As the year comes to a close, I thought it would be fun to look back at the past year on the blog, and highlight the most popular posts. While this site gets a lot of traffic, I spend a surprisingly limited amount of time focused on analytics. Sure, I try to do basic things that are good for SEO, but if you asked me how much traffic the site got in a particular month, I’d have to check the Google Analytics page.
The reason I don’t focus much on this stuff is because I prefer to focus on writing, and in particular focus on writing about what I enjoy. I write 60+ posts per week, week after week, and I’d be burned out by now if I weren’t writing about the things that I enjoy.
With that in mind, the most read posts aren’t necessarily the ones that I would consider the most useful. I’m often surprised by the things that others find interesting, because sometimes the things that end up being most popular are the posts that I don’t think much of.
With that in mind, below are the 17 posts that were read the most in 2017. Many of these posts were written in previous years, so next to each post I’ll put the year in which the post was published. In order of the amount of traffic received:
- Everything You Need To Know About Getting An “SSSS” On Your Boarding Pass (2017)
- Uber Now Lets You Pay In Cash In Some Cities (2016)
- Why You SHOULDN’T Get The Capital One Venture Card (2015)
- My First Experience With UberEATS (2015)
- Do You Need To Put Your Middle Name On Airline Tickets? (2015)
- Ridiculous: Air Canada Flight Has To Declare “Mayday” Four Times Before Being Allowed To Land (2017)
- How Does Postmates Work? (2015)
- How Much Are Delta SkyMiles Worth? (2015)
- The World’s 6 Best First Class Airline Products (2015)
- Details Of LEVEL, IAG’s New Transatlantic Low Cost Airline (2017)
- What Is Uber VIP? (2015)
- What Should You Do If You’re Scheduled To Fly Qatar Airways? (2017)
- Review: EVA Air Business Class 777 Los Angeles To Taipei (2017)
- Seniors: Get Your US National Parks Lifetime Pass Now Or Pay More Later (2016)
- Review: Emirates Business Class A380 Dubai To Los Angeles (2017)
- My Experience Switching From AT&T To T-Mobile (2016)
- A Lufthansa A380 Had A 7 Hour Flight To Nowhere Today (2017)
What do I take away from this?
- The things that I enjoy writing about (trip reports, ways to earn and redeem miles, etc.) aren’t necessarily the things that the internet at large enjoys reading about, though that won’t change the approach I take
- I’m always surprised by how many old posts still do extremely well; of the top 17 posts, only seven were published this year
As always, thank you guys so much for reading. I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to do what I love every day and call it a job, even if it doesn’t feel like it. I owe that all to you guys. Here’s to a great 2018 filled with big credit card sign-up bonuses, mistake fares that are honored, and lots of great promotions.
I thought that infuriating post where you said you saw a dreamy male celebrity....but then didn't disclose who it was...was one of the most 'popular' ...certainly had the most comments....most of which were irate.
I guess the most read posts receive most of their traffic from Google Search, while trip reports are read by regular readers.
So if you've received a SSSS on your boarding pass, and are googling to find out what that means, you are sent to Lucky's post as it is judged and ranked highly by the algorithm. That kind of casual drive by traffic dwarfs regular readership
Happy new year, love reading your blog several times a week, can’t wait for the Africa trips - I’m sure these will be an adventure for us all :-)
Happy New Year to All !
Genuinely surprised that only 2 of the top 17 are trip reports, and that one of them is EVA considering how that airline is largely under the radar for most regular people.
Happy new year and thank you for a great blog. The popularity of trip reports is probably diluted as everyone is interested in different airlines/products so when looking at the popularity of posts, it might be interesting to consider trip reports on an aggregate basis.
Perhaps not the most read but my personal favorites were the reviews of the Etihad Residence (including all the posts before and after) and the Qatar Qsuites review because they were both such unique products. Thanks for the memories and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you and Ford! Been following everyday for 5 years now and I feel like I’ve seen you go through so much and I’m so happy to see how much has changed and progressed. Look forward to your next adventures in the new year. Oh, and I know your job is travel but don’t ever forget to make time for your family. Time flies and new planes, products and destinations are great...
Happy New Year to you and Ford! Been following everyday for 5 years now and I feel like I’ve seen you go through so much and I’m so happy to see how much has changed and progressed. Look forward to your next adventures in the new year. Oh, and I know your job is travel but don’t ever forget to make time for your family. Time flies and new planes, products and destinations are great but family is everything.
Wishing safe and hopefully luxurious :) travel to you, your loved ones and all who read this blog in the new year!
Would be interesting to know what are the most read posts from people entering through boarding area. Also would be fascinating to know how many people read almost everything you post! And count me in for all the trip reports!
Happy new year, and all best in 2018!!
Happy New Year Lucky !!
Hope you keep posting about what you find of interest !
Happy New Year! The results are surprising but I guess perhaps it’s a sign of people googling uber or Postmates and such and stumbling across your article?
I’m sure there are many more searches for uber than say La Premiere review
Happy New Year Lucky!
I'm surprised though that the Etihad Residence review didn't make it.
Happy New Year to both of you.
Happy New Year! Looking forward to another great year learning from you.
Heads up Lucky. Not sure when your new EK F trip is booked for but it seems they have taken it off the BRU route for some days in JAN.
Happy New Year Lucky! Keep up the great work!
Happy New Year Lucky and Ford! Thanks for another amazing year and best of luck in 2018. I hope there will be a Wedding "review" this year.
Happy New Year to Ford and you.
Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with your readers.
Reviews have moved to Youtube.
Cheers and Happy New Year Lucky! Appreciate all you do and finally got to experience LH First and the FCT this weekend thanks you all your tips.