Pointless websites are often crafted purely for entertainment, lacking a clear purpose or practical use. While many websites serve to sell products, provide services, or educate users, these seemingly “useless” pages exist simply to amuse or bewilder visitors.
In our list of “useless” websites, we explore eight intriguing examples and uncover what we can learn from them — do they offer hidden value, or are they just quirks of the digital world? Let’s find out!
1. Useless Web: It’s in the Name
The Useless Web is a curated roundup of the web's most pointless sites, featuring a giant CTA button that will take you to some of the most absurd pages online. What’s better than a useless website that lets you kill some time and de-stress? A compilation of random sites that do the same.
Moreover, the website’s performance is truly astonishing:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 185,100
- Keywords: 3,498
- Backlinks: 90,933
Lesson: Expand your backlink portfolio. Many of the sites linked are creative and absurd, demonstrating that your work doesn’t always have to fit into conventional molds. Creating something purely whimsical can stand out and be appreciated.
2. Cat Bounce: The World’s Most Useless Website
Cat Bounce shows cats jumping up and down, and that is all it does. Visitors can make the cats bounce lower or higher: a simple engagement that can feel oddly satisfying. If you click the “Make it rain” button, you’ll see dozens of cats falling from the sky.
This pointless website’s performance metrics are as follows:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 4,801
- Keywords: 1,706
- Backlinks: 180,214
Lesson: Interactive content increases time on site and click-through rates, both of which drive high SEO value and could help your site rank higher, reaping more organic traffic.
3. Ffffidget: Random Website To Visit When Bored
Ffffidget is an online fidget spinner — nothing more, nothing less. Users can interact with the fidget spinner by moving it around the web page, spinning it slower or faster, and observing the color change. A single CTA button, “Buy a spinner,” directs users to Amazon, where they can purchase one for themselves.
The performance metrics for this site are:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 626
- Keywords: 166
- Backlinks: 1,370
Lesson: Use interactive content to showcase a product and generate interest, warming up leads before directing them to a checkout page.
4. Staggering Beauty: Kill Your Spare Time
Staggering Beauty is a website where users can wiggle a white-eyed worm. They can control the wiggle speed; once it reaches a certain pace, the background erupts with flashing lights and loud music.
Staggering Beauty’s web performance is excellent, given its simplicity:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 3,614
- Keywords: 2,487
- Backlinks: 38,895
Lesson: Feature an element of surprise — surprising or unexpected features tend to be memorable and shareable, increasing their virality.
5. Eel Slap: Escape From Boredom
Eel Slap prompts visitors with one single goal they need to fulfill — to slap a man with a fish. Despite its purposeless, this website has impressive metrics:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 8,979
- Keywords: 1,437
- Backlinks: 4,865
Lesson: Singular focus is powerful, prompting users to take specific actions.
6. Pointer Pointer: Random, Random
Pointer Pointer prompts users to move their mouse pointers across a black surface. The site then displays directions like “Please move your pointer” and “Finding pointer...please hold still.”
When the website detects the visitor’s pointer, it reveals funny images of people pointing at various objects. This makes users stick around and explore more images to stay entertained.
Despite its seemingly pointless web design, the following numbers speak volumes about its effectiveness:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 65,443
- Keywords: 1,173
- Backlinks: 34,480
Lesson: Compelling CTAs and interactive elements encourage clicks from visitors and increase dwell time.
7. Bored Button: When Bored Press this Button
The Bored Button entices users to press a big red button. Once they take the desired action, the site loads another webpage, with the button remaining at the top right corner.
With each click of the button, users receive a new task to ease their boredom. Activities include holding down a button to set a new high score, doing crazy card tricks, and playing various games.
For an ostensibly useless website, Bored Button has excellent metrics:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 171,834
- Keyword Rankings: 2,299
- Backlinks: 63,786
Bored Button is a prime example of a useless website that ranks exceptionally well in search engine result pages (SERPs), holding the first position for the following keywords:
- I’m bored
- Bored button
- Bored games
- Google I am bored
- I’m bored games
Lesson: Interactive content with elements of surprise provokes curiosity and keeps users engaged longer.
8. Have Time To Kill? Patience Is a Virtue
With a loading animation and a few notes that say “Loading, please wait,” “This is taking longer than planned, please wait,” and “Thank you for your patience,” Patience Is A Virtue seems sarcastic at first but very quickly loses its charm as nothing ever loads no matter how long you wait.
This website has generated over 250,000 social shares on Facebook and Twitter, along with the following metrics:
- Monthly Traffic Volume: 101
- Keywords: 136
- Backlinks: 1,176
Lesson: Shared experiences, especially frustrating ones, are great conversation starters — something brands can use to connect with their audiences while building highly shareable content.
5 Ways Useless Sites Make Business Sense
With their monthly traffic, media buzz, and keyword rankings, these seemingly ridiculous websites can surprisingly make money via:
- Running paid ads: Pointless websites can display various advertisements and get paid each time a user clicks on them.
- Selling sponsored posts: These websites can partner with brands to feature sponsored posts, which include both visual and written content.
- Generating leads: For long-term sustainability, businesses must find new and creative ways to generate new leads. Random websites can connect brands with potential customers and earn money whether or not these prospects convert.
- Being an Amazon affiliate: There are plenty of pointless websites that promote relevant Amazon products in exchange for commissions — like previously presented Ffffidget.
- Selling ad space: Useless websites can also sell ad space to brands and get paid depending on the number of impressions and visitors generated.
Key Lessons To Learn From These Pointless Websites
While many of the world’s useless websites exist only to entertain, some can be very powerful marketing machines. Here are the top lessons they teach us:
1. Backlinks Are Precious
If there is anything we can learn from this useless web design, it is that authenticity wins the internet. This is why these sites have a good number of backlinks from across the web, generating thousands of monthly visitors.
2. Clear and Singular Goals Enhance User Experience
On these sites, visitors can instantly engage with the content. This delivers the best user experience and increases the time spent on the site. User experience is a key ranking factor for Google's algorithms.
3. Word Count Doesn’t Always Matter
How does Bored Button succeed in ranking well for so many phrases with so little content? The key to its success is its ability to keep users entertained, increasing their time spent on the site. Higher dwell time and lower bounce rates signal Google that the site offers value to its visitors. This results in higher rankings and increases organic traffic.
Takeaways on Pointless Websites
Pointless websites are created to entertain visitors. However, they are a powerful marketing tool that can generate money for businesses. They are linked to and shared all over the internet, so they rank well on SERPs and receive tons of monthly traffic.
If there’s something we can learn from the most useless websites, it’s that there is tremendous value in creativity and the unconventional.
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Useless Websites FAQs
1. What are the best random websites to go to when bored?
You can visit all the websites listed above if you’re bored. But if you want to maximize your spare time, The Useless Web may be the best option, as it’s the “greatest hits” of useless websites.
2. How many websites are inactive?
There are around 1.2 billion websites worldwide, 83% of which are inactive. That’s over 902 million inactive websites.
3. Who made the Useless Web?
Created by Australian developer Tim Holman, The Useless Web is a portal to some of the internet’s most absurd and purposeless sites. With a single click, the homepage randomly directs users to a variety of bizarre and entertaining webpages, making it a true digital rabbit hole for wasting time.
