The latest articles on DEV Community by Mark Leto (@markleto). https://dev.to/markleto https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4053890%2F796bb653-e883-4e6b-982b-82419114edce.jpg https://dev.to/markleto en Mark Leto Wed, 29 Jul 2026 20:37:04 +0000 https://dev.to/markleto/can-a-small-ai-website-still-get-google-traffic-in-2026-im-going-to-find-out-2kbb https://dev.to/markleto/can-a-small-ai-website-still-get-google-traffic-in-2026-im-going-to-find-out-2kbb <p>Introduction</p> <p>For the last few weeks, I’ve been running a small experiment.</p> <p>Instead of building another SaaS startup or chasing investors, I decided to build a simple website around AI tools and document everything publicly.</p> <p>No team.</p> <p>No marketing budget.</p> <p>No SEO agency.</p> <p>Just curiosity, consistency, and a lot of trial and error.</p> <p>I genuinely want to answer one question:</p> <p>Can a small AI website still grow organically in 2026?</p> <p>⸻</p> <p>Why I Started</p> <p>AI tools are everywhere now.</p> <p>Every day another directory, another “best AI tools” list, another comparison website appears.</p> <p>Most people say it’s already too late.</p> <p>Maybe they’re right.</p> <p>I wanted to find out myself instead of trusting opinions.</p> <p>So I bought a domain and started building.</p> <p>⸻</p> <p>My Rules</p> <p>To make the experiment interesting, I gave myself a few restrictions.</p> <ul> <li>No buying backlinks.</li> <li>No paid traffic.</li> <li>No huge content team.</li> <li>No publishing hundreds of AI-generated articles.</li> </ul> <p>Everything has to be something I would actually publish.</p> <p>Quality first.</p> <p>⸻</p> <p>The First Product</p> <p>Instead of only writing articles, I decided the website should also offer something genuinely useful.</p> <p>The first tool is a free AI Background Remover.</p> <p>Nothing revolutionary.</p> <p>But it solves a real problem in a few seconds, and that felt like a better starting point than another generic blog post.</p> <p>⸻</p> <p>What I’ve Learned So Far</p> <p>The biggest surprise wasn’t building the tool.</p> <p>It was realizing how much work happens after pressing “Publish.”</p> <p>Indexing.</p> <p>Technical SEO.</p> <p>Site structure.</p> <p>Internal linking.</p> <p>Performance.</p> <p>Small details matter far more than I expected.</p> <p>⸻</p> <p>The Goal</p> <p>I’m not trying to build the next unicorn.</p> <p>I simply want to see whether a small independent website can still earn organic traffic by creating useful content and useful tools.</p> <p>If it works, great.</p> <p>If it fails, I’ll document that too.</p> <p>Either way, I’ll share the results.</p> <p>⸻</p> <p>Try the Tool</p> <p>If you’re curious, you can try the first tool here:</p> <p>👉 <a href="https://letomix.com/free-tools/background-remover/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://letomix.com/free-tools/background-remover/</a></p> <p>I’d genuinely appreciate any feedback.</p> webdev seo ai buildinpublic