Content Marketing Strategy
Smart Use of Tags for Better Content Findability, Visibility, and Readability
“Tags are replacing topic pages”: Tips to writers and readers to get the best out of new features.
Introduction
Medium might need a standing ovation for its recent performance. I am not emotionally making this uplifting remark but leading and interacting with thousands of writers and readers supporting my six significant publications on this platform.
There are teething problems and distribution issues. However, I look at this transformational progress neutrally from the perspectives of a reader, writer, editor, publisher, content marketing strategist, and technologist.
Freelance writers want their stories to be visible and easily accessible to their readers to get the best personal and financial results. And discerning readers want to find relevant content easily and quickly to satisfy their reading needs.
To achieve these essential goals for writers and readers, content platforms use various methods for automatically distributing content using artificial intelligence algorithms. One of the effective distribution methods is the use of tags.
In this process, there are two key players. First, writers determine their tags, and platforms distribute the mentioned tags to relevant pages. Then, platforms use functional techniques such as sorting based on a set of criteria and allowing subscription procedures based on reader interest.
In this post, I inform you of recent changes and progress in the effective use of tags for writers and readers and provide a few valuable tips based on my observations and experience.
Context and Summary of Changes
According to a recent blog post by Medium product manager Tatiana Colligan, tags are replacing topic pages so writers can write for audiences who care deeply about their subject matter and find stories on any topic they love.
The post informs that Medium is rolling out additional functionality this month to allow readers to follow Medium tag pages. As a result, these pages will exponentially expand the number of followable topics.
More importantly, the post informs that tags are replacing topic pages going forward, and Medium will sunset the previous version of Medium topic pages.
The Importance of Tags and Tagging for AI-managed Content
Platform algorithms distribute content to readers using tags and textual markers. In addition, large platforms use Artificial intelligence (AI) systems to manage content for creators and consumers.
Tagging is essential information and knowledge management construct in AI. These AI tools mark metadata with tags to improve the findability of content. The tagging function in AI systems attributes context, structure, and meaning to content.
AI tools can derive metadata values from taxonomy. AI borrowed this scientific term from biology. The goal of taxonomy in science is to name, define, and classify groups of organisms based on characteristics.
Computer architectures and design constructs in AI, similar to biology, use the same structural technique to name, define, and classify objects. So, metadata uses taxonomy to extract detailed data logically.
In a content object such as an article, fundamental metadata fields may include the article title, subtitle, author, date, publication, tags, and many more variables.
Each story on Medium includes numerous metadata entries and descriptions, approximately 20 pages per article. You can review and analyze metadata details, checking the source code for each story.
Web browsers allow you to see the source code. For example, in the Google Chrome browser, you can see the metadata details when you click on the right mouse and select the “View Page Source” entry.
Writers can also see the stories distributed to topics via “View Page Source” by checking the “topicid” entries that depict the topic names the stories distributed to.
Tags are not hardcoded on Medium. What I mean by that, as the owner of an article, you can change tags as many times as you want in the edit mode of the story. Your story will be mapped to the corresponding tag pages at a given time automatically. This gives excellent flexibility to writers.
How Enhanced Tag Pages Improved My Reach
In this section, I want to briefly mention the noticeable benefits gained from the enhanced tag pages, lists, and subscribers introduced by Medium recently. In my opinion, these three new features are excellent investments Medium made for the key stakeholders of the platform, such as writers and readers.
After Medium introduced new tag pages, I noticed some improvement in my content’s number of views and reading times. In addition, my profile gained many new followers and, more importantly, many new subscribers from the followers of the tags that I carefully chose.
For example, several readers found my personal publication Transhumanism Leadership with the tag “Transhumanism”. Since I used this tag for several stories, the algorithm identified my profile as a top writer on the page based on my contributions to the tag.
In short, this simple yet effective distribution feature made my profile more visible to interested readers of this specific tag which is still a new area in society. All I needed was awareness and to choose tags that worked for my content marketing strategy. The platform automatically did the heavy lifting for the distribution of my content to my target audience.
What I like the most about the tag pages are three main categories. Each category captures stories based on the time of publishing and the popularity of content. More specifically, each page includes the “Latest”, “Trending”, and “Best” categories on top of each tag page.
These three categories allow readers to check the latest stories, find trending stories and enjoy the best ones determined by the algorithm. But, of course, Medium’s algorithm, like any other writing platform, is proprietary. So, we don’t have to know the structural mechanics and the associated programming code.
