A Blog Article Ranked First on Top Search Engines
Anatomy and SEO descriptors
Blogging in 2020 just can’t get better. The reading culture of the world’s population is slowly mutating from hard cover books to a global village of e-book and blog lovers. Mobile gadget ownership is skyrocketing every year, and you would notice if you checked the rate of up-take in most emerging market economies. Of course a section of mobile gadget owners concentrate on vlogging, besides conventional texting and calling. For those that read, ask yourself, what do people really want online? Well, obviously e-books, politics, celebrity gossips, academic journals, and what have you. But here is something else readers really need, rather than want — what they can find. That’s right. People won’t read what they can’t get.
Therefore, as a blogger, you want your material read. But as much as you do, that just won’t happen yet, not unless your blog post can be found. I will explain how I got my article ranked first in the best six search engines, as well as give you some tips to make yours even better. First, you should be familiar with the article we are referring to. I will provided the link below, but don’t open it just yet, because we want to first understand why it ranked #1.
In summary, there are three main categories of factors that bolstered the visibility, and why many people read my article. These are: Article specific anatomy such as the article’s word length, read time in minutes, the niche or topic area it covered, and the distribution date. The second category is SEO optimization descriptors. These are: alt text on all images, title and sub-title, tags, and first word. Third, is for lack of a better term Others, such as: views and reads to date, average views per week, fans, number of claps so far, and the medium publication in which the article is hosted.
The reason why I am breaking down these categories into sub-items, is for your benefit. So you can see the examples, and maybe try to apply some of these strategies next time when writing your blog posts. The three-part list below defines these aspects in detail, as well as provide a short description of the routine followed (if any).
Article specific anatomy
Date distributed: 01 Nov 2019, exactly 3 months old today.
Topic: PROGRAMMING
Wordlength: 729 excluding code snippets
Read time (min): 5 minutes
Images: 4 medium, and small sized.SEO optimization descriptors
Title: Automating Front-End Development
Sub-title: Breaking down HTML into String Variables
Alt texts: All the 4 images contained alt texts
Tags: Front-end automation, Linux, Bash, JavaScript, Shellscripting
First Word: EveryOthers
Medium publication: The Startup (choose your publication depending on where most of your readers are)
Claps: 272 so far, this measures how much love people show for your article
Fans: 65 so far, this too shows how people appreciate your blog post.
Views & Reads to date: 8100+, 4000+
Average weekly views: 700Conclusion and main points
The article described was among my first few when I joined medium. The article aimed at providing an introduction to my series of articles (still developing), on front-end automation. Specifically, breaking down HTML code into string variables and re-using them over and over. It is easy to read, and most code snippets are relatable since they are scripted, and can be tested on the fly, especially if you are running any Linux OS distro, or have git bash shell installed on your windows OS. Besides the content, creativity is necessary when it comes to your title and sub-titles — notice the sequence of words (alphabetical order). This strategy was also applied in the current article you are looking at. There are so many ways this title could have been crafted, but this was suitable — only for that purpose. This is important for Google and other search engines, allowing them to pick up your post within a week or so. Also, ensure you include alt text in all your embedded images. This cannot be overstated. Finally, the title chosen should at the least still describe what is contained in the post.
To encourage viewers become your readers, make your articles short when you can. Most of my articles with a large number of fans are 5 to 7 minutes long. Anything longer than that read time not only makes it difficult to even start reading, but also becomes prone to mild spelling errors that may go unnoticed by the publication editors. Making it even longer may also increase the chances of compromising the quality, as readers may lose attention slowly into the article — unless it is super interesting, which it should. We live in a fast world, the average human attention time has reduced from 12 seconds in 2000, to just 8 in 2019–20. Therefore, keep them articles short, clear, and always interesting — this last bit is of course debatable.
Most importantly! write to be read. Anyone who needs that piece of information will find it. The gaps between the robustness of most web search algorithms in this day and era, is less significant than it was a few years ago. The strategies outlined here therefore, should only help your blog post to be more visible. But remember, pour your heart to it. Only write to be read, and it will be found.
You may now rollback and check out the article. If it arouses your interest, read it all the way. To confirm its ranking position, key in ‘Automating front-End Development’ in your favorite web search engine, and check the results. In the best case scenario, the article title should pop up immediately, even before paid advertisements — depending on the search engine used, and the volume of active ads. So, which main category or sub items do you think you should apply in your next blog post? share with us in the comments below.
