Summary

Charlie J is sharing extensive research on Medium tags for free to help writers improve their craft and compete more effectively.

Abstract

Charlie J has compiled a comprehensive Medium Tag Database, the result of three months of research, and is making it available at no cost to writers. This database includes a categorization of tags into nine main buckets and approximately 50 sub-buckets, providing insights into the value and competition of each tag. The database is designed to assist writers in identifying niches with high reader-to-story ratios, thereby increasing their chances of visibility and success on the platform. The resource is presented in two main views: bucket views and value views, each offering a unique perspective on the data. Writers are encouraged to use this tool to enhance their writing strategy and to engage in a friendly competition with Charlie J, who aims to elevate the writing community by sharing knowledge and fostering growth.

Opinions

Charlie J views writing as a game and enjoys the challenge of competing with other writers, even encouraging others to surpass his own skills.
The act of sharing this research is seen as a way to not only help others but also to push Charlie J to continue improving as a writer.
The value of a tag, determined by the ratio of followers to stories, is considered a crucial metric for writers to understand and target for better reach.
The database is acknowledged as a potentially complex tool, and Charlie J invites feedback for improvements, showing openness to collaboration and community input.
By providing this resource, Charlie J expresses a belief in the potential for any writer to go viral, regardless of follower count, emphasizing the importance of strategic tag use.
The decision to publish the database is a response to the positive reception of previous tag-related content, indicating an attentiveness to the needs and interests of the writing community.

All About Tags

I’m Giving You All My Tag Research For Free (3 Months of Work!)

Here’s how to use my Medium Tag Database.

Non-members can read for free here.

Since my tag posts have been so helpful, I have decided to publish all of my tag research.

A few days ago, Jim Laing commented on my competition research article:

“It feels like asking for competition.” Yes, that is exactly what I’m doing.

This account is a game to me. If you can add some extra difficulty, bring it on.

My Account With 100 Followers is Doing Better Than My Account With 1.2K+

It’s possible to go viral with 0 followers.

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I want you to compete with me. I want you to learn from me. I want to make you a better writer. If that means creating more competition then I’ll do everything I can to make you better than me.

If I make you a better writer, I can’t lose.

So, I am sharing hours and hours of research for free. Before I share the link, let’s go over how to use this database.

The Medium Tag Database is organized in two sections. One is bucket views, and the other is value views.

The bucket view section looks like this:

There are nine main buckets and about 50 sub-buckets. Each of these views is a niche. Sub-bucket views are organized like this:

The Business sub-bucket view. Image by Charlie J

They are sorted, so the most valuable comes first. Even in the sub-bucket view, you can see the main bucket ranked (in this case, Work). I included the bucket and sub-bucket categories because sometimes tags exist in several. For example, freelancing is both business and remote work.

You can also see the follower and story counts (accurate as of Dec 2023 — Feb 2024).

“Value” is a metric of competition. I calculate this by dividing follower counts by story counts. Essentially, it is saying there are x stories per reader, or x times more readers than stories.

In the case of Freelancing, we have a value of 10. This means there are 10 readers per story, or 10x more readers than stories.

The higher the value, the less competition there is.

I Found 15 Tags With Insanely Low Competition

One has 4,000,000 followers and less than 200,000 stories!

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Next, we have the value views. They are organized like this:

I explain which filters and sorts each view has, and I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. Take a look at Small Tags:

In this view, tags are organized by value. You can see their follower and story counts, as well as their main bucket. In the last column, there is a link to the topic page — this is meant to help you get ideas on what does well in that tag.

I did not include the sub-bucket category because it gets messy. There’s not just one sub-bucket property… there’s 9.

Including the sub-buckets would’ve made the view very unpleasant to read. If you want to find what sub-bucket a tag exists in, you can use the Search view, or go to its main bucket view.

In the search view, if you hover your mouse over the tag name, you get this option:

Click on it, and you’ll see all the data for the tag. Like this:

So, in total, this database has 584 tags and 77 unique views. It’s a looooot of data.

This is my first time publishing a Notion database, so please excuse any hiccups. If you have suggestions on how to improve this, please email me at [email protected], and if you want to say thanks, you can buy me a coffee!

Without further ado, the link!

Thanks for reading! There are 3 ways I can help you become a better writer:

Subscribe to my email notifications to read my articles as soon as they’re published.
Download my free Medium Tag Database.
Leave a comment below with any question you have about Medium, and I’ll answer it ASAP!