According to Welsh, Buy Side has taken a multifaceted approach to building its readership, including proactive and reactive efforts.

In particular, the commerce division has worked to strengthen its search engine authority through consistent back-linking to other sites within the Dow Jones portfolio, such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, IBD and MarketWatch. It also plans to increase the visibility of Buy Side content on these sites’ layouts, though Buy Side already has a dedicated carousel on The Journal’s homepage.

The affiliate division worked with a search engine agency to help optimize its search authority at launch, but the consultancy said it would take a minimum of two years before the site began accruing substantial search traffic.

To compensate for this maturation period, Buy Side has invested heavily in its audience development team to ensure that its content is available across every major source of readership, including platforms like Apple News.

It has also kept a close eye on developments surrounding Search Generative Experience, the effort from Google to answer users’ search queries without directing them to publishers’ websites, Welsh said. 

New initiatives and verticals

Heading into its second year, Buy Side has already unveiled one new initiative and has a second series of releases slated for later this year, according to Welsh.

In May, the publisher launched its program Buy Side Exclusives, which provides exclusive deals, discounts and perks to paying Dow Jones subscribers who opt into the program. So far, more than 800,000 paying subscribers have opted into the program, according to Welsh.

The trove of audience data provided by this program has opened up additional revenue opportunities. For instance, advertisers can craft special campaigns designed explicitly to reach these consumers, and retailers can offer specific deals designed to reach them. 

In the coming months, Buy Side plans to introduce a number of new editorial verticals, including one that focuses on when to buy certain items, Welsh said. 

“This is a long-term project and we are just finishing year one, but so far all the feedback has been very positive,” Welsh said.