Payment For External Views — An Update
How people on the SEO Incentive Program got on
Ironically, I’m publishing this just as my Medium membership has expired, but don’t worry folks. I’ve let it lapse because I have a gift card arriving soon, for a full year’s membership! Then I’ll be back in the fold properly, and reading all your stories.
But you’re really here to find out how payment for external views is going, so here’s the update.
Three months ago, Medium announced that payment for external views (non-member reads) was being rolled out. It was officially called the ‘SEO Incentive Program’. A select few writers had been chosen for a three month trial, to see how it went.
Those selected had been chosen because of their good search engine optimisation and for drawing in a lot of traffic from outside of Medium. They were essentially being rewarded for bringing new readers to Medium.
Well, now I have an update on that program, and it’s unremarkable. One of the people selected to take part messaged me to say:
The SEO incentive program doesn’t seem to have been successful. Results are very lacklustre across the board. The first two months I made $0 from it, the third month around $10. I think overall a year for a writer like you or me, it would bring in say $100. Not a lot, nor nothing, but I don’t think enough for Medium to adopt it after this 3 month trial.
The writer said I could publish this information, but asked not to be named. It’s interesting to see that this payment for external views is unlikely to be adopted across the platform. It’s unlikely to be offered to a broader spectrum of the Medium community and the trial has now concluded.
I’m a little disappointed by this outcome, but not surprised. This writer had previously warned me that the benefits of such a program were likely to be minimal. It seems he was correct.
Does anyone else want to share their experiences of taking part?
© Susie Kearley 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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