12 Best Outdoors & Survival Websites of 2022

Are you enamored by the great outdoors? Or are you proud of your wilderness survival skills? You’ll be glad to know you can turn your passion into a source of income through a survival website. And, as more people look towards returning to nature, you will have a decent audience. 

You can also target people who want to turn to nature in preparation for an apocalypse. No matter the reason, your website will teach people how to navigate the great outdoors and survive mother nature.

The challenge here is that there are plenty of websites doing that already. Seriously, the number of people teaching people how to survive the end of the world is a bit disturbing. However, there is no need to despair just yet. You can still carve out your place in the niche. 

Our goal is to help you identify the pros and find out what makes them special. Let’s look at the best outdoors and survival websites in 2022. See what techniques help them attract traffic and apply them to your website.

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1. Outdoor Life

Outdoor Life is a perfect example of the best outdoors and survival websites. It covers everything related to the great outdoors. That includes hunting, fishing, conservation, guns, gear, survival, and merch. The company started in 1898 and is based in Florida, USA. However, it wasn’t until 1995 that they registered a domain for their website. 

Considering that the website has been around for twenty-seven years, the huge traffic amount isn’t that surprising. The website recorded nearly six and a half million visits from March to May. There were two million visits in May alone. The eight-six percent bounce rate may seem high. However, it is doing pretty well, considering the sheer traffic and the website’s niche. 

Most of the traffic comes from the US, but there are a few visitors from Canada too. Moreover, most of the website’s traffic comes through organic and direct traffic channels. 

Other than those, social media is a solid contributor. Social media visits account for thirteen percent of the total traffic. Among social media, Facebook is the biggest player in Outdoor Life.

What We Like About Outdoor Life

• Comprehensive and Efficient Categorization: The website has a plethora of content, and we mean tons and tons of stuff. However, the website categorized the content into different options to organize all of it. The options are present on the navigation bar and a hamburger menu. They have divided each option into other categories. 
• Buying Guides: Outdoor Life has numerous buying guides. From hunting gears to survival gear to trucks, they have reviewed everything and listed out the best products. Afterward, they reviewed each product by giving an overview and more details. The reviews contain affiliate links and have developed CTAs to encourage you to click those.
• Email List: Users can subscribe to Outdoor Life’s newsletter, but they will have to enter their email list. While signing up for the newsletter, they have the option to opt out of receiving promotions. 
• Conservation: In the conservation section, the website covers a wide variety of stuff. This includes wildlife management, climate, environment, public lands, and more. 
• Tips and Advice: The website contains an array of news and tips related to living in the outdoors. 
• Merch: You can buy art pieces that the magazine’s editorial staff has selected through the website. Additionally, you can go to the company’s Amazon store to get some knives and apparel.

2. Switchback Travels

David, the founder of Switchback travels, created the site to help people who are passionate about traveling. Primarily an outdoors and survival affiliate website, the website doesn’t let profits get in the way of its reviews. They offer content that helps outdoor enthusiasts. This content includes gear reviews, adventure stories, and photography pieces.

Based in the US, the website has become popular since its early days in 2011. The website has received nearly four and a half million visitors in the last three months. More than one and a half million of these visitors are from the last month alone. In addition to that, the website has a seventy-four percent bounce rate. 

Most of their website traffic is from the US. However, they get some traffic from Australia, Canada, the UK, and Germany. Ninety percent of the overall traffic enters the website through organic searches. Almost all these organic searches are non-branded, so the search engines pick up the actual articles instead. That means the website’s SEO game is on point. 

