How does the medium algorithm work?
A question everyone is asking, I found an answer.
We all know that Medium has a great purpose, to share ideas and perspectives from the world’s most insightful writers, thinkers, and storytellers.
But are the latest changes to move Medium to be more “Relational” going to help new writers get discovered?
As stated on their blog …
“Our goal is to create the best of both worlds: An open and simple platform where anyone can publish — once, occasionally, or often — that also allows for deeper connections between readers and writers. We want to simplify the publishing process.”
We want to simplify the publishing process. Today we made the following changes:
- Every post published on Medium is eligible for further distribution. Writers no longer need to submit their stories for curation review.
- Only writers enrolled in the Medium Partner Program will have the option to place their stories behind the metered paywall. If they choose to do so, their stories are eligible to earn money. Medium will no longer put posts behind the paywall in exchange for distribution.
- We have simplified the notifications and labelling of your story’s distribution status. This involves removing the topics listed on your stats page (for new and previous stories), in favor of a more general message.
Our intention with these updates — and the ones to come — is to accurately portray our distribution system to writers. And we know we have more work to do.
We still value editorial curation but recognize that our system did not always serve writers as well as it could. Our goal with a more relational Medium is to make it easier for writers to build and connect with their readership. We don’t want curation to be a hindrance to that. We will discover and promote stories, and are investing in improving our mechanisms for doing so. While we will continue to use topics behind the scenes to improve our recommendations to readers, we will no longer show topic designations to writers. That’s because topics are just one avenue, of many on Medium, for readers to connect with your writing.
We are very focused on improving the writer experience as we head into 2021. Our goal is to make Medium the best place for you to share your stories.
Learn more about Medium’s distribution system.
- You can read about how distribution works on Medium.
Listen on Podcast:
Let’s first get some answers to your most asked questions.
Do you have to have a following to be seen on Medium?
Not really. If your content is really good you can apply to some publications on Medium to improve your visibility.
I’ve also noticed that if you write on a topic that’s trending or perhaps even something that appeals to other writers, you may see the story get more attention.
Medium addressed some of the major changes to their algorithm with regards too submitting for curation.
- This might be confusing as people also submit to private publications for review. That’s what’s tricky about explaining this update. Medium is only talking about curation and does not speak for private publications.
Here’s what they said…
“Every post published on Medium is eligible for further distribution. Writers no longer need to submit their stories for curation review…. Our goal with a more relational Medium is to make it easier for writers to build and connect with their readership. We don’t want curation to be a hindrance to that. We will discover and promote stories, and are investing in improving our mechanisms for doing so.”
- You can read about how distribution works on Medium.
Note: *Other Medium writers I have spoken to are reporting that they received a status update saying their article has been chosen for further distribution. (curation) — (I’ll update the area once I know more about that process- leave your questions in comments)
What’s frustating..
Getting an article curated after it has been posted is really helpful to views and exposure. We all hope for that to happen. But you should also submit to publications to increase your exposure. It’s been really frustrating trying to figure out which Medium publication to submit an article to. Private publications on Medium are much easier as they respond more quickly but for the large Medium publications (click here) it takes a long time to get an answer (if at all) and I don’t like to leave my posts unpublished for the length of time some require. Just a personal frustration I’ve expereinced.
No one likes to spend time writing only to have it sitting in draft for days or weeks in the hopes it might qualify for a Medium Publication.
What if you are a new Medium writer and you don’t have a following yet? Is Medium a place where you can get discovered?
It seems like the changes are geared towards serving writers who already have a following. Take a look at what was said.
“ Our goal with a more Relational Medium is to make it easier for writers to build and connect with their readership. We don’t want curation to be a hindrance to that. We will discover and promote stories, and are investing in improving our mechanisms for doing so.”
According to Medium..
“Medium is becoming more relational in order to give creators more freedom and agency over building and maintaining relationships with their audience.”
So in one way, it’s good if you have a following but if you don’t it seems harder to get discovered organically. You really need to be marketing your posts to medium readers and other readers in your niche.
I believe that Medium is striving to follow the algorithm protocols commonly used by many social media pages.
This could prioritize your content to your immediate and active audience as a way to give your most active readers reminders and easy access to your latest posts. (See ‘What does Relational mean’ below)
This is also being seen in the 3rd position of my home page and includes responses from people that I follow.
Personally I think Responses should only be shown here if the response is significant. (meaning the response is long enough to exist as a stand alone post. Example here )
I don’t like that the writers name has been removed. I can’t understand why they have made that change.
I have already noticed that my Medium home page is prioritized by people that I follow.
In first position I am seeing a selection of 5 articles from people that I follow even though their names have not been included.
When I refresh this page, the articles change to a fresh new 5 choices for review with the writers name, title of the article and the subtitle description.
In second position I see Trending articles in smaller print.
This section highlights articles that seem to be launched today and are already commanding claps, comments and probably shares. So this means articles with high engagement and read time.
- Note I am not following the writers listed in this section yet so I’m not sure if this is a general listing or will also include people I already follow if the article is performing well.
- Also note that this section is focused on a few top writers so a new writer is not likely to be discovered by anyones home page.
- This means that it’s up to you to bring the audience and hope that your article resonates enough to be discovered by a medium publication, noted inside a Medium publication or performs well on google search.
