TUTORIAL
In Search of the Meaning of “SEO” and Why Optimizing Matters: A ‘How-To’ Guide
Helping writers gain the most traction out of search engines
If you’ve ever written professionally or have paid attention to the ever-evolving curation, distribution, and interactive readership changes on this platform, you’ve probably stumbled across the term “SEO.”
When I began to branch out from fiction and screenplay writing to freelance as a content writer, I started seeing “SEO” pop up in job descriptions and submissions guidelines everywhere. I vaguely understood the term and knew it mattered to Web Designers and Site Hosts, but delving deeper than that gave me a technological headache.
My patient big brother, a software engineer, tried to explain why SEOs should matter to me, but my eyes glazed over, and I daydreamed about penguins. And then I booked a gig as a freelance writer for an SEO consulting firm. I had to learn how to tailor SEOs for clients and become proficient in the practice quickly.
So what in the fresh hell is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and using this tool has been practiced since the 1990s. However, since the explosion of Google this century, Search Engine Optimization is a more polished and essential practice. Utilizing SEO matters a great deal more than it did then. According to www.searchenginejournal.com, Search Engine Optimization is:
On a writing platform like Medium, Ev Williams has employed a team of people who work on SEO to make sure potential readers and writers alike will stumble across the site. For all of us who publish content in various publications across Medium, it is up to us to make sure the SEO description for each of our stories is succinct and helpful.
Here is what the SEO description looks like:
And here is where you can change the description before publishing your piece:
My updated SEO description, using keywords and a basic summary:
For writers on Medium, SEOs are a bit different than for website hosts or company owners. We don’t have to worry about building a Meta description of the site — Medium’s IT team has already done that for us. However, we do need to pay attention to the SEO displays on each piece we publish.
If keywords or relevant subject matter are not displayed, the chances our stories will pop up on a Google search decrease dramatically. When we fail to write an SEO description, Medium automatically defers to the first 156 characters of our story. If we want our quality work to stand out in Medium’s algorithms and want those searching Goggle to discover our work, the description in the SEO is vital.
For example, let’s say you’re searching for any articles on the Wu-Tang Clan’s lasting musical stardom. Specifically, you want to find stories about one of Wu-Tang’s founding members’ reflections — Ghostface Killah. Ghostface Killah published a story about Wu-Tang’s star power on Medium — as he is wont to do — but failed to use a subtitle or go into the SEO description to target an audience.
He doesn’t share across social media, nor does he interact with other Medium writers, as he figures they will find him. The first 156 of “Our Rise to Stardom” — self-published, because c’mon! It’s the Ghostface Killah — will show up as the SEO display and probably won’t even crack the top ten pages of search results. “Yeah, life was hard growing up. But spitting rhymes was in my blood, and my boys were my brothers,” he might begin. Fairly compelling opener, but nothing that will attract results from searches. Poor GFK!
Your friend, Bobby, also pens a Medium self-published article on the same, specific Wu-Tang subject. He shares on every social media platform. Bobby also writes a perfect subtitle — Thoughts from a Ghostface Killah — but decides to use keywords in his SEO description.
“This article is about the lasting stardom of the Wu-Tang Clan, according to Ghostface Killah. Music, relationships, loyalty, and life lessons all played a part.”
Chances are, Bobby’s article will crack the first page of search results before GFK’s does.
Basically, by utilizing the SEO display on each of your published Medium stories, you are potentially increasing the number of views your pieces will receive. I hope I’ve shed a bit of light on what SEO means and how it can work for you. And remember, if this information is overwhelming, you can always tune out and daydream of penguins.
*Ghostface Killah has not written any articles for Medium as far as I know.
For more in-depth reading on SEO use, check out these well-written and informative pieces:
