My First Article on Medium is Ranking #1 on Google with these Keywords.
The magic of keywords and Google authority ranking
Ahhh, the internet.
So much info. So much noise. So much competition.
I started writing on Medium in August 2020. I knew zero about SEO or keyword usage. It honestly stressed me out.
Fast forward to today after taking a deep dive into a copywriting course that has completely changed the direction of my life, thoughts, and habits.
Now that I have some SEO knowledge under my belt, I am savvier about keyword usage and how sites rank on Google.
But here’s where the magic (and mystery) comes in.
When I published my first story in August 2020, I didn’t consciously use keywords strategically. I used them, well, pretty much by accident. The story is below:
One day, months later, as I was looking at my stats, I noticed that the above piece was getting clicks sourced from Google — hundreds of them.
What?
I was perplexed but elated. What had happened?
With my new SEO knowledge, I assumed it had to be a keyword that was being picked up by Google’s good ol’ bots, but which one?
I opened Google and typed in “childhood conditioning” as the first obvious keyword to try since this is what the story is about.
What happened next was astounding.
You know on some searches you get a little blurb at the VERY top of the search results that gives an overview of what you searched for?
THAT BLURB WAS BEING SOURCED FROM MY ARTICLE! WHAT?!?!
And the first link listed to click? MY ARTICLE! Amazing!!!
I was having so much fun, I checked my keyword plug-in (Keywords Everywhere) for similar keywords and tried the next most popular one, “childhood conditioning meaning.”
And guess what? My article shows up again as the #1 link, plus, a blurb from the piece as well.
Why is this exciting?
Because it shows that keywords and specificity work when we are dealing with SEO.
And something I should add here — this took time. It took a few months before I even noticed this and it took time for my article to build up authority and relevance with Google — the two things those bots are looking for.
How can this serve you?
If you want more control over who is finding your work, learn SEO.
With SEO knowledge, you can consciously research what keywords will help your piece build traction with Google, based on what people are searching for and what is most relevant to them.
I’ve written several articles with tips that can help you, so you can experience the joy of showing up as #1! (It’s really awesome).
Remember that there is a system, a science, and an art to SEO. It’s taken me a few months to get comfy with all the ins and outs. And even though SEO is not hard to do, you must learn the steps so you understand the process and how it all fits into the big picture at Google.
Below are two articles I wrote on SEO. May they be of benefit if you are interested in learning more.
Final Thoughts
The internet isn’t going away and neither are search engines.
I used to resist learning SEO because I thought my brain might explode.
But it’s not as scary or complex as you might think, it just takes practice and a willingness to learn a new skill.
And by the way, learning SEO makes you a more aware and conscious consumer.
You will start to see patterns of how you search for things on Google (or Bing or Yahoo) and can start to implement that into your work.
I am always available for questions, so please leave a comment if you want more help!