28 Comments
User's avatar
Wyndo's avatar

Love this! I’ve setup my console but turns out there are other things I need to do to maximize it, thanks!

Jens Stark's avatar

Could you please clarify the how to verify ownership of the