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Are You Tagging Your Stories Like a Top Writer?
3 steps to becoming a top writer in multiple topics faster
Choosing tags for your Medium story has become an art form. I would almost go as far as to say that tagging properly is more important than getting curated. While curation is obviously valuable, I’ve noticed something fascinating over the years.
Sometimes pieces that get curated tank, while others soar. But it’s how the curation works hand in hand with the tags you choose that make a world of difference. (Plus, pubs vs. self-publishing + follower count. Remember, an algorithm has a lot at play.)
So much so that I have taken the time to revisit old stories and change the tags to align with the topic(s) they have been curated in. (Though, that is still technically a theory in process that requires further testing.)
Top Tags
In my Medium FAQS, I provided the Top Writer tags from 2021, organized alphabetically.
This list is important because you can see which topics you can become a top writer in, and the competition for each topic.
As a top writer in ‘writing,’ in 2021, there were 370k+ stories. In 2022, there are 419k+ stories. Whereas, ‘cooking’ had 27k+, and in 2022 has just 29k+.That’s something to think about. (And also makes me feel proud because to earn top writer status in writing is far more difficult.) Nonetheless, a top writer is a top writer!!
Curation + Tagging
What this means is, if you get curated in a certain tag + topic enough, you will eventually earn a Top Writer status in that category.
I have referenced the Chrome extension Medium Enhanced Stats, before, which provides a thorough breakdown of which of your stories actually get curated, and in what. The extension automatically populates on your screen on the stats page. It also tells you how long your piece sat before it was curated in said topic.