What does Relational mean?
When Medium kept mentioning the word Relational as a main goal in all the updates, I thought I would dive a little deeper into what that might mean.
According to this blog post by Mediums CEO Ev Williams most of the algorithm changes on the website and the app are prioritizing connecting you with the latest content from people you follow.
“So what’s different? As Russ (a writer on Medium) wrote, instead of starting with an algorithmic feed of stories, the new app is “reoriented around following — so that readers can be sure they’re not missing anything from writers they love, and those writers and publications can more actively engage and grow their audience.” That doesn’t sound revolutionary, but there’s a bit more to it.”
(Medium blog: with more details)
Relational seems to mean that medium is focused on connecting your readers with your content.
There is an additional section regarding additional ways to build your readership which refers to being published in publications.
“Medium publications
Publications are collections of stories by a single or multiple authors, kind of like magazines that live on the Medium network. There are distribution advantages to creating or joining a publication:”
Additional distribution Ideas..
In my experience the best ways to build a following on Medium are:
- Share your articles in writers facebook groups that circle around common themes relating to your writing. This includes Medium specific groups.
- Learn about SEO (search engine optimization) so you articles can become searchable by content in your niche.
- Develop relationships on Medium with other writers by supporting their content, leaving comments and creating response articles to posts you like. Don’t forget to tag the original writer.
LATEST UPDATE: DON’T USE CLICK BATE TITLES:
ON THEIR BLOG RECENTLY, Medium stated:
“Sticking to what they know, what they’ve experienced, and what they want to share.”
- Is the title trying to exploit a reader’s personal worries, insecurities, or emotional state?
- Is the title or story image more provocative than the content of the story merits?
- Is the title over-reaching or over-promising with hyperbolic claims or absolutes that are not verifiable?
- Is the title withholding important context; misleading the reader; or using cliches, gimmicks, or cheap language?
If you can reasonably answer “yes” to any of these four questions, we consider that clickbait — and it will now disqualify a story from additional distribution on Medium.
Changes to the Medium Partner Program
“Only writers enrolled in the Medium Partner Program will have the option to place their stories behind the metered paywall. If they choose to do so, their stories are eligible to earn money. Medium will no longer put posts behind the paywall in exchange for distribution.”
This of course makes sense and is fair in my opinion. I can’t imagine a scenario where you would not want to be part of their Partner Program if you are wanting to earn money from your writing on medium.
What happens when you publish a Post on medium.
When you publish on Medium, your post is immediately available to readers and to share. There is no review, no approval, and no waiting.
Your post immediately appears in these places:
- On your personal profile page: Every Medium user has a personal profile page and unique URL that contains all your posts. You can share this profile page and your stories with your friends and on social media.
- In your followers’ “Latest from following” feeds on their Medium homepage and app, where all of your followers will see the latest posts from every Medium author and publication they follow.
- In search engines: We have invested a lot of time and work improving Medium’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and posts published on Medium generally rank high in search results on search engines.
I agree that Medium is excellent for achieving quick and qualified search results. I have experienced my posted articles being ranked on google search within 2 days as opposed to 7–30 days from my own website or other websites that I write articles for.
This is a big benefit to writing on Medium.
Things you want to avoid on medium.
Harassment Medium exists to share and discuss ideas. We don’t tolerate harassment, which includes:
- Bullying, threatening, or shaming someone, or posting things likely to encourage others to do so
- Using Medium features like responses, private notes, mentions, follows, story requests, or writer requests in a way intended to annoy or harass someone
- Reviewing businesses or products in a gratuitously harmful or abusive manner
Copyright and trademark infringement Respect the copyrights and trademarks of others. Unless you’re authorized to use someone else’s copyrighted work or trademark (either expressly or by legal exceptions and limitations like fair use), don’t do it.
Spam We do not allow spam on Medium. All spam will be immediately removed from Medium, without notification. This includes repeatedly using responses or other interactions as a method of promotion. Spam articles linking to articles outside the site with the sole purpose of linking to the rest of the article on a different website.
Clipping Stories where the content is clipped with the sole purpose of linking to the rest of the article on a different website.
Duplicate Content We do not allow posting duplicate content, whether from a single account or across multiple accounts, either publicly or as an unlisted story.
Bulk Actions Performing a disproportionately large number of interactions, particularly by automated means. This includes bulk, indiscriminate interactions, such as following of other accounts (follow spam) clapping, highlighting, or leaving notes.
More don’t listed here:
SUMMARY…
Now that I spent my morning researching the details let me hear your questions. Leave them below.
Overall, I love medium for so many reasons.
Medium has connected me with amazing writers that inspire my day.
I love the formatting on the site and the search engine results are very effective.
I do appreciate what Medium is striving for with their shift in helping readers be seen by their following. I wish more algorithms did the same with honesty and integrity.
At the same time I hope that Ev Williams and the Medium team will not ever forget that once we spend time building a following and hosting original content here, it would be disappointing if the algorithm changed again to limit the reach we have to our own following.
I’m also hoping to hear something about what articles the algorithm shows when you search a topic. It seems to be focused on Publications and people that I follow along with a Featured writer discovery section in highlights..
For now it seems to be a good balance.
Written by Jacqueline Jax : Radio host & Journalist for AVA Live Radio