What We Like About Switchback Travels

• Easy Website Navigation: The website has a sticky navigation bar with options for different gear and travel guides. Each option has a drop-down menu with more specific page links. The search option is available if users wish to search for content with keywords. Additionally, there are internal links in articles so people can move from page to page.
• Gear Guides: The website contains gear guides to help customers choose the best fit for themselves. These guides cover the best equipment in each category. The guides have affiliate links, but the website is transparent about those. Additionally, they don’t go easy with the reviews for the sake of profit.  
• Adventure Stories: The adventure stories section contains traveling guides and stories. All these stories are organized by the country. There are two different story series as well. These are the ‘A Year on the Road’ and ‘On Location’ series.
• Camera Guides: No trip is complete without pictures. Thus, the website contains photography guides as well. Users can also find reviews for digital cameras and lenses on the site. 
• Blog Posts: The perspectives section on the homepage contains these posts. The posts follow different travelers and other interesting topics.  
• Email List: The website lets people sign up for its email list by offering a free newsletter. The newsletter provides users with news alerts from the website. They use Mailchimp for this purpose. All users have to do is enter their name and email address.

3. Clever Hiker

Dave Collins was looking for more detailed info on backpacking but did not find anything adequate. Thus, in 2012, he started Clever Hiker to fill that gap and help fellow outdoor enthusiasts. Their main focus is to help fellow backpackers travel in a way that doesn’t disturb nature or leave trash behind.

During the ten years since its beginning, the Clever Hiker website has done quite well for itself. The website saw more than three and a half million visitors during the last three months. Just last month, the website saw nearly one and a half million visitors, and the numbers keep increasing. 

In addition to the high traffic volume, the website has a nearly seventy-five percent bounce rate. As expected from a US-based website, most traffic is from the US. However, there is still decent traffic from Canada and the United Kingdom. Most of the traffic comes through organic searches. Ninety-one percent of those organic searches are non-branded.

What We Like About Clever Hiker

• Navigation: Your website needs to load quickly, and it needs to be easy to navigate. Hence, Clever Hiker uses a navigation bar to ensure visitors don’t get lost under the huge amount of content. Users can click on options here to get to the required pages.
• Categories: In order to help users make sense of the extensive content, the website uses an organization scheme. They divided the content into blog posts, travel guides, general articles, and reviews. Each category, like footwear, leads to more sections like boots.
• Email List: Clever Hiker offers its followers a free newsletter. This newsletter covers stories, reviews, and videos. They send it out every two weeks. However, the users must enter the site’s email list to get the newsletter.
• Social Media: The website also asks visitors to track the content on the relevant social media channels. They have links that users can use to subscribe to them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.
• Gear Guides: The Clever Hiker is famous for its gear reviews. These guides cover every topic that a hiker could need info on. Of course, the reviews contain affiliate links, but they are open about those. The reviews have two types; the ‘best of’ and single brand/product reviews.

4. DIVEIN

DIVEIN started with two brothers in 2019. At first, the website focused on scuba diving. However, it has grown since then to cover other topics. These topics include paddle boarding, beaches, climbing, swimming, travel, boating, kayaking, yoga, snow, everyday life, and the outdoors. The website started with two people and grew into a team of eighteen outdoor enthusiasts.

The DIVEIN team wasn’t the only thing that grew during this period. The website has quite the following, with over two and a half million visitors during the last three months. Just last month, the website received nearly a million visitors. Moreover, the website has a seventy-two percent bounce rate. 

According to geographical traffic stats, most traffic is from the US. However, the UK, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands also bring in traffic. The main marketing channel for the website is the organic search channel. It accounts for ninety percent of the total traffic.

What We Like About DIVEIN

• Frontpage: Users enter the website through the front page. Here, the website has all its categories laid out. This page also introduces the website and builds credibility. Users can find the website’s most popular reviews and articles here. 
• Mini-sites: Each category on the website lead to a mini-site. This, in our opinion, is an ingenious idea. That’s because the categories are broad and thus cover tons of data. This approach keeps the users from getting overwhelmed.
• Reviews: The website specializes in gear reviews. So you can find the best equipment guides for almost anything. They list the best products and rate them out of five. They also explain the pros and cons of each product. For more detailed reviews, users can click on individual product reviews.
• Popular Reviews: Users can find the most popular reviews on the homepages of the mini-sites. 
• Testing Procedures: Each review has an option, ‘How we test.’ Users can click on these to see how the experts rate these products. 
• Mini-site Reviewers Introduction: Each mini-site has its own experts. Users can see their introduction on the homepage of that site. 
• Search Feature: The website also comes with a search feature. Users can use this feature to find the relevant content. All they need to do is enter a keyword, and they will get all the related articles from the website.

