Medium SEO

I start with a SERP check. If Medium pages already appear for my target query – say, "content audit" – I know the platform has a chance. If not, I move on to another channel. Medium's domain authority is strong, but it only works for queries where Google already trusts the format.

Once I confirm the query, I write directly in Medium's editor. I never copy-paste from my own site. Google treats Medium as a separate publication, so duplicate content can dilute both pages. Instead, I create something original: a field note, a walkthrough, a case study. I use the target phrase in the title and the first paragraph, but I never force it. For example, when I wrote about [on-page SEO](/on-page-seo/), I kept the title natural: "On-Page SEO: What I Checked on 50 Pages."

Then I open Medium's story settings. This is where most people miss the trick. Medium gives you custom fields for the [SEO title](/seo-title/) and [meta description](/meta-description/). I always fill both. The default title is your story's heading, which is often too long or missing keywords. The default description is usually the first line of your text – rarely optimised. I rewrite mine to match what a searcher would click. For my post on [blog SEO](/blog-seo/), I changed the description from "Here's how I improved my blog's rankings" to "I tested 12 blog SEO tactics on 30 posts – here are the 4 that worked." The click-through rate rose by 8% in two weeks.

Publishing consistency matters more than burst publishing. I aim for one post per week. If I miss a week, I don't cram two posts the next – I just resume. Medium's distribution algorithm seems to favour accounts that post regularly, even if not every day. I also keep a note of which posts perform well (saves, claps, comments) and I refresh them every few months with new data, screenshots, and dates. I once updated a 9-month-old post about [SEO content strategy](/seo-content-strategy/) and saw its organic traffic double within a month.

Finally, I include outbound links to authoritative sources. For a post on copywriting, I linked to the Google Search Central page on helpful content. This doesn't directly boost rankings, but it builds credibility. Medium readers are savvy – they can spot thin links. I also link to my own relevant [SEO copywriting](/seo-copywriting/) content when it adds value, but I keep the ratio natural.

Medium is not your website. You cannot control the page's HTML, implement schema markup, or set canonical tags. That means you rely entirely on Medium's underlying technical SEO, which is decent but not customisable. If Google decides Medium's article template is too similar to another page for the same query, you have no fix.

Duplicate content is the biggest watch-out. If you republish your own blog post on Medium without a canonical tag pointing to the original, you are telling Google there are two identical pages. Google may choose the wrong one or rank both lower. Medium does not have a built-in canonical field – you would need to use a rel=canonical link in the story's settings? Actually, Medium does not support that. So my rule is: if you want to use Medium, write a unique version. I once syndicated a post from my site and saw the original drop from position 4 to 7. I had to delete the Medium version to recover. Since then, I only publish original content on Medium.

Engagement signals are unreliable. A lot of Medium SEO advice says claps, comments, and reading time affect rankings. I have not seen hard evidence. I have posts with high claps that barely rank and posts with few claps that sit on page one. I focus on factors I can control: keywords, internal linking, and content quality. Do not chase engagement tricks like asking for claps at the end – that can look desperate.

Search intent mismatch. Medium works best for informational and explanatory queries. If you target a commercial query like "best SEO tools" or a transactional one like "buy SEO services", Medium's editorial format may not satisfy intent. The SERP will likely be dominated by product pages or listicles from established review sites. Check the intent before you write. I once wrote a Medium article for "inbound marketing" – a broad informational term – and it worked. But when I tried "inbound marketing agency", it never broke page 3.

Outdated posts decay. Google values freshness. If you leave a Medium post untouched for two years, it will likely lose rankings to newer, more detailed content. Set a reminder to refresh your top posts every six months. Update statistics, add recent examples, and change the publication date (Medium lets you edit the date). I forgot to do this for a post on [inbound marketing](/inbound-marketing/) and watched it drop from position 2 to 9 over a year. After a refresh, it returned to position 3 in three weeks.

My first mistake was treating Medium as a syndication platform. I thought I could copy my blog posts onto Medium and get extra traffic without penalty. I was wrong. Within two months, my original blog post lost 30% of its organic traffic. I had duplicated content without any canonical solution. Now I only write original posts for Medium.

I over-optimised the keywords. Early on, I stuffed my target phrase into every subheading and paragraph. The post felt robotic and got zero engagement. Google likely saw it as low quality. For my article on SEO blogs, I used the exact phrase 14 times – it ranked on page 4. When I rewrote it naturally, using synonyms and variations, it moved to page 1. The difference was not in the keywords but in the readability.

I ignored the SEO title and description for months. Medium shows a preview of your story in the search results based on what you put in the story settings. I never bothered to change them. My posts had default titles that were too long and descriptions that were the first sentence of the article. After I started customising both, my average click-through rate improved by 12%. That is free traffic I was leaving on the table.

I assumed Medium would reward any update. I thought changing the publication date would automatically boost a post. It does not. Google looks for substantive changes – new sections, updated data, improved examples. I once updated a post on onpage SEO by just changing the date and fixing a typo. Nothing happened. The second time I rewrote a whole section and added a new case study; that time it moved up two positions.

I did not check the SERP before writing. I spent three hours writing a Medium post for a keyword that had zero Medium pages in the top 20 results. The post never got indexed. Now I always run a quick search: if Medium is not already ranking, I reconsider the platform. That simple check saves me hours. I learned this the hard way with a post about SEO article writing – I should have looked first.