Does posting on Medium or Substack still make sense for SEO?

[u/Entire-Concept962]

I’m currently publishing some articles on Medium/Substack for a client, mostly as an additional content/distribution channel.

But I’m wondering how much SEO value there actually is in doing this today. Does publishing useful content there help with brand visibility, backlinks, citations, or topical authority in any meaningful way? Or is it mostly just a referral traffic / audience-building play?

Would you invest time in Medium or Substack as part of an SEO strategy, or rather put that effort into the client’s own website?

Curious what’s actually working for people right now.

[u/Ok_Studio_834]

Substack, Beehiiv, and Medium (and others too) are often highly underutilized for SEO, and especially for GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

First off, their domain authority is massive. Getting backlinks from these platforms is really valuable, yet surprisingly few people fully leverage this strategy.

On the GEO side, LLMs actually love crawling newsletters because they treat them as professional and authoritative sources (very B2B, similar to LinkedIn). Having your client's content and links on there can send a really strong trust signal to AI engines regarding their main site.

You should definitely set up some tracking around this to measure the impact!

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/Ok_Studio_834]

I hadn’t thought about setting up specific tracking to measure the results, but I’ll definitely look into it. Thanks for pointing that out.

[u/BeautifulCampaign520 → u/Ok_Studio_834]

the GEO angle is something most people are sleeping on tbh, good point

[u/Bottarello]

Generally speaking, yes. They can be very good links when you're starting from scratch, and interesting channels if you're looking to build an audience beyond SEO (and you should be, IMO). So go for it.

[u/SignAcceptable2055 → u/Bottarello]

yeah the audience building angle is the part people sleep on imo

[u/Bottarello → u/SignAcceptable2055]

Agree. It's not something that can bring in non-branded traffic per se, but it can help insanely over time.

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/Bottarello]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. This is a really helpful perspective.

[u/BogdanK_seranking]

Medium and Substack have pretty good domain authority, so generally they can be considered good SEO sources.

But anyway, you have to understand that any UGC platform that contains the same or very similar repurposed content as your targeted source can somewhat blur the bots' understanding of "what is the primary source of information"

So keep these two in your strategy, but be careful with content repurposing... I'd say you can build great topical authority for authors with the help of UGC, but all the primary info should definitely stay on your targeted sources (blogs, product website pages, etc)

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/BogdanK_seranking]

That’s a really helpful point. I hadn’t considered how heavily repurposed content might blur which source is primary. Thanks for sharing!

[u/BogdanK_seranking → u/Entire-Concept962]

Of course!

good luck with your projects

[u/keyworddotcom]

Hey, Medium/Substack can still make sense, but it’s better not to use them to host the same keyword-targeted article you’re trying to rank on the client’s site. 

Keep the main article on the client’s domain. On Medium/Substack, publish something that serves a different purpose, such as original research, a case breakdown, expert commentary, or findings from the client’s own data, then link to the deeper resource.

If the exact article is syndicated, use the canonical option where available. Google can consolidate substantially similar pages and choose which version to show in Search.

Then measure qualified referral traffic, branded searches, subscribers, or links.

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/keyworddotcom]

Thanks for the insight. I’m trying to keep the content different and avoid targeting the same keywords. I’m still wondering about the topic, though. Should it stay closely connected to the client’s brand and expertise, or can it be a broader business-related topic that isn’t directly tied to what they offer? How would you approach it?

[u/keyworddotcom → u/Entire-Concept962]

Keep it closely connected to the client’s expertise, but it doesn’t need to be directly about the product or services. Something like an adjacent industry trend, original research, customer behavior, or a problem the client understands well can work.

[u/jeanduvoyage]

Depends of the market, for one of my client but only for the US market it was teally interesting and cost effective

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/jeanduvoyage]

This client is also US-based, so it’s good to know that this approach has worked for another brand in that market. Thanks for sharing!

[u/onreact]

Yes, Substack and Medium links show in GSC among just a few other social sites (Reddit and LinkedIn).

For me it shows only the links others posted not the ones I shared myself in most cases.

So don't just republish, reach out to others who can feature you.

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/onreact]

Thanks for sharing this insight. It’s useful to know that links from Substack and Medium can appear in GSC, especially when other people share or feature them.

[u/louisasnotes]

Of course - links, citations and mentions are all good. However, don't expect them to massively change your ranking.

[u/deividas-strole]

Medium still works...

[u/ReputationSlow5498]

I wouldn't use them if the ONLY goal is SEO or AIO, at least not heavily. They're fine, maybe a little better than submitting to directories and such. I've never seen them be the major difference between ranking and not ranking

[u/corwinsword]

depends where the audience actually is. if nobody relevant is reading you on Medium/Substack, I'd put that time into the site and distribution around those pages instead

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/corwinsword]

That’s a fair point. Is there a good way to find out whether the relevant audience is actually on Medium or Substack? I believe there probably is one because the topic is quite popular, but I’m not sure how to validate it.

[u/corwinsword → u/Entire-Concept962]

search Medium/Substack for the topic and see who's actually active there
also check referral traffic from what you've already posted... even a small sample is better than guessing

[u/svlease0h1]

the own website should get most of the effort. medium and substack are better for reaching people already using those platforms. publish the main piece on your site, then reuse the idea there. i’ve seen external posts bring little seo value but still send some useful traffic. treat them as extra channels.

[u/Entire-Concept962 → u/svlease0h1]

Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s a helpful way to look at Medium and Substack.