In no real order

1. wide range of OS's you can target

2. no dependency on libc, you can build and copy over a binary to a machine and it will work

3. fast compiles

4. amazing stdlib, makes writing no to low dependency code very attainable

(imo) there's very little reason to start a new backend project in ruby/python/js when you can just use go and get better performance

> doesn't seem to be making much traction

Its one of the most in demand languages, at least according to linkedin in my area.