5. Backpacker

The Backpacker magazine is the best source of tips for travelers. Here, expert travelers share all they have learned over the years they have traveled. That includes their travel stories, gear reviews, safety advice, and more. The magazine has been around since 1973, so they certainly have the right amount of experience.

Looking at the website traffic stats, let’s just say we were more than just impressed. The website recorded more than one and a half million visits from March to May. In just May alone, the website recorded over six hundred thousand visits. Combining those stats with the website’s sixty-nine percent bounce rate, we can see that the website is flourishing. 

Most of it (74%) is from the US, which makes sense since the website is US-based. The visitors enter the website via organic searches, direct searches, and social media. That means that the Backpacker’s SEO is on point, making it one of the best outdoors and survival affiliate websites right now. 

What We Like About Backpacker 

• Navigation Menu: The website has a sticky navigation bar. The bar has options for different pages depending on the visitor’s requirements. Users can opt to jump to the gear tips, survival skills, and more from here. There is a search feature too. The hamburger menu has the same options as the navigation bar.
• Quality Content: As established earlier, Backpacker has expert contributors that are travelers themselves. As such, the content they deliver is practical and useful for the readers.
• Membership: Users can choose a membership for which they will be paying annually. The membership grants access to premium content. Members tend to be eligible for discounts on gear from affiliate brands. They also have their feed personalized based on their interests. 
• Newsletter: The website has a newsletter that users can sign-up for. All they have to do is enter their email. In return, the website gives them information about the latest news and offers from Backpacker and its associated brands. 
• Gear Guides and Reviews: The website has a special section dedicated to gear. This section includes gear guides and the ‘best of’ guides which are sprinkled with affiliate links. They don’t offer any discounts for those who aren’t members.
• Magazine: The Backpacker is essentially a magazine. Visitors can access the digital copy of the magazine through the website. However, they need a membership to actually read it. Some of the stories from the magazine are available for free.
• CTAs: The website doesn’t have alot of CTAs unless it’s a guide. That’s because they’ve filled the website with headlines that make people want to click them. The CTAs present there are in bold colors such as yellow to get the maximum attention.

6. Primal Survivor

Primal Survivor is a survival and prepping skills website. The website aims to equip its users with the skills to live independently in their lives. Of course, these skills are also useful during natural and other disasters, but they don’t go around predicting an apocalypse. 

Jacob Hunter is the founder of Primal Survival. He founded it around 2015. Since then, the website has racked up quite the following. In the last three months (March to May), the website has recorded over one and a half million visits. More than four hundred and fifty thousand users visited the website in May. 

The website has a seventy-five percent bounce rate. That may seem like alot, but given the fact that it’s an outdoors and survival niche website, it is okay. Since it is a US-based blog, most of the traffic is from the US. The majority of the visitors (75%) get there through organic searches. However, social media, especially Pinterest, also plays a significant role.

What We Like About Primal Survivor

• Navigation Bar: Primal Survivor has kept its navigation bar pretty minimalist. There are just three options on the bar itself; ‘Products,’ ‘New Preppers Guide,’ and ‘Calculator.’ However, there is a hamburger menu that contains more detailed options. Additionally, there is a search feature on the bar as well for the more specific users. 
• Resources: The resources section is filled with articles. These articles cover everything from making Pemmican to guides to fish antibiotics for humans. The website has a dedicated team that ensures all the articles are well-researched. 
• Categorization: The website has plenty of resources. However, that can overwhelm readers. To combat that, Primal Survivor has organized the articles into categories like survival water, emergency preparedness, and more.
• Reviews: The website declares being an Amazon Associate. The team has dedicated an entire section to reviews. They review all types of survival gears while detailing the pros and cons of each product. The review also contains red CTAs redirecting people to the product pages. 
• Endorsements: In a bid to increase credibility, they have mentioned all the big websites that have referenced their site. That also includes The New York Times.
• Newsletter: Primal Survivor has a free newsletter that users can subscribe to. In order to do so, they must enter their first name and email address. 

