How Did My Article End up on Top of Google Search

Summary

An author's article on quitting an addiction unexpectedly reached the top of Google search results, leading them to reflect on the importance of targeting specific niches and the value of patience and personal passion in content creation.

Abstract

The author expresses surprise at the success of one of their articles, which became the top result in a Google search for a very specific niche topic: quitting an addiction. Despite having written many well-researched articles, this particular piece outperformed them, possibly due to its targeted approach for a specific audience. The author notes that while the numbers may not be high in absolute terms, the article's success is significant for its niche. They attribute the article's performance to its specific focus and the engagement it generated with its intended audience. Reflecting on the broader implications, the author advises other content creators on Medium to focus on writing about specific passions, making content relatable, and including calls to action to increase engagement. They emphasize that success on the platform can take time and encourage persistence, even when initial view counts are low.

Opinions

The author believes that writing for a specific niche can lead to unexpected success, even surpassing more general, well-researched content.
They suggest that Medium is not just a publishing platform but also a valuable source of data on audience engagement with content.
The author posits that patience is crucial in content creation, as their top-performing article took time to gain traction and climb Google search rankings.
They recommend that writers should create content that they themselves would want to read, implying that personal passion translates into more engaging and relatable articles.
The author emphasizes the importance of a call to action in articles to foster engagement and potentially improve performance.
They encourage writers not to be discouraged by low initial view counts and to continue exploring their unique voice and interests to find their niche and audience.

I always wanted to see my work popping in Google search results, but this was a pleasant surprise

So, the weirdest thing just happened. One of my articles ended up as the top result in a Google search.

It wasn’t unexpected because that’s an article I wrote on a very specific niche, quitting an addiction. Yet, it did pretty well for that. I never had an article reach that level before, and I’ve written many, well-researched ones that in my opinion are better than this one.

You can find it here.

Why did it perform well?

Come to think of it, I believe that since it was a very specific niche, people who clicked on it wanted something out of it. Then again, I wrote other articles about self-development too. But they were for the general audience. Since this particular article is for a specific group of people, I managed to find where to focus on and what to focus on.

It was targeted and it was well-received. Even though the numbers aren’t that high, it did well.

What do I do with this information?

I’m still trying to find such a specific audience to reach out to. But until that, it’s not the end of the world. Medium is a platform where you can find it. It’s not only a publishing ground, it’s also a place where you can find actual data on how people react to different kinds of content.

I have written so much in Medium for the past few months, and only a handful of articles has received respectable amounts of views and reads. I try to figure out the reasons behind the success of certain articles over some others. If you have posted, and yet to receive some good amounts of views, you are probably discouraged to continue.

Let me give you a little heads-up,

The article that went on top of Google for me was not written in a day, and it was never there up until later. It took some time for it to take traction and once it got into the first pages of search it was smooth sailing from there. Even at this date, I get some reads and hits on that article, not too much if you wonder, it’s around 10 to 15 a day, but that’s more than the total views I have on some other articles.

So, if your articles aren’t performing that well,

Try to find something specific you are passionate about that instead of writing for someone else, write the article for yourself, write something you would read.

Make it relatable to your crowd. Everyone loves when something is about them.

Call to Action is the best possible way to find engagement. Tell people about things they can do.

It’s not easy to get out from that comfort zone of writing common stuff. But once you are out and step in to that unique zone of yours, you won’t regret that.