A travel blogger writing in a tropical spot with big text "blog traffic sources: still blogging"

It’s 2026 and it’s time to take back control of our blog traffic. Luckily, we’ve got options!

If you’ve been feeling the burn of low RPMs and dwindling Google love (and thinking you’re all out of options), then you’re in the right place.

This is a curated list of the BEST blog traffic sources to focus on this year.

The first traffic source below is the core platform I used to bring my own (nearly dead) travel blog back to life.

So let’s get to it!

1. Pinterest

Pinterest saved my travel blog. After losing around 80% of my Google traffic (post AI Overviews, etcetera), I was scrambling to figure out my next move.

I thought about quitting (I nearly did). I lost most motivation and barley posted fresh content or updates for almost 2 years.

I was feeling a bit jaded, but also I was observing this new landscape.

Where should I focus my attention?

What’s the real future of blogging?

These questions are simple but nuanced. And Pinterest was the first answer that finally made sense AND gave me real results (i.e. I got my traffic back).

Pinterest is a FANTASTIC traffic source for bloggers. Some niches are better than others, for sure; but if you just stay consistent and post fresh pins daily (even just a few), you will increase your blog traffic.

2. Facebook

A lot of bloggers are sleeping on Facebook (myself included). But I’ve heard exciting success stories from at least a few trustworthy creators at this point.

Artists, creators and bloggers are using Facebook groups (and other methods) to drive traffic and conversions to their brand or site.

This is a traffic strategy I’ll be testing later this year (maybe in Q2, after my Pinterest strategy stabilizes). So stay tuned because I’ll share everything I’m doing here!

What about other social media platforms?

It could work. I’m in the camp that anything can work (optimist over here). But I’m also focused on things that make the biggest splash and actually move the needle.

That said, I haven’t personally tested other social media for blog traffic.

But what I do know is it’s usually harder to drive traffic from these places. Users aren’t generally looking to click an external link to read a blog post and social media companies don’t like to send their users off platform (where they can’t make money from them via ads).

Still, you can always drive traffic, conversions or engagement with the right strategy. For example, you can focus on growing your X account (via social blogging) and then link to valuable posts or lead magnets in your bio and within posts.

The trick is to choose one platform and one strategy and make it work for you. Once things are stable, then expand with another platform or strategy.

3. Flipboard

Apparently, Flipboard has been around for a minute. I haven’t used it myself for blog traffic (yet), but it does show some serious promise!

I see it pop up as a niche option in some blogger circles and newsletters, so I thought it was worth mentioning here.

Flipboard is news aggregation platform that creates a digital magazine of curated articles, videos and podcasts. It seems pretty cool actually.

According to Flipboard, they have around 145 million monthly active users, so it could be worth looking into.

Travelpayouts has a good article on using Flipboard to drive traffic to your blog.

4. YouTube

Besides blogging, YouTube is my other favorite type of content creation.

Like Pinterest, the platform is evergreen (i.e. your content doesn’t disappear after 24 hours) and it doesn’t require you to show up every single day, multiple times a day.

IMO, YouTube is one of the highest leverage brand-building content platforms.

If you commit to creating great videos, you can drive traffic from YouTube to your website and blog. It might not be as much as Pinterest or what Google used to be, but you might not need as much either.

I mean, if you’re growing a successful YouTube channel (and you do not need a lot of followers——you need the right followers), you won’t feel as pressured to grow your blog traffic.

YouTube is amazing for monetization and building a brand (probably even better than blogging).

This could take away the pressure to grow with your blog, taking back to a pure-passion play.

5. Medium

Medium is its own blogging ecosystem. Articles can definitely rank in places like Google and you can send traffic there using any of the other methods in this article.

But what makes Medium unique is you can focus solely on the platform to drive traffic and revenue.

You can submit to publications, grow your followers and join their partners program to get every time people read your article.

Growing as a Medium blogger takes a different strategy, outside my purview. But that’s nothing a few YouTube rabbit holes can’t fix 😏.

6. Collabs + Backlinks

I still overlook the power of backlinking and collabs. But this can definitely bring you more blog traffic (both directly and indirectly).

Directly because people will sometimes click on the link pointing to your post.

Indirectly because (good) backlinks boost your domain authority, which increases your ranking and, ultimately, your traffic.

For example, I still get hundreds of monthly visitors from a single link collab I did almost 2 years ago.

At first, I was confused why this post was outperforming every other article in my Google Analytics. It wasn’t ranking on page one and I couldn’t figure out where the traffic was coming from.

Then I remember I did a link collab a while back with a website who gets millions of visits per month.

Yep, that’s probably it lol.

7. Paid Traffic

I’m not recommending you pay for traffic for the sake of traffic. Gone are the days of vanity metrics.

But if you have a specific product to sell or a proven high-performing post that you can funnel targeted traffic towards some specific conversion event (email signup, product sale…), then by all means, pay for some traffic.

Facebook ads, Pinterest ads, Google ads…they can all work. Just go where your audience and search intent is and have a good strategy.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you here. Good luck out there!

Later ✌️

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