7. Section Hiker

Philip Werner is a backpacking enthusiast living in New England. He created the Section Hiker website in 2007. Since 2008, the hiker has completed the Long Trail, Appalachian Trail, White Mountain National Forest Trail, and more. He uses the website to tell fellow hikers about his adventures and everything he has learned.

The traffic stats show that the website is doing quite well. It saw more than one and a half million visitors during the March to May period. Furthermore, there were more than five hundred and fifty-three thousand visitors in May. That was the highest number during the three months. 

As is usual for a US-based website, sixty-eight percent of this traffic is from the US. However, there was significant traffic from Canada and the UK. The website’s SEO seems to be perfect since eighty-one percent of the traffic is through the organic search channel. Among social media channels, Pinterest brings in the most traffic.

What We Like About Section Hiker

• Navigation Menu: The website has sorted its navigation menu into different options. Each option leads to its relevant webpage. These options are ’10 Best Gear Guides’, ‘Gear Reviews’, ‘Gear Lists’, ‘FAQs’, ‘Ultralight Backpacking’, ‘Winter Hiking’, and ‘White Mountains’.
• Homepage Sections: Werner has divided the homepage into various sections. Each section contains some articles from the relevant category. He follows these articles with CTAs asking readers to ‘read more.’ These sections are named ‘Latest Posts’, ‘Gear Discounts’, ‘Recent Comments’, ‘Gear Guides’, ‘Gear Reviews’, ‘Faqs, and ‘How to Choose’. 
• Newsletter Subscription: The website offers a newsletter with the latest news from the website. The newsletter is free of charge, and they send it to the user’s email address.
• Gear Discounts: There is a section on the homepage called ‘Gear Discounts.’ This section contains Discount codes and free shipping & returns offers. It also links to discount programs. Users can receive extra discounts on special brands by clicking these links and following the instructions.
• Email Capture: The comment section is another strategy for capturing visitors’ emails. Users must enter their name and email address to leave a comment.
• Reviews: The website has divided the reviews into the best gear guides and gear reviews. The best gear guides round out the best products in the category. These reviews are short. On the other hand, gear reviews are more detailed, focusing on each aspect of the product. 

8. The Packable Life

Noel Krasomil created The Packable Life sometime around 2017. He has been passionate about traveling since he was seventeen. So, in 2017, he decided to quit his unfulfilling job and set out doing what he really loved. In the very first year, he managed to travel to nine countries. So, he had a lot to share, and thus, the website was born.

Since starting his blog, Noel has managed to rack up quite the following. His website recorded more than four hundred and fifty-six thousand visitors from March to May. The average monthly visitor number during this time was over one hundred and fifty-two thousand. 

The number may not seem like much at first. However, when we combine it with a fifty-six percent bounce rate, it translates quite well. The US is responsible for most of the traffic, i.e., forty-six percent. However, the UK and Canada also bring in ten and nine percent traffic, respectively.

What We Like About Packable Life

• Website Design: The website design for The Packable Life is unique. The website has divided the navigation menu so that half of it is above the website log while the other half is below it. The website headers feature a picture with a brief description of what Noel does and a CTA to click the button and get started.
• Categorization: The website has categories that Noel uses to organize the articles. This way, visitors can get an idea of how the website works. These categories include travel resources, guides, journals, backpacking resources, and gear reviews.
• Travel Resources: The writer also mentions resources that can help people travel more easily. These apps can help with scheduling flights, booking places to stay, renting cars, getting travel insurance, getting travel gear, finding the best travel reward credit cards, and more. 
• Guide and Journal: The website contains travel guides that cover the basic information users would need to travel a place. On the other hand, the journal covers Noel’s personal traveling experiences.
• Reviews: Like other outdoors & survival affiliate websites, this one also contains both the best gear guides and single product reviews. The single product reviews are far more comprehensive, covering every possible aspect of the product.

