My 3-Way Medium Redirect Strategy for 2025
Invisible, Indirect, Friendly
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My Medium friends can read this story over there as well.
It’s 2025.
Medium’s still fun. At least for me.
Yeah, many have jumped ship. Mostly to Substack. But honestly, why? Substack should not be a replacement for Medium. It’s the ideal companion, in my opinion.
I’ve used Medium since 2021. Extensively. With ups and downs. A lot of money and little money. I still keep coming back every day.
And I use Medium to fuel my other writing platforms and businesses. With my redirection technique.
Here’s how.
Why Redirect?
Let’s first discuss the why?
Medium is great for readers and writers alike. At least, in my eyes. It’s a sleek, minimal platform with a built-in audience of millions of readers. As a writer, it’s dead-simple to sign up, start writing, and earn money.
But there’s one issue for readers: the paywall.
Not everyone wants to pay the Medium Membership. That’s totally fine. For those readers who continuously run into my paywalls, I have a redirection tactic in place. I redirect them to a free source of my content (that still helps me earn money and grow my audience).
Why’s the paywall an issue? Well:
Your content is golden — but some folks will never see it.
You might share affiliate links, services, or products, but lose potential clicks and conversions.
You’re trying to grow a newsletter or your socials, but the CTA is trapped behind a paywall most can’t access.
So, what to do?
Let me reintroduce my 3-way Medium Redirect Strategy for 2025.
1. The Invisible Redirect
When I, as a former web developer, think about redirection, words like htaccess or server-side come to mind. But that’s not the case for this story today.
You can’t run server-side redirects on Medium (thankfully), but you can still point Google in a different direction.
With canonical URLs.
What’s a canonical URL?
Medium lets you add one per story in the settings. It tells search engines,
“Hey, this Medium story is just a republished version of my original over there.”
That “over there” could be your blog, your Substack post, newsletter archive, or your website on your own domain. Google (usually) respects this and ranks your original version instead.
Pros:
Avoids duplicate content issues
Drives search engine traffic to your site (where you can control CTAs, layout, etc.)
It helps you grow your domain authority (if you send readers to a site with a custom domain you own).
Cons:
Your personal site probably has lower domain authority than Medium (for now)
You’ll miss out on Medium earnings if members click and read your off-site version (which rarely happens in my experience)
And you have to run multiple sites and crosspost content
Now, if any of those cons annoy you, you can always just use Medium and nothing else. But I’d choose a second place to host your content, in case something happens on Medium. My second place of choice used to WordPress on a custom domain (for years), but now, since 2024, it’s Substack (on a custom domain).
So, use canonical links to point search engines to another version of your medium story where readers don’t hit a paywall and Google can index everything for SEO.
2. The Indirect Redirect
As w discussed, Medium doesn’t allow code-level redirects. Or any code snippets, for that matter.
But you know what it does allow? Words.
Specifically, a good old call-to-action (CTA) at the start of your post. I’ve used this trick since 2021, and I see it all over Medium now.
Example:
“Not a Medium member? Read this story for free here.” → [Insert blog/newsletter/Susbtack link]
It’s simple. It’s reader-first. And it gives everyone a clear path to your content.
This CTA with a link to a free version of your Medium story should come before the paywall, obviously. So at the start of your post, below the headlines or after the feature image.
Where to send them:
Your blog (Susbtack, WordPress, Ghost, etc.)
Platforms that pay for all reads, like Vocal.
Your newsletter archive (Substack, Beehiiv, Kit, etc.)
Social media (if you’re posting full articles on LinkedIn, for instance)
Tip: Make sure the “elsewhere” version is identical or better. Nothing burns trust like a bait-and-switch.
This method’s been incredibly effective for growing my Substack list — without sacrificing Medium entirely. I always send readers who don’t pay for Medium to my Substack. There some subscribe, some click my affiliate links, some buy my digital products, others remember me and might come back.
It’s pretty easy but powerful.
3. The Friendly Redirect
You can redirect readers… to the exact same Medium story… for free. Medium offers a feature called “friend links”. Those links are specifically created to share a free version of your otherwise paid content.
You can use this to your advantage.
If you share affiliate links or your own services or products within a Medium story, it might be worth sending people to the free version and hoping for conversions, rather than relying on the paywall and membership earnings.
Also: If a paying Medium member reads your story via the friend link, you still get paid.
That’s pretty dope. Thanks, Medium!
Here’s how to use it:
Go to your published story
Click the three dots → “Share Friend Link”
Copy it
Add a CTA to the top of your story: “Not a Medium member? Read this story for free here.” → [Insert friend link]
It’s elegant, simple, and effective.
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But Why Give Away Free Reads?
It’s the most common question I get. I touched on this already.
Sometimes, we’re not just chasing paywall pennies. We’re building long-term, cross-platform audiences.
And sometimes that means giving people free access to:
Your insights
Your newsletter links
Your affiliate offers
Your other platforms
Your products or services
It’s not just about one Medium payout. It’s about visibility, growth, and conversions that happen after the read.
The Bottom Line
Medium is still one of the best writing platforms, in my humble opinion.
But in 2025, versatility wins.
You want:
Your stories read
Your links clicked
Your audience to grow
Your income streams to diversify
This 3-way redirect strategy gives you all that, without having to leave Medium behind.
If you’re repurposing your content anyway (which you should), this is a no-brainer.
I’ve gained:
More Substack subscribers
New affiliate commissions
Digital product sales
Bonus: Vocal earnings
And yes, still Medium payouts via friend links
All I had to do was think one step ahead of the paywall.
And yes, I still have good traffic inside Medium as well (June 2025 screenshot):
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