How to Get Related Tags on Medium

Using Medium API and JavaScript

Medium is a platform that thrives on categorization through tags, helping readers discover content and enabling writers to expand their reach. Imagine you are writing an article about "technology" and want to explore closely related tags to improve its discoverability.

With Medium API, you can easily fetch related tags programmatically. Here's a step-by-step guide to do just that.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the implementation, ensure you have the following:

• Node.js Installed: Download and install Node.js from nodejs.org.
• Medium API Access: Get an API key by signing up for Medium API on RapidAPI.
  How to Subscribe to Medium API and Get Your API Key from RapidAPI Platform
• Environment Setup: Install the dotenv package for securely managing your API keys and the medium-api-js package for interacting with Medium's API.

  npm install medium-api-js dotenv

• Create a .env File: Place your API key in a .env file to keep it secure. The file should look like this:

  RAPIDAPI_KEY=your_medium_api_key

Code Explanation

The following code demonstrates how to fetch related tags for the "technology" tag using Medium's API.

1. Import Required Libraries

import Medium from 'medium-api-js';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';

dotenv.config();

• Medium: This library allows you to interact with Medium's API easily.
• dotenv: This is used to load environment variables from the .env file.
• By calling dotenv.config(), the environment variables (like your API key) become accessible in the code.

2. Initialize the Medium API Client

const medium = new Medium(process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY);

• process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY: Fetches the API key securely from the .env file.
• new Medium(): Initializes the Medium API client with your API key.

3. Fetch Related Tags

medium.getRelatedTags('technology')
    .then(data => {
        console.log('Related Tags:', data);
    });

• getRelatedTags('technology'): Makes a request to fetch tags related to "technology."
• .then(data => {...}): Handles the asynchronous response, logging the related tags.

Running the Code

Save the code in a file named getRelatedTags.js and run it in the terminal using:

node getRelatedTags.js

Output Explanation

When the code runs successfully, the output will be:

• given_tag: The tag you queried, in this case, "technology."
• related_tags: An array of tags that are closely related to the queried tag. These tags can be used to broaden the reach of your content.

Potential Use Cases

• SEO Optimization: Enhance article visibility by including relevant tags.
• Data Analysis: Analyze tag relationships and trends for better audience targeting.
• Custom Applications: Build tools for writers to suggest tags automatically.

Summary

In this article, you learned how to fetch related tags for a specific Medium tag using the medium-api-js library. This simple yet powerful functionality can help writers and developers optimize their content and build smarter tools. By incorporating related tags, you ensure that your articles reach a broader and more relevant audience.

If you have any questions about Medium API or the code, feel free to reach out to me at nishu@mediumapi.com. Happy coding!