If you are a writer or a blogger, you might have heard of Medium, a popular online platform that allows anyone to publish their content for free. Medium has over 60 million monthly readers and a high domain authority, which makes it an attractive option for writers who want to reach a large audience and boost their SEO.
But is Medium really good for SEO? Can you rank your Medium articles on Google and drive organic traffic to your website? What are the pros and cons of using Medium as a blogging platform? In this article, we will answer these questions and provide helpful resources to help you optimize your Medium articles for SEO.
What is Medium and How Does It Work?
Medium is a platform that hosts user-generated content. It was founded in 2012 by Evan Williams, one of the co-founders of Twitter. Medium’s mission is to provide a space for high-quality writing that can reach a large and engaged audience.
Medium works like a social network, where you can follow other writers, topics, and publications that interest you. You can also interact with other users by clapping, commenting, and sharing their stories. You can create your own profile, where you can showcase your bio, links, and stories. You can also join or create publications, which are collections of stories curated by editors around a specific theme or niche.
Medium is free to use for both readers and writers. However, if you want to access unlimited stories and support the platform, you can join Medium’s membership program for $5 per month or $50 per year. As a member, you can also earn money from your stories through the Medium Partner Program, which pays you based on the engagement of your readers.
What is Medium SEO?
Medium SEO is the process of optimizing your Medium articles for search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Medium SEO involves using keywords, titles, headings, images, links, and other elements to make your articles more relevant and appealing to both readers and search engines.
Medium SEO is similar to regular SEO, but there are some differences and limitations that you need to be aware of. For example, Medium does not allow you to customize your URL slug, meta description, or schema markup. You also have less control over the design and layout of your articles. However, Medium does offer some features that can help you with SEO, such as tags, canonical links, social sharing buttons, and analytics.
- Medium is a popular online publishing platform that allows anyone to create and share content with millions of readers.
- Medium has some advantages for SEO, such as a high domain authority, a large and engaged audience, and a simple and clean interface that is easy to navigate and read.
- Medium also has some drawbacks for SEO, such as a lack of control over the URL structure, the canonical tags, and the meta tags, which can affect how your articles rank on Google and other search engines.
- Medium SEO is not a substitute for having your own website or blog, but rather a complement that can help you reach a wider audience and build your brand awareness.
- Medium SEO requires some strategies and best practices to optimize your articles for search engines, such as using keywords, headings, images, links, tags, and social media.
- Medium SEO also depends on the quality and relevance of your content, the engagement of your readers, and the consistency of your publishing schedule.
Why should you use Medium for SEO?
There are several reasons why you should consider using Medium for SEO. Here are some of them:
- Medium has a high domain authority and trustworthiness. This means that Medium articles can rank well on Google, especially for long-tail keywords and niche topics. According to Victorious SEO, Medium articles can rank in the top 10 results for 9.5% of all keywords.
- Medium has a large and engaged audience. This means that your articles can get more exposure, views, comments, claps, and followers on Medium than on your own website. According to the Blogging Guide, Medium articles get an average of 1,000 views per month, compared to 500 views for self-hosted blogs.
- Medium allows you to link back to your website. This means that you can drive traffic and leads from your Medium articles to your own website. You can also use canonical links to avoid duplicate content issues and signal to Google that your website is the original source of the content.
- Medium is easy to use and free. This means that you don’t need any technical skills or investment to start publishing on Medium. You can simply sign up with your email or social media account and start writing. You can also use Medium’s editor, which is simple and intuitive, to format your articles.
How do you optimize your Medium articles for SEO?
If you want to use Medium for SEO, you need to follow some best practices and tips to optimize your articles. Here are some of them:
- Use keywords strategically. You should do keyword research and find relevant keywords that match your topic and audience’s intent. You should use these keywords in your title, headings, introduction, body text, conclusion, and tags. You should also use synonyms, variations, and long-tail keywords to avoid keyword stuffing and increase your chances of ranking for different queries.
- Write catchy titles. You should write titles that are clear, concise, and compelling. Your titles should include your main keyword and a benefit or a curiosity gap that entices readers to click on your article. You should also use title case and avoid using punctuation or symbols that might confuse search engines or readers.
- Use headings and subheadings. You should use headings and subheadings to structure your article and make it easier to read and scan. You should use H1 for your title, H2 for your main sections, and H3 for your sub-sections. You should also include keywords in your headings and subheadings but avoid repeating the same keywords too often.
- Use images and videos. You should use images and videos to enhance your article and make it more engaging and informative. You should use high-quality images and videos that are relevant to your topic and content. You should also add alt text to your images and captions to your videos to describe what they are about and include keywords if possible.
- Use links wisely. You should use links to provide additional information or resources to your readers or to direct them to your website or other platforms. You should use internal links to link to other relevant Medium articles or publications that you have written or contributed to. You should use external links to link to authoritative sources that support your claims or arguments. You should also use canonical links to link back to your website if you have published the same content elsewhere.
- Use tags effectively. You should use tags to categorize your article and make it more discoverable on Medium and search engines. You can use up to five tags per article, so choose them carefully. You should use tags that are relevant to your topic, niche, and audience. You should also use tags that are popular and trending on Medium, but avoid using tags that are too broad or too competitive.
How Does Medium Affect Your SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of improving your website’s visibility and relevance for search engines like Google. SEO involves various factors, such as keywords, content quality, site speed, user experience, backlinks, and more.
Medium can have both positive and negative effects on your SEO, depending on how you use it. Here are some of the main pros and cons of Medium for SEO:
Pros:
- Medium has a high domain authority (DA), which means that it has a lot of trust and credibility in the eyes of search engines. According to Moz, Medium’s DA is 96 out of 100, which is very high compared to most websites. This means that Medium’s content can rank well for competitive keywords and attract organic traffic.
- Medium has a large and active community of readers and writers who can help you spread your content and generate social signals. Social signals are indicators of how popular and engaging your content is on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Social signals can influence your SEO by increasing your brand awareness, traffic, and backlinks.
- Medium allows you to link back to your website from your profile and stories. This can help you drive referral traffic and build backlinks to your website. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours. They are one of the most important factors for SEO because they show search engines that your website is authoritative and relevant.
Cons:
- Medium does not give you full control over your content and SEO. You have to follow Medium’s rules and guidelines, which can change at any time. For example, Medium can remove or modify your content if it violates their policies or terms of service. Medium can also change their algorithms or features without notice, which can affect your content’s performance and visibility.
- Medium does not allow you to customize your URL structure or meta tags. URL structure and meta tags are elements of your web page that tell search engines what your content is about and how to display it in the search results. For example, URL structure includes the domain name, subdomain, path, slug, parameters, etc., while meta tags include the title tag, meta description, canonical tag, etc. These elements are crucial for SEO because they help search engines understand and index your content better.
- Medium can create duplicate content issues for your website. Duplicate content is when the same or very similar content appears on more than one URL on the web. Duplicate content can confuse search engines and lower your rankings because they don’t know which version of the content to show or prioritize. If you publish the same content on both Medium and your website, you risk creating duplicate content issues.
