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I feel one of the main reasons Medium is so successful is that they cracked discoverability and rank high on Google for any topic (sort of like Wikipedia). Henc

by s3nnyy 9y ago

I feel one of the main reasons Medium is so successful is that they cracked discoverability and rank high on Google for any topic (sort of like Wikipedia). Hence, I am hesitant to move away from it although I really want to build a sustainable, long-term business on my own domain. Any ideas on this?

dullgiulio 9y ago
How did they cracke discoverability? Some posts are famous and rank higher, I haven't noticed a general rank boost. Also, I have stumbled upon a lot of blogs on own domains that turned out to be Medium hosted. I assume these don't get any advantage on Google?
- s3nnyy 9y ago
  I am not sure if I am overvaluing Medium but I feel that I owe the existence of my recruiting agency to them: - In November 2014 I published "8 reasons why I moved to Switzerland to work in tech" (https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-to-switzerland-to-work-in-it-c7ac18af4f90 https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-t...) - I immediately started getting CVs from people who googled "work in Switzerland in tech". Then, I asked local startups and firms if they would pay me if I find them engineers. This worked out and now I run https://www.coderfit.com https://www.coderfit.com. - After 2.5 years I still get a couple CVs a week due to the blogpost on Medium. If one only has one or two blog posts (like me in the beginning), Medium is probably the best place to write. But now, since I want to grow my business, it feels like a waste not using my own domain. (Fun fact: It took me three days to write this blogpost, and according to Medium 22k people (truly) read it and some even moved to Zurich with their families and their life completely changed. However, it took me one year each to write my bachelor's and master's thesis and the professor and his assistant (maybe) read it...)
  - LightMachine 9y ago
    That's a scary thought.
  - dullgiulio 9y ago
    Nah, I don't think it's Medium. That article featured here on HN and was commented a lot, I remember it myself. I think it was a good article about a niche topic. Maybe being on Medium helped in making it viral to begin with...
    - s3nnyy 9y ago
      It was never really "featured" on HN. I just posted it every now and then, when I thought it fits the conversation.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    Not to be dismissive but I think you forgot very important issues, biased to your personal situation. 1) Switzerland doesn't speak English, it doesn't even have one language. You don't feel it because you are German. One is going to have a hard time in Zurich if he doesn't speak German. 2) Considering a 20 years old insurance and a shared flat is surreal. All cities are affordable when you live in a dump with flatmates, including NYC, SF and London. The problem is when you live in decent conditions, or worse, have a family. Your expenses will skyrocket and consume all the LOCAL salary. Don't get me wrong. I love Switzerland, it has great a environment and it is safe. The costs of living is no better than anywhere else though.
    - s3nnyy 9y ago
      I disagree with everything you wrote. From what you say, it seems you never lived here and you must be trolling. Regarding 1) I can give you at least three personal contacts who can not speak German and get by well in Zurich. You have people living here for 10 years and don't speak German. 30% people living in the city don't hold a Swiss passport which makes it the city with the biggest "foreigner" rate (higher than London or Berlin) Switzerland is the best place to have a family because cities are very small. I am surprised how many people don't get this. I recently overheard a discussion of a bunch of bankers in the train (One Swiss guy, two English guys). They UK-guys could not understand that most people "don't live in the city". The reason is this: It takes you 8 min by train from the city center into "nature"(e.g., Zurich HB -> Schlieren or Stettbach). In NYC, London or Berlin it's more like one hour. That means if you work "in the city" and if you are ok to commute like 10 minutes, you can get a very good and cheap apartment. I even know one Phd student who earns 4000 CHF (waiter's salary) and feeds his wife and two kids from that money. This is unthinkable in Germany or any other place I know.
CharlesW 9y ago
My advice: Publish on your own domain, syndicate to Medium (and LinkedIn, and whatever) shortly after. Always import the story[1] so that Medium adds a rel="canonical" link, and link back to the canonical version (e.g. "Originally published at XXX" in the text of the story itself. [1] https://medium.com/p/import https://medium.com/p/import
- s3nnyy 9y ago
  Did not know that this is possible. Thanks a lot! Probably there are similar import options on Linkedin et al.
- mcguire 9y ago
  Any idea how to get code formatted properly? https://medium.com/@mcguire.crsr/applied-formal-logic-brute-force-string-search-71e417b7f157 https://medium.com/@mcguire.crsr/applied-formal-logic-brute-...
  - CharlesW 9y ago
    If you type ``` on a new line, Medium will switch to code input mode. If you forget, Control/Command-? brings up keyboard shortcuts help, and the 2nd page has the shortcuts for code formatting.
chvid 9y ago
I can concur that this is a problem. I had a medium blog which is now dead and I moved my stuff to a private domain which I had for decades. The medium blog still ranks higher in google searches than my own domain.
user5994461 9y ago
Google will discover anything. It is incredibly good at discovery. It doesn't matter that you have a medium or something else.

