There is 1 simple SEO step that if you do it consistently will catapult your site to the very top of the web. Easily leaving 99,5% of all active websites behind you, but probably much better than that! If you do this one thing consistently, even if it is just once per week, you will get there. This is due to the compounding effect of this simple repeating SEO action.

There are 1,18 billion websites in the world, of which 201 million are active websites. We’ll only look at the 201 million active ones. There’s one simple SEO step that ensures you’ll beat almost every other site in those 201 million.

My website is in the Majestic Million and in the Tranco list, both highly exclusive lists of the very best websites in the world. Your site can be majestic too, if you do just one simple thing repeatedly.

Many of my web friends did the same simple thing, and their site is also part of the elite list that leaves 99,5% of all other active websites behind. Do this 1 simple step, and you can hang out daily with the most successful site owners too. Just like me and my friends.

My site is in the top 0,3% of all active websites, better than 99,7% of all websites because of one thing I did and kept doing. I’m about half way up the Tranco list, meaning my site outranks 100-(1/201*0,6*100)= 99,7% of all active websites in the world. Because of just one simple thing, that you can do too.

Here’s the secret:

Blog regularly.

That’s it, just blog on.

For 20 years or so.

/snark (after receiving a bunch of seo spam mails offering silver bullets for a low price)

Looking into spam I received I realised my site is in the Tranco list which ranks the webs 1 million most popular websites.

There are between 1,1 billion and 1,9 billion websites in the world. Both those sources agree there are some 200 million active websites (the rest being parked domains or not currently in use).

My website ranks somewhere near 670.000th (with an uptick in the last days, presumably due to writing about the spammy research mentioned above.) Right up there with other fine web outlets like illegal gambling sites and fake luxury brand purveyors.

That means my blog is in the 1-0,7/200 = 99,65th percentile of websites. Counting only the active websites.

That’s a mighty long tail, when I’m anywhere near its head.


Tranco-list.eu graph of my website’s rank

A fresh wave of spam comments is being received by my WordPress install, since I started blogging a bit more again. A recurring message is “I noticed you currently don’t monetize your page”, and then inviting me into scammy SEO services. It strikes me that I actually do monetize ‘my page’, as it builds history and reputation, lands me speaking gigs, and in various instances helps convince consultancy clients to commit. I just don’t do ads. Those spam comments showcase exactly what is wrong with the web, it feels to me, by assuming just that one business model. The content is the purpose not a means, the ‘page’ is a means not a purpose.


The Spam versus Ham perspectives on a blog’s purpose. (Spam by Mike Mozart, license CC BY, Ham by Steven Lilley, license CC BY SA.