However, from my observations, I understand that algorithms classify the stories using a set of criteria such as the number of views, reading times, and fans. Thus, I noticed that my stories having higher numbers in these three categories received higher weighting and ranking in the tag pages’ trending and best sections.
Practical Tips to Use Tags for Writers and Readers
1 — Tips for Writers
Using tags is very easy for writers. All we need is to find appropriate tags for our content. As you might have noticed, some tags indicate higher numbers and some lower ones. For example, while the “Life” tag has 563K, the Transhumanism tag has 1.5K.
Some writers think that 564K are followers of the tag. They are not. In reality, this figure means the number of content entries for this specific tag. More writers write about the Life tag, and fewer writers write about the Transhumanism tag.
I write a lot about longevity on Transhumanism. Recently, many of my subscribers come from the longevity tag. This simple knowledge helped me target my audience. I gained more readers from the smaller tag. So, my point is the size of the tag does not matter. What matters is to find the right audience in our niche using relevant tags.
Writers confuse tags with topics. They are two different distribution methods. According to the product manager in this recent post, while Medium only had 100 topics, the platform has seven million tags.
As a writer and publication owner, one of the features I like the most about Medium tags is the ability to automate certain tags for my profile and publications using the free RSS service provided by Medium.
For example, I can create multiple RSS feeds using tags and distribute content from the writers of my publications to numerous social media and blogging platforms. How Can Writers Use Social Media Productively? A six-minute investment to productivity and desired outcomes using social media mindfully and meaningfully.
If you want to be a top writer, you need to learn the effective use of tags. How To Become A Top Writer In Three Months: An experience-based practical guide for new writers on Medium.
To enhance the chance of viral content, writers also need to use tags carefully. The Beginner’s Guide to Write Viral Articles & Blogs: Learn 17 proven techniques and unique metrics. Find the key points that may work universally for every platform.
2 — Tips for Readers
Tags and tag pages are not just for writers. They are designed for readers too. They are even more important for readers. The tag page can serve as a portal to find information easily and rapidly. Readers can find the most recent, trending, and best articles in their interest areas.
This functional portal also allows the readers to find the active contributors and the most active ones under the top writer category. In addition, the portal shows other relevant tags so readers can go from one outlet to another with a single click. And they can return to the previous page with another click.
In addition to tags, readers can now easily find writers and subscribe to their content. The “subscription” model is different from the “follow” model. When readers follow a writer, they can see their content in their feed on the actual platform.
However, when readers subscribe to a writer, they can get an email each time the writer posts an article. So they never miss content from their favorite writers. This is a win-win for writers and readers.
Rather than followers, I focus on subscribers. As I mentioned in a story, my subscribers are 50 times more potent than my followers as far as content consumption is concerned. By using subscription systems for decades, I developed an excellent relationship with my readers. Happy subscribers can be regular readers.
Conclusions
I write for multiple platforms and blogging sites on various topics. However, I haven’t come across any platform like Medium that creates so many new functionalities to empower their writers and readers.
From my observations, the subscription tool is the best to connect writers and readers meaningfully. This is because the tools are not only functional but also transparent to writers. Writers can see their subscribers and even can download them. Unfortunately, not many other platforms provide such great functionality and transparency.
After the exciting function of subscribers and lists, the new tag pages look promising from visibility and findability of content aspect. I am excited about reading the progress and plans for further development of tags and tag pages.
There will always be glitches and bugs. After four decades of my work in IT, I am still yet to see a new software application without a bug. Even the products of legendary organizations like Microsoft, IBM, Apple, and Google always come with some bugs. However, with user feedback, organizations revise the issues and provide more functional versions. From my observations so far, Medium is proactive in resolving issues.
Technological changes in large platforms are not trivial tasks. Nevertheless, I admire the vision of the executive leaders for remarkable transformation and diligent developers who neatly create new functions.
As a key stakeholder of this platform, I am excited and embrace changes. I firmly believe that these game-changing functions and features will take Medium readers and writers to the next level and make this excellent platform more palatable and sustainable.
As writers and readers, we should remain open-minded and contribute to this transformation by providing constructive and timely feedback. Let’s keep in mind that despite some perceptions, Medium always favours us.
Thank you for reading my observations and perspectives.
Happy writing and reading.
This story was dedicated to 117 volunteer editors supporting my publications. They always check tags, remind writers who forget to add them and add powerful tags for them.
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