How to Rank Your Substack on Google in 2026

And why

My Medium friends can read this story over there as well.

Photo by Arkan Perdana on Unsplash

Most writers on Substack think of growth in terms of subscribers. And that’s important. Obviously.

But there’s another layer of reach sitting right under your nose. Google. Or any search engine. Including AI engines now.

Your Substack isn’t just a newsletter. It’s a website.

Every post you publish lives on the open web. And when Google actually knows your publication exists, it can start serving your writing to people who’ve never even heard of you.

That’s where compounding growth begins.

So let’s talk about how to make that happen in 2026.

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Make Google Notice You

THere’s a couple key technical steps to make your Substack Google-proof in 2026.

First step:

If you’re still using the default yourname.substack.com URL, that’s fine, but it’s not ideal.

Getting your own custom domain (yourname.com) gives you long-term control and authority. It tells Google: “This is a real publication, not just a hosted subdomain.”

Substack offers custom domain setups. They cost $50 one time. To me that’s a fair price. Connecting a custom domain is relatively easy. You can find more info here.

Second step: