Is Keyword Research Necessary Even on note? Will Google Rank Articles Written by Beginners Without It? [SEO Experiment]

In this article, I will address the question, "Is keyword research necessary for SEO on note?" by showing you how an article written without any research was evaluated.

Hello, I'm Sutarou, a side-hustle blogger (@sutarog).

For me, excluding my self-introduction, the following article was effectively my first post on note.

Actually, I didn't do any keyword research.

If you're aiming for SEO traffic, that's unthinkable, right?

On the other hand, people say "note has strong domain authority (hereinafter referred to as domain power)".

That's why I hear that, like free blogs such as "Ameba Blog" or "Hatena Blog," it's easy to get ranked high in Google searches. I relied on that and thought, "Anyway, let's just make one post first!"

But I also wondered, "Isn't SEO still necessary, even on note?"

So, in this article, I will cover:

• Can a "note article with zero keyword research" written by a complete beginner rank high in search results?

• How much was it read in one week?

• Can you even analyze traffic on note in the first place?

I will introduce those points.

Organizing the article's situation

To summarize the situation of the article, it is as follows.

• Author: Complete beginner on note (effectively first post)

• Original article title: [Google AdSense] Certificate of Residence: How to Request by Mail [Singapore Tax Information] *Rewrote on 1/13

• Keyword research: None (no search intent or competitor analysis performed)

• Target keyword: "AdSense tax residency certificate mail"

• Article length: 2,946 characters

• Ranking check: 5 days after posting (posted 2024/1/8, checked 1/13)

• Notes: Promoted and shared the day after posting on an X account with many blogger followers (an audience interested in article content) to drive traffic

What rank did it appear in Google search without any SEO measures?

Although I said "zero keyword research," I did at least aim for the keyword "AdSense tax residency certificate mail" when creating the title.

"Alright! Everyone, let's use Bing for searching!" is the result (lol).

Well, it did rank 7th on Google for the target keyword.

I guess that's pretty good considering I didn't take any measures.

By the way, regarding page strength and the note domain age...

The PA is 39, which is decent.

The DA (domain authority) is 92.

As expected of note, it's super strong!

I checked the domain authority with a tool just in case, and it was as follows.

By the way, it ranked 7th for "AdSense tax residency certificate mail," and the 1st to 6th place articles are as follows.

Looking only at PA/DA, I feel like I could beat the 4th and 5th place articles, but...

I guess it means my article content and writing style lack impact... (bitter laugh)

The conclusion I reached regarding the question: "Can a 'zero keyword research note article' written by a total note beginner rank high in search?"

How much was it read in one week? I took a look at the note dashboard

By the way, how much was it read (viewed) in the first week after publication?

Let's take a look at the note dashboard.

Hmm... 479 views in one week.

“...So? What exactly is a view (total view)?”Right?

This number is not just the so-called page views (PV) where the article was read.

It also includes instances where the article thumbnail was displayed on the timeline (top page or recommendations).

Strictly speaking,self-views (when you view your own article) are also included.

The following article by Shichau Ojisan explains this in detail.
(Thank you for the lesson, Shichau Ojisan!)

It seems that with a free note account, you cannot get more information than this (such as traffic sources).

I will discuss access analysis later.

While you can refer to the links for details on how to access the dashboard, I will simply post an image here.

Reactions on 𝕏 and predicted traffic to note

Since I also use 𝕏, I measured the traffic from 𝕏 the day after posting on note.

Thanks to everyone, I received many bookmarks and comments in replies and quote posts saying things like “This was useful” and “This helped me.”

Thank you all for reading.

Receiving “likes” and “follows” on note was also very encouraging.

As I showed you earlier, the total view count on the note dashboard is 479.

I don't know the traffic sources, but I feel like “there might be a lot from 𝕏.”

However, when compared to the number of reactions to the 𝕏 post mentioned above, it seems likely there were views from sources other than 𝕏.

That said, since the Google search ranking is subtle, maybe they are views within note...

A thought on “note × 𝕏”.

I did not use the words “AdSense” or “Certificate of Residence” in the body of the 𝕏 post.

If I had properly included keywords and used hashtags, it might have grown a bit more. A lesson learned.

By the way, I did a little research and it seems “note × 𝕏” is a very good match.

I have even seen comments like “Aren't there any note users who don't use 𝕏?”

If you are using 𝕏, there is no reason not to promote your note articles.

If you have active followers, not only will they read your work, but they may also help boost its reach.

It is more effective for driving traffic than just relying on your posts appearing in the timeline.

(To everyone who shared it on X, thank you so much!)

Of course, if you expect that to happen,it goes without saying that it is important to "strive to write articles that the people sharing them will find useful."

Can you perform access analysis on note?

By the way.

When considering how to improve the quality of the articles you post, you are probably curious about whether you can perform access analysis.

• How many people read it

• Where the traffic came from

• Whether it was read to the end

"Can you perform access analysis on note?".

I have looked into this question on your behalf.

Does note have an access analysis feature?

On note,detailed access analysis is only available with "note pro".

It seems you can see breakdowns of PVs, read completion rates, and referral sources (where traffic came from).

Data is aggregated several times a day. It seems you cannot view it in real-time.

So. The price you are curious about is, believe it or not,80,000 yen per month.

It is not 8,000 yen, you know? They say it is 80,000 yen.

......Shall we end this topic here? Haha.

Since some of you might be interested, I will post the links below for your reference.

List of features for note and note pro(note official help)

How to use note pro analytics beta version (analysis feature)(note official help)

Can Google Analytics be used?

For those running blogs on WordPress, Google Analytics (hereafter referred to as Alice) is the standard for traffic analysis.

Regarding the question, "Can't I use Alice?"In conclusion, you can.

However, it seems you need to sign up for note pro and acquire a custom domain.

Once again, I will end this topic here (bitter laugh).

If you want to know more, please read this article.

You can't really pay 80,000 yen a month just for the sake of "let's try using note a little bit," can you?

Analysis is important, but if there's a future where I'm "writing and selling paid notes like crazy! (and they actually sell)," then maybe I'll consider it (laughs).

Rewriting the title and introduction to observe progress

In this article, I have introduced real-life examples regarding

• Can a "note article with zero keyword selection" written by a complete note beginner rank high in search results?

• How much it was read in one week

• Can you even perform traffic analysis on note in the first place?

.

The article I used as a sample this time still has some trending potential, soif it can rank a little higher, maybe it will continue to be read?

So, I rewrote just the title and the lead paragraph a little.

If this were a blog, it would be too early to judge a rewrite (bitter laugh).

Since it's an article with zero profitability, it's really just an experiment, butI'll report back on how the rankings and overall views fluctuate.

Stay tuned!

This was Sutaro (@sutarog) ^^

I also run a blog on WordPress. Please feel free to take a look if you'd like!