Hi Smillew, Medium needs to regain its rank (authority in the eyes of Google). When Google answers a search query, they direct a reader to an authority in the field—the site that knows what they are writing/talking about.

As for Medium, they lost top writers which helped them rank years ago. I knew one that was making 100K annually. They are gone.

Now, the fun stories we write have no value for Google, unless we include links, and references (researched). That's how the web works.

This is why we get bored reading Medium's Top Trending (suggestions)... all about Tech, blah, blah, blah. Check the reads—all low. How is that trending? Those readers are gone and few remain. It will be interesting to see what happens.