9. The Adventure Junkies

In 2014, Amanda and Antonio set out on a three-year-long cycling adventure. They started The Adventure Junkies as a way to share their stories during this time. Over time as they began to feel the need to educate other potential adventurers, the website became more than just a travel blog. It became a resource center for complete beginners and even experts.

Since its start in 2014, the US-based traffic has grown into quite a community. The website has seen nearly four hundred thousand visitors in the last three months. The monthly visit stats are around one hundred and thirty-three thousand. Additionally, the website has a seventy-nine percent bounce rate. 

The website records sixty percent of its traffic from the US. It records six percent of traffic from the UK and Canada. Organic Searches account for eighty-four percent of this traffic. Furthermore, ninety-nine percent of these organic searches are non-branded. 

What We Like About The Adventure Junkies

• Website Design: We really liked the website’s color scheme. The black header and white background give the website a modern look. The simple color scheme also elevates the graphics, making them pop out. Another cool thing was the picture slideshow with article names. 
• Navigation: The navigation menu is simple too. It has options pointing to different gear categories. These categories include men, women, dive, hike, paddle, cycle, climb, water, snow, and photo. It also has a search feature that users can use to look for more specific content.
• Articles Library: The website comes with an article library. The library contains more than a thousand articles. They have categorized all these articles based on activities and interests. Users have to option to choose from sixteen categories.
• Gear Reviews: The reviews on the site are most the best gear guides. These guides list the best gear options for that category and then give a short review of each of them. The short reviews contain the features, specs, and a short description in addition to the affiliate link. The guides also explain what users should look for in that particular gear.
• Sticky Social Media Icons: The guides have sticky social media icons. These icons show how many times the article has been shared. They also explain which social media is responsible for these shares. The channels include Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Flip, and Email. Users can click on these to share the articles.

10. Survive Nature

Survive Nature has been around since 2010. During these ten years, it has taught people basic survival skills so that they may be prepared no matter what happens. The website provides tips to handle emergencies that can occur in our daily life. The site is a prepper favorite. However, others can also benefit from it.

The website recorded over three hundred and nine thousand visitors in the March to May period. The average monthly visits during this period were a hundred and three thousand. Additionally, the website has a sixty-one percent bounce rate. 

The website gets sixty-nine percent of its traffic from the US, followed by five percent of traffic from the UK. Looking at the traffic channels, most of the traffic comes from the organic search channel. Organic searches make up eighty-four percent of the traffic, and all are non-branded. 

What We Like About Survive Nature

• Website Design: For a prepper website, the design is pretty fun. The opening graphics are vivid, followed by mint-green CTAs that visitors can click on for redirection. Each article has an accompanying graphic illustrating what it is about. 
• Navigation: The navigation menu is pretty standard. It has the main categories, each with drop-down menus for more specific pages. Furthermore, there is a search feature on the navigation bar.  
• Emergency Preparation Guide: The website offers an Emergency Preparation Guide that visitors can download for free. Users must enter their email addresses, and they’ll get a downloadable version of the guide.
• Gear Guides: The website has gear guides that are educational resources on how to build gear. It also comes with a review section where they review the best gear. 
• CTAs: The website has plenty of CTAs. On the homepage, the website users color to highlight the CTAs. 
• Social Media Channels: The website features links to its social media channels on its footer. People who subscribe to these links are more likely to return to the website. 

11. Two Roaming Souls

Jake and Emily are two full-time campers who created a blog called Two Roaming Souls. The website focuses on sharing their stories and all that they have learned during their travels. They also share tips for other people who are fond of traveling. They started the website somewhere around 2016, and it is still going strong. 

The total number of visits from March to May was over three hundred and thirteen thousand. The website recorded nearly ninety-eight thousand visits in May. The website focuses on locations within the US. So, it is not surprising that almost eighty percent of the website traffic comes from there. With a sixty-six percent bounce, the website is pretty doing well for an outdoors and survival niche website. 

