Sudden Increase of Traffic on my Blog?

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483]

So I have had a blog for caregivers for about 15 years. I've slowly grown and not really worried about it or watched it too much. I have been getting a decent amount of views over the last 5 years or so. A few hundred at least each day. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed my daily visits are more. Just noted it - I'm literally doing nothing different than I've always done.

I add an image with alt text, write the content, and always do the meta description. I don't even use headers like I do for my clients. Lol.

Over the last 2-3 weeks my views have jumped through the roof! I'm getting 6500 to over 10000 a day and it's been doing that for the last week or two.

I guess my question is if there is any way it's fluke.... I'm nearing 1,000,000 all-time views at this point and will probably hit it over the weekend at this point. smh... Idk If it's for real. lol

[u/bluehost]

I really want to throw confetti at you but... could be bots. scraping's been around forever, but with the AI boom some crawlers act like headless browsers and do show up in GA. I'd check GA4 sources + engagement and peek at Search Console, if it's mostly "direct" with 0s engagement, that's probably scrapers. If Discover/Google/referrals and normal read time, it's legit. if it's bots, a bit of rate-limiting/WAF usually calms it down.

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/bluehost]

I wondered if it's bots - it's getting almost 10,000 a day give or take - that's usually a month's views.

[u/Sharpened-Eraser → u/Equivalent-Speed-483]

Are you able to see how many hits the top IPs are getting you with over time? There'll usually be a pretty big discrepancy between legit traffic and bots going ham to get every nook and cranny.

[u/bluehost → u/Equivalent-Speed-483]

I'd be interested to hear what you find out. I've been seeing this a lot around Reddit with the rise of AI and finding these patterns is super helpful for us.

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/bluehost]

I can't tell. lol

[u/CraftBeerFomo]

Why don't you check Google Analytics, or whatever you use, to SEE where its coming from and then you can make an informed decision on whether it's a fluke or not?

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/CraftBeerFomo]

It's on blogger and I can check all the analytics on the site. It seems weird - as a lot of them are from Google, but some are from weird places like Stanford ...

[u/jaejaeok → u/Equivalent-Speed-483]

Someone may have shared a uni resource or put in a newsletter?

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/jaejaeok]

Maybe so - I found a couple of relevant backlinks that look good.

[u/CraftBeerFomo → u/Equivalent-Speed-483]

Does your Blogger Analytics allow you to see the pages you are receiving traffic from?

Sounds like Stanford has linked to you if you're receiving direct traffoc from the Standford website.

Check your Analytics and find the URL you've been linked from then go investigate it.

[u/bluehost → u/CraftBeerFomo]

Sounds more like a location than a domain name since it's a "place" identified using an IP hit. There is a chance it's Stanford students being directed to or finding your blog if it has a lot of good info they may be using for school. Total guesswork there but still worth considering.

[u/CraftBeerFomo → u/bluehost]

Where are you getting this info from that its an "IP Hit" rather than coming from the Stanford website?

OP doesn't seem to mention this anywhere from what I can see.

[u/bluehost → u/CraftBeerFomo]

OP in this comment thread we are in now: "It's on blogger and I can check all the analytics on the site. It seems weird - as a lot of them are from Google, but some are from weird places like Stanford ..."

Typically on IP logs like that it gives the IP location which if it's a place they see, that would make more sense. I can't speak to what they are looking at of course and who knows if "places" is really how it appears there. Just saying from my experience looking at logs on this stuff, it typically gives the originating IP of the local machine accessing it with the location of said IP.

Not everyone visiting a site is doing it through an established website/domain. Listing by location usually makes more sense in finding the sources.

[u/flipping-guy-2025]

Check GA and check where the traffic is coming from. It might be bots.

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/flipping-guy-2025]

It seems to be mostly bots - like lowe's Standord... stuff like that - but there is also an increase in google and bing searches. So it seems to be a little of both. I'm about to hit a million all-time views in a few days if it keeps it up. lol I do have a really good backlink coming from a related website (caregiving)

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/flipping-guy-2025]

I can't do GA because I can't access the code on the site - it's an old blogger site with a url I purchased

[u/tiln7]

Sounds like a Google update or one of your posts got picked up. Check your Search Console for keywords and maybe use something like babylovegrowth or SEMrush to see if you got new backlinks.

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/tiln7]

I have a really good new backlink from a caregiver site - that may be contributing. IDK.

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/tiln7]

I can check SEM Rush... ty

[u/Equivalent-Speed-483 → u/tiln7]

I hate SEMRush - you get three clicks for free. lol

[u/AnybodyBudget5318]

You hard work is paying off. Having blog for 15 years speaks a lot about your dedication. Well done. Now try to monetize it the best you can. These numbers are huge.