How My Medium Articles Rank #1 on Google — and How Yours Can, Too
By: Yannick Bikker
Tags: Writing, Blogging, Social Media, SEO, Search

So how exactly did I snatch that #1 spot on Google? I don’t know. I’m sorry. There’s no magic bullet and luck certainly played a big role.

That said, there are some strategies that will make you more likely to rank high on Google. I’m no SEO expert, but I’ve been studying the topic for a little over a year, and have learned some tricks of the trade to ensure the success of my future posts.

Even if you pick just one or two strategies from the following list and add them to your arsenal, it could significantly increase your chances of seeing your search traffic skyrocket.

Note: this guide is meant to apply to any platform. Whether you write on Medium or your personal WordPress/Squarespace blog, you’ll be able to use all of these strategies.

Let’s dive in.

#1 Use Clever Keywords

Finding the right keywords is a balancing act. On the one hand, you want a keyword with high volume (lots of searches). But at the same time, you want one that has low competition (so you have a chance of actually getting that number one spot on Google).

If we take my Nudge-story as an example, picking ‘nudges’ as my keyword would’ve been too broad; you’d probably get the book with that title by Nobel Laureate Richard H. Thaler — no way I would ever beat that. Making things a bit more specific though — “creative examples of nudges” — works wonders.

Why? It’s still good overall search volume, but without the intense competition from Thaler’s bestselling book. Toss in some relevant long-tail keywords and a solid meta description (more on that later), and voilà: the #1 spot on Google.

If you’ve read anything about SEO, you probably came across that phrase, ‘long-tail keywords’. It simply means you’re using target keyword phrases that are four to six words long. Doing so is becoming more important than ever:

“The shift toward long-tail keywords will be even more essential to SEO success. Why? Because of voice search.” — Jeff Keleher

Thanks to voice search, long-tail keywords are the new norm. It’s now smarter than ever to use longer keyword phrases because people are asking full-sentenced questions when they use Siri, Alexa, or Google Home devices.

To find the right long-tail keywords, try Answer The Public, an incredible keyword research tool that’s perfect for finding questions your audience is asking and uncovering golden keyword opportunities with ease. You might also want to use a free tool like Google Trends to check how many people are actually searching for these key phrases.

#2 Write an Engaging Headline

First of all, great headlines increase social media shares. More social media shares mean more attention and, as search engines are becoming smarter and smarter, they are taking into account the total number of social media shares a story receives.

Second, interesting and well-crafted headlines affect click-through rates, which eventually becomes a very important aspect of gaining high rankings. If a story gets more click-through’s, it is an indication that users find that piece more interesting than other ranked pages.

Simply put, the internet is flooded with content. Over 2 million blog posts are published every single day. You need a headline that catches people’s attention. Here’s a useful Medium story by Shannon Ashley with some great tips on how to write engaging headlines:

#3 Optimize Images

Google doesn’t just look for images. It looks for images with alt text — the short keywords that describe what the image is about. For your Medium stories, simply click on an image to write a brief description that explains what the image is in relation to your article.

#4 Share on Social Media

Google allocates weight to social media signals in their ranking. One of the best ways to get your posts seen is to share them on social media. Assuming you already have an audience on various platforms, you should be sharing your posts with your existing fans and followers.

“Don’t build links. Build relationships.” — Rand Fishkin

Facebook or LinkedIn groups and online forums can also be great places to promote your posts. Just be clear on the group’s promotion policies so you don’t get into trouble for self-promotion and spam.

#5 Update Frequently

Many people, myself included, think of writing online as a set-it-and-forget-it type of thing. You write an article, it either goes viral or flops, and whatever happens next is out of your control.

Wrong. Google openly encourages content creators to update their content on a regular basis. The world is constantly changing, and Google wants to present its users with the most up-to-date content possible to reflect this.

This means that you’ll have to update your articles frequently. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be a difficult process. I usually add some new tips, clean out the no-longer-relevant bits, change time-sensitive information, and hit re-publish. Google will then recognize the changes I made.

#6 Include a Compelling Meta Description

If you don’t provide a meta description, Google will show a random snippet of your article. Usually, this isn’t the kind of message you want to deliver to potential readers.

Instead, you should provide Google with a custom phrase that shows up underneath your headline in the results: your meta description. It’s a snippet of up to 156 characters which summarizes a page’s content. It looks like this:

Meta description of my Medium article on Snickers’ famous ad campaign.

On Medium, you can edit your meta description under More Settings > SEO Title and SEO description. Use your key phrase from step #1 (along with its synonyms) and add a brief summary.

If you want to test your meta description and check if the length is right, you can use this Google SERP Snippet Tool to predict how your story will look in Google’s search results.

Bonus: Three Quick SEO Wins

Article length. Google prioritizes articles with substance. If your story has 250 words, chances are it won’t pop up on Google any time soon. Instead, from experience, I’d recommend shooting for around 1200–2200 words.

Google prioritizes articles with substance. If your story has 250 words, chances are it won’t pop up on Google any time soon. Instead, from experience, I’d recommend shooting for around 1200–2200 words. Check the URL Medium automatically generated for your article. If needed, adapt a personalized URL that suits your SEO needs. You can do so under More Settings > Advanced Settings > Customize Story Link.

If needed, adapt a personalized URL that suits your SEO needs. You can do so under More Settings > Advanced Settings > Customize Story Link. Canonical links. If you’re importing stories from elsewhere (e.g. your personal website), you need to tell Google that this shouldn’t be seen as duplicate content. Indicate which article should take priority under Settings > Advanced Settings > Canonical Links.

Closing Thoughts

If you want your blog articles to rank higher on Google, you’ll need to put in some work to make it happen. By using the strategies and tactics recommended in this article, you can make some massive SEO gains.

However, at the end of the day, the most important part of SEO is to simply create content that is useful and engaging for your target audience — aim for good content over SEO every time.