?”

Those are two completely different questions.

SmartConvert is starting to get some search data now. The scale is just still very small.

So what I really want to watch is:

When will the remaining pages get indexed?

Will the pages that are already indexed start getting more impressions?

Will some pages start bringing in more search traffic?

---

Why did I start a blog?

This is another thing I think is pretty important this week.

Before, SmartConvert was basically:

Find a need → build a tool → launch it

Now that I’ve added a blog, I want to test another path:

User has a problem → searches for it → finds an article → then uses the related tool

For example, someone might not directly search for:

PDF Compressor

They might search for:

How to compress a PDF

Or:

How to reduce PDF file size

The underlying need is basically the same.

So I want to see whether content pages can bring in another source of search traffic besides the tool pages.

Of course, there’s no result yet.

I’ve just started.

---

The login feature is also something I’m building ahead of time

I also added user login this week.

With the number of users I have right now, login isn’t exactly an urgent need.

But if I eventually want to add things like:

Free usage limits,

Paid plans,

User accounts,

Usage tracking,

History...

then login is something I’ll need.

So for now, I’m basically laying the groundwork for later.

I still don’t know when these features will actually become useful.

---

I’m also giving Bing a try

Besides Google, I submitted SmartConvert to Bing this week.

It was just submitted, so there’s no data yet.

There’s really nothing to analyze at this point.

I’ll just leave it there.

Once Bing starts generating some impressions, I’ll come back and see what happens.

---

One more change this week: Chinese support

SmartConvert now also supports Chinese.

My main target is still overseas users, but supporting another language is another small step toward making the site more complete.

As for whether Chinese support will actually bring in more users, that also needs to be answered by the data.

I’m not drawing any conclusions yet.

Build it, then see what happens.

Maybe it works.

Maybe it doesn’t.

At least I’ll eventually have an answer.

---

SmartConvert is still very early

This week, GA4 showed 28 users.

Google has indexed 13 pages.

Over the last 7 days, search brought 36 impressions and 1 click.

Overall, it’s 404 impressions and 5 clicks so far.

None of these numbers look particularly impressive.

But right now, I care less about making the numbers look good and more about honestly documenting the process.

When I first launched the website, I was mostly focused on:

What feature should I build today?

Now I’m starting to think more about:

Are these features actually being discovered by Google?

Are people searching for them?

Are people clicking?

Are people actually using them?

I’m starting to think this might be one of the biggest differences between writing software and building a product.

A lot of things don’t give you an answer the day after you finish coding them.

Some things just take time.

Google indexing takes time.

SEO takes time.

User growth takes time.

Even whether a feature is actually useful is something only real users can tell you.

So for now, I’m not going to keep adding more and more features just because some pages are slow to get indexed.

And I’m not going to immediately give up on the current direction just because there are only a few search clicks.

I’ll keep improving what I’ve already built.

And keep watching.

Maybe new websites really do need some time.

Next week, I’ll check the numbers again.