I first learned about the SEO Avalanche strategy from a colleague, who introduced me to a post by CCarter on (Builder Society). This strategy is ideal for websites with limited resources and minimal starting budgets. It’s designed for people who may not have the money for things like expensive backlinks or external SEO tools. The goal is to build your website’s traffic from the ground up by targeting very low-competition, long-tail keywords. Over time, these smaller wins stack up and create an “avalanche” of traffic.
The key to this strategy is its simplicity: you target keywords that are often overlooked by larger competitors, typically those with low or even zero search volume. A critical component of this approach is the Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR), a method for identifying very low-competition keywords. By focusing on these niche terms, you build topical relevance and authority on the subject. Over time, this foundation of targeted content helps generate steady traffic, ultimately leading to greater growth as search engines recognize your site’s credibility.
An example of how this strategy works can be seen in how websites like WikiHow became successful. Initially, they produced low-level articles focusing on very niche, often ignored topics. Over time, they refined their content, improved their ranking, and established themselves as an authority by building on these early gains.
My Experience with the Avalanche Strategy
When I began implementing the Avalanche SEO strategy on one of the projects I was working on, we experienced fast growth, especially during the first year. Our site, which was brand new, had zero authority at the start. We focused on ultra-specific keywords with no search volume, as suggested by the Avalanche technique. The results were impressive—we saw a steady increase in organic traffic as we published more content. By sticking to long-tail keywords and topics with low competition, we were able to gradually build traffic tier authority. This allowed us to climb the tiers as more content was published, starting from low search volumes to reaching over 4,000 clicks per day.
In the beginning, the growth felt quick and substantial. We successfully built topical authority by publishing lots of articles focused on niche subjects. The idea was to “rank at the bottom” for low-competition keywords, which helped us establish a strong foundation. The strategy is designed to work like climbing a mountain in circles rather than trying to scale it directly from one side. Each piece of content added more value, and over time, search engines recognized the authority we were building.
You can view more of my successful SEO projects and results in my portfolio, where I showcase additional examples of how I’ve implemented this and other strategies across different websites to drive meaningful traffic and ROI.
The Challenges We Faced
As we moved into the second year, we began to encounter difficulties. The SEO Avalanche technique, while great for early growth, didn’t help us rank for the more higher volume keywords we needed to improve conversions and ROI. The traffic had started to plateau, and although we were ranking well for long-tail, low-volume keywords, our strategy wasn’t bringing in high-converting traffic. The technique felt limited in scope, and I realized that it wasn’t a long-term solution for growing the business.
This led me to understand the core limitation of the Avalanche technique. While it works well for generating quick traffic from low-competition keywords, it’s not designed for scaling to higher competition keywords or converting traffic into revenue. As we needed to attract more customers and improve our ROI, I knew we needed a more robust SEO approach. Our chances of ranking for these competitive keywords were slim because the strategy lacked a clear plan for targeting broader, more profitable terms. We started monitoring the site’s performance closely using Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which confirmed the plateau in traffic and ranking issues.
The Fix: Combining Avalanche SEO with Hub and Spoke
To address these challenges, I decided to integrate the SEO Avalanche strategy with a more powerful method—the Hub and Spoke model. This combination allowed us to target both long-tail keywords (using Avalanche) and more competitive keywords (using Hub and Spoke).
Here’s how the combination worked:
- Avalanche for Long-tail Keywords: We continued creating content using the Avalanche technique. These smaller, highly specific pieces served as “spokes” that built topical authority and brought in steady traffic.
- Hub and Spoke for Competitive Keywords: In the Hub and Spoke model, the “hub” is a comprehensive piece of content targeting a more competitive keyword. I used the articles generated from the SEO Avalanche strategy (spokes) to interlink back to these larger, authoritative hub pages. This internal linking structure helped pass link equity to our hub pages, allowing them to rank higher for more competitive, high-ROI keywords.
By mixing these two techniques, I was able to maintain traffic growth while also ranking for more competitive, conversion-focused keywords. The Avalanche technique helped build the foundation, while the Hub and Spoke model gave us the power to scale and increase our site’s overall authority in more profitable areas.
What I Learned
The SEO Avalanche technique is a powerful tool for new websites with limited resources. It allows you to build traffic by targeting easy-to-rank, low-competition keywords. However, while the strategy is excellent for quick wins and early growth, it’s not a complete solution for businesses that need to scale their SEO efforts and improve ROI. By combining Avalanche with other techniques, such as the Hub and Spoke model, you can overcome its limitations and create a more comprehensive, long-term SEO plan.
This approach helped us successfully grow our website from zero to 4,000 clicks per day, while eventually allowing us to target more competitive, high-converting keywords. If you’re just starting out, Avalanche SEO is a great way to gain traction quickly—but be prepared to adapt as your needs evolve.