Most of the traffic enters the website via organic and direct searches. These two channels account for eighty-eight and eight percent of the traffic, respectively. Their social media traffic mainly comes from Pinterest and Reddit. That makes up for three percent of the total traffic.

What We Like About Two Roaming Souls

• Navigation: The website has two navigation bars. One at the very top with options for supporting the two bloggers, working with them, and the free ebook. The second integrated with the website’s banners focuses more on navigating the website. It also has a search feature and links to social media channels associated with the site. 
• Content: On the homepage is a brief intro to the couple and what they do. After that, the website content focuses on travel guides, tips, activities, and places the couple has visited. It also covers the art of living in a camping van. 
• Helping the Planet: As we said before, the couple likes to go backpacking, hiking, and more. On these adventures, they clean up all the trash they find. There is a counter for all the trash they have picked. Visitors can help out by donating to their Patreon, as highlighted by a CTA.
• eBook: The couple also offers visitors a free ebook. All they have to do is enter their email address. 
• Email List: In addition to the ebook, they also offer a subscription option. All users have to do is enter their name and email address. Afterward, they will receive emails with the latest emails. Hence, they have employed two methods for making people enter their email list. 
• Reviews: The couple also reviews all the gear that people could need. There are buying guides as well as reviews for individual products. 
• Discounts for Affiliate Links: The couple also offers discounts on their affiliate links. For example, if a user buys a product through their affiliate link, they could get up to 40% off in discount.  

12. This Big Wild World

Susan created this blog in 2017. Susan is an adventurer herself, and she aims to appeal to other people’s sense of adventure. This blog is her way of doing that. Till now, she has been to six continents, with a trip to Antarctica coming up at the end of this year. During this time, she has learned alot. She shares her experience on this outdoors niche website so that others don’t repeat her mistakes. 

During the last three months, more than eighteen thousand visitors entered the website. The monthly visit rate is over six thousand. This may seem small, but for an affiliate, even this much audience can turn up quite the profit. Combine that with a fifty-nine percent bounce rate, and the website is doing relatively well. 

Most of the website traffic comes from the US. However, the website also sees small traffic from Canada. In terms of the traffic channels, organic searches are bringing in the most traffic. However, they do get quite a few visitors from social media too. The website’s biggest social media channels are Pinterest and Facebook. 

What We Like About The Big Wild World

• Website Navigation: The website has one of those sticky navigation bars that we love. The bar has all the options for navigating the website. In addition to that, it has a search feature. Those that want to get to the relevant content more quickly can use this feature instead. 
• Email List: The navigation bar also has a CTA telling people to “Join.” People will end up on the subscription page when clicking on the link. Susan promises to send the users a newsletter with exclusive tips and advice on traveling. All they have to do is enter their name and email address. She also promises to only send an email once a month. 
• Website Content: The first thing we noticed was the stunning graphics. Keeping with the traveling spirit, Susan uses the website to recommend travel destinations. She also offers guides and other resources guaranteed to help users on their trips. She also has a blog where she offers other content, reviews for cabins, and more.
• Affiliate Links: The website is pretty laid-back about the affiliate links. There are no blaring colors begging people to buy the products. Instead, Susan offers a more general guide while discussing the products she prefers. She also offers discount codes on cabins and Airbnbs. 

Our Related Services

• Our Keyword Research, Content Writing & Posting Service
• Our Done-For-You Niche Website Service
• Our On Demand Niche Website Service

Conclusion

That concludes our list of the best outdoors & survival websites of 2022. Look at every one of these to see how they are duplicating their traffic. Later, you can use the tactics you consider the best to apply on your website. 

One thing you must remember is that good content is not alone. Similarly, just inserting the relevant keywords and getting your website won’t do you any good. You need to use both of these to ensure that your audience keeps returning to the website. 

Good SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, paid ad campaigns, and referrals go a long way in increasing the visitor stats. From that point on, you need to make them stay using killer content. Furthermore, if you are using affiliate links, disclose them so build a rapport with your readers.