Medium SEO: How to Rank Your Stories #1 on Google
Step by Step Guide Inside
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If you are a writer on Medium, you might wonder how to get more views and followers for your stories.
One of the best ways to do that is to optimize your stories for search engines, especially Google.
What is Medium SEO?
Medium SEO is the process of improving the visibility and relevance of your stories on Medium for search engines.
Medium SEO involves researching keywords, writing engaging headlines and content, editing your story settings, adding relevant tags, publishing in popular publications, building backlinks, and sharing your stories on social media.
Why is Medium SEO important?
Medium SEO is important because it can help you reach a wider audience and attract more readers to your stories.
According to SimilarWeb, Medium gets over 200 million monthly visitors, and about 40% of them come from organic search.
That means millions of people are searching for topics that you might be writing about on Medium.
By optimizing your stories for search engines, you can increase the chances of your stories appearing on the first page of Google results, which can drive more traffic and engagement to your stories.
Additionally, Medium SEO can help you establish your authority and credibility as a writer, as well as grow your followers and earnings on the platform.
How to do Medium SEO?
Medium SEO is not very different from regular SEO.
You need to follow some basic principles and best practices to optimize your stories for search engines.
Here are some steps you can take to do Medium SEO effectively:
1. Research low-competition keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases that people use to search for information online.
To rank your stories high on Google, you need to use keywords that are relevant to your topic and audience, but also have low competition from other websites.
To find low-competition keywords, you can use free tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest, or paid tools like Ahrefs or Semrush.
These tools can help you discover what keywords people are searching for, how many searches they get per month, how difficult they are to rank for, and what other websites are ranking for them.
You should aim for keywords that have high search volume (at least 1000 searches per month), and low keyword difficulty (less than 30).
These are the keywords that have high demand but low supply, which means you have a better chance of outranking your competitors.
2. Use keywords in your story title and body
Once you have a list of low-competition keywords, you need to use them in your story title and body.
Your story title is the most important element of your story, as it is the first thing that people see when they search for your topic.
Your story title should be catchy, clear, and concise, and include your main keyword.
Your story body is the main content of your story, where you provide valuable information to your readers.
Your story body should be well-written, well-structured, and well-formatted, and include your main keyword and related keywords throughout.
You should use your main keyword in the first paragraph of your story body, as well as in at least one subheading.
You should also use related keywords in other subheadings and paragraphs.
However, you should avoid keyword stuffing, which is the practice of using too many keywords in a way that sounds unnatural or spammy.
Keyword stuffing can hurt your ranking and readability.
3. Edit your story settings
Before you publish your story on Medium, you need to edit your story settings to make sure they are optimized for search engines.
To edit your story settings, click on the three dots icon at the top right corner of your editor screen, and select “More settings”.
In the story settings menu, you can edit the following elements:
- Slug: This is the part of your story URL that comes after medium.com/. Your slug should be short, descriptive, and include your main keyword.
- Featured image: This is the image that appears at the top of your story and in the preview when people share it on social media. Your featured image should be relevant to your topic, high-quality, and eye-catching.
- Subtitle: This is the short description that appears below your story title and in the preview when people share it on social media. Your subtitle should be informative, engaging, and include your main keyword.
- Tags: These are the words or phrases that describe what your story is about. You can add up to five tags per story. Your tags should be relevant to your topic and audience, and include some of your keywords.
4. Publish in a popular publication
One of the benefits of writing on Medium is that you can publish your stories in publications that already have a large and loyal audience.
Publications are collections of stories curated by editors around a specific topic or theme.
By publishing in a publication, you can increase your exposure and reach, as well as your credibility and authority.
To publish in a publication, you need to find one that matches your niche and style, and follow their submission guidelines.
You can browse publications by category or search for them by name or keyword. Some of the most popular publications on Medium are:
- The Startup: The largest publication on Medium, with over 779k followers. It covers topics related to entrepreneurship, business, and technology.
- Better Marketing: A publication with over 120k followers. It covers topics related to marketing, branding, and growth.
- Illumination: A publication with over 77k followers. It covers topics related to personal development, self-improvement, and inspiration.
- Data Driven Investor: A publication with over 64k followers. It covers topics related to finance, investing, and economics.
5. Build quality backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your stories.
Backlinks are important for SEO because they signal to Google that your stories are valuable and trustworthy.
The more quality backlinks you have, the higher your stories will rank on Google.
To build quality backlinks, you need to create stories that are worth linking to.
Your stories should be original, informative, and helpful to your readers.
You should also promote your stories to other websites and platforms that are relevant to your topic and audience.
You can do this by:
- Guest posting: This is the practice of writing stories for other websites or publications in exchange for a link back to your Medium profile or story.
- Outreach: This is the practice of contacting other website owners or editors and asking them to link to your stories or mention them in their content.
- Social media: This is the practice of sharing your stories on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Reddit, and encouraging others to share them as well.
6. Engage with other writers
Another way to boost your Medium SEO is to engage with other writers on the platform.
Engaging with other writers can help you build relationships, gain exposure, and get feedback.
It can also signal to Google that your stories are popular and engaging.
To engage with other writers, you can do the following:
- Clap: This is the equivalent of liking a story on Medium. You can clap up to 50 times per story. Clapping shows appreciation and support for the writer and their story.
- Comment: This is the equivalent of leaving a comment on a story on Medium. You can comment on any story that allows comments. Commenting shows interest and feedback for the writer and their story.
- Follow: This is the equivalent of following a writer on Medium. You can follow any writer that you like or admire. Following shows respect and loyalty for the writer and their work.
That’s it!
These are some of the best practices for Medium SEO that can help you rank your stories #1 on Google.
By following these steps, you can increase your visibility and relevance on Medium and Google, and grow your audience and earnings as a writer.
I hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you did, please clap, comment, follow, and share it with others who might benefit from it.
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