There Is a New Quora, and Nobody Is Talking About It Up Until Now

Let’s keep it a secret, shall we?

IMHO, it’s Medium. Yes, the same platform we love to write our blog posts. But try to hear me out; I can only show you examples of why I think it can become another Quora.

What is Quora?

Quora is a social question-and-answer website. People come to the website to find answers. And Google loves it; try to google any question, and an answer would likely come from Quora.

Have you noticed that Google loves to index Medium stories?

I always check if my article is on Google by right-clicking the title of my article a few hours after it’s been published.

You can also check on your stats, go to details and see views by traffic source, and see if there are views from Google.

Some make it faster than others, especially if it answers a question that people are currently asking about.

As it was when I noticed a jump in views about a story I wrote about “Madonna.”

It was one of the top two answers to this question when I googled it.

Is Madonna too old?

While if you read my story, it wasn’t my intention to call Madonna old, instead I shared my thoughts on why some people are trolling her after she posted some playful photos. It is because they think Madonna is too old for doing almost anything.

Google answers

Why do you google?

We google to find answers. And while many bloggers would say to rank on top of Google’s SERP (Search Engine Result Page), you have to write at least 1,000 words or more. So if you check what is showing on top of SERP, it is a quick answer to a question, that position where you find answers is the featured snippet.

Many websites have complained about the featured snippet because it doesn’t make the person looking for answers go to their website. Instead, the search journey ends with Google.

And imagine if you are doing a voice search, the answer to your question must be short; otherwise, you lose interest.

Short answers

People’s behavior has changed. Everyone wants quick answers, and our attention span has become shorter through the years.

Even on Google, you will find related searches, and ‘people also ask’ if you click any of the questions, it will give you direct, short answers.

How to Publish Shortform

Shortform on Medium is a post that is 150 words or less. This excludes kickers, titles, subtitles, and image captions.

When Medium first introduced shortform, I didn’t see its value right away, up until my 100-story writing challenge. And whenever I feel there is nothing to write, I use it as a ‘warm-up,’ it is easy to finish a shortform instead of a 1,000-word article.

If it takes you an hour to finish a 600-word article, you only need a fraction of that time to complete a shortform.

I noticed that Google indexes shortform stories the same way it does long-form content. I can only think of one thing, Google wants more content, and it wants answers to what people are asking.

It rewards fresh content.

Medium vs. Quora

Quora ranks higher than Medium. It has 4x the number of visits than Medium, as shown from this screenshot from SimilarWeb. Its traffic comes mainly from Google, the same way with Medium. Both offer a subscription package of $5 a month and offer a Partner Program where you can earn a portion of their monthly revenues based on readership.

Is Medium the new Quora?

For Medium to grow, I know it needs more paying members, which helps pay for its writers.

But is this the direction Medium wants for itself moving forward?

By becoming more like Quora, more people will learn more about Medium. And for people to consider becoming a paying member, they must first see the value it gives them, and providing answers to their questions is a great place to start.

A few days ago, I answered this question with a shortform, “What is Britain’s oldest pub?” and soon after, it was indexed on Google.

Will you make money writing shortform?

Medium says it pays shortform the same way as your other stories. It pays you based on reading time.

Shortform is any story under 150 words (including title and subtitle), and it is eligible to earn money if it is metered. Like all stories on Medium, shortform earns based on reading time on its story page, not simply viewing it in a feed. — Medium blog.

Final word

Did I make money out of my “viral” shortform story? I made a few cents. But I got some fresh eyeballs for my stories, and hopefully, a few of them I converted to paying the subscription fee.

One of the reasons I started writing is to share what I know and ask about the things that I don’t know.

By adding an answer to a question in my articles, not only can I potentially rank high on Google’s SERP, but it feels good to know I could help someone find an answer to their question.

And if you want to try it, write a story with 150 words or less and answer a question on your mind. Then, I would love to read that story!

Disclosure: There is an affiliate link, if you choose to subscribe to Medium, I get paid a few dollars.