by s3nnyy 9y ago

dullgiulio 9y ago

How did they cracke discoverability? Some posts are famous and rank higher, I haven't noticed a general rank boost. Also, I have stumbled upon a lot of blogs on own domains that turned out to be Medium hosted. I assume these don't get any advantage on Google?

s3nnyy 9y ago
I am not sure if I am overvaluing Medium but I feel that I owe the existence of my recruiting agency to them: - In November 2014 I published "8 reasons why I moved to Switzerland to work in tech" (https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-to-switzerland-to-work-in-it-c7ac18af4f90 https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-t...) - I immediately started getting CVs from people who googled "work in Switzerland in tech". Then, I asked local startups and firms if they would pay me if I find them engineers. This worked out and now I run https://www.coderfit.com https://www.coderfit.com. - After 2.5 years I still get a couple CVs a week due to the blogpost on Medium. If one only has one or two blog posts (like me in the beginning), Medium is probably the best place to write. But now, since I want to grow my business, it feels like a waste not using my own domain. (Fun fact: It took me three days to write this blogpost, and according to Medium 22k people (truly) read it and some even moved to Zurich with their families and their life completely changed. However, it took me one year each to write my bachelor's and master's thesis and the professor and his assistant (maybe) read it...)
- LightMachine 9y ago
  That's a scary thought.
- dullgiulio 9y ago
  Nah, I don't think it's Medium. That article featured here on HN and was commented a lot, I remember it myself. I think it was a good article about a niche topic. Maybe being on Medium helped in making it viral to begin with...
  - s3nnyy 9y ago
    It was never really "featured" on HN. I just posted it every now and then, when I thought it fits the conversation.
- user5994461 9y ago
  Not to be dismissive but I think you forgot very important issues, biased to your personal situation. 1) Switzerland doesn't speak English, it doesn't even have one language. You don't feel it because you are German. One is going to have a hard time in Zurich if he doesn't speak German. 2) Considering a 20 years old insurance and a shared flat is surreal. All cities are affordable when you live in a dump with flatmates, including NYC, SF and London. The problem is when you live in decent conditions, or worse, have a family. Your expenses will skyrocket and consume all the LOCAL salary. Don't get me wrong. I love Switzerland, it has great a environment and it is safe. The costs of living is no better than anywhere else though.
  - s3nnyy 9y ago
    I disagree with everything you wrote. From what you say, it seems you never lived here and you must be trolling. Regarding 1) I can give you at least three personal contacts who can not speak German and get by well in Zurich. You have people living here for 10 years and don't speak German. 30% people living in the city don't hold a Swiss passport which makes it the city with the biggest "foreigner" rate (higher than London or Berlin) Switzerland is the best place to have a family because cities are very small. I am surprised how many people don't get this. I recently overheard a discussion of a bunch of bankers in the train (One Swiss guy, two English guys). They UK-guys could not understand that most people "don't live in the city". The reason is this: It takes you 8 min by train from the city center into "nature"(e.g., Zurich HB -> Schlieren or Stettbach). In NYC, London or Berlin it's more like one hour. That means if you work "in the city" and if you are ok to commute like 10 minutes, you can get a very good and cheap apartment. I even know one Phd student who earns 4000 CHF (waiter's salary) and feeds his wife and two kids from that money. This is unthinkable in Germany or any other place I know.

CharlesW 9y ago

My advice: Publish on your own domain, syndicate to Medium (and LinkedIn, and whatever) shortly after. Always import the story[1] so that Medium adds a rel="canonical" link, and link back to the canonical version (e.g. "Originally published at XXX" in the text of the story itself. [1] https://medium.com/p/import https://medium.com/p/import

s3nnyy 9y ago
Did not know that this is possible. Thanks a lot! Probably there are similar import options on Linkedin et al.
mcguire 9y ago
Any idea how to get code formatted properly? https://medium.com/@mcguire.crsr/applied-formal-logic-brute-force-string-search-71e417b7f157 https://medium.com/@mcguire.crsr/applied-formal-logic-brute-...
- CharlesW 9y ago
  If you type ``` on a new line, Medium will switch to code input mode. If you forget, Control/Command-? brings up keyboard shortcuts help, and the 2nd page has the shortcuts for code formatting.

chvid 9y ago

I can concur that this is a problem. I had a medium blog which is now dead and I moved my stuff to a private domain which I had for decades. The medium blog still ranks higher in google searches than my own domain.

user5994461 9y ago

Google will discover anything. It is incredibly good at discovery. It doesn't matter that you have a medium or something else.