Okay, let me answer some of that for you. I’ve worked in multiple industries, including spending time as a computer programmer, a website designer, an SEO specialist writer, an editor, author, writer, whatever.
In order to be a successful writer on the web, you have to understand SEO. Just like, if you want to be a successful author, you have to understand what sells. Books, publications, etc. are all products, and if there is not market for the product, then it won’t sell.
Algorithms change all the time. One of the biggest ones that totally destroyed many writers’ lives was Panda. It dumped about 90% of what was written to the back of forever on the web. That was about 10 years ago. We all suffered.
Lots of people lost their livelihood. Of course, it never occured to them that they were gaming the system and that what they offered wasn’t particularly good. And Google and other web tech companies all have this problem — that the system is constantly gamed and the baddies are gaming the system in order to get their stuff to the top of the SERPS. People were gaming the system when they clapped for writers on Medium.
There is only one way around this, if you want to be successfull Learn what the market wants, and then be good enought to supply the very best. There is also a very strong element of luck in doing this.
I was told more than 40 years ago that writers are very badly paid, and today they are even more badly paid. I understand the feeling. Just believe me, if you study what writing works on Medium, the algorithms are now designed to finally pay attention to the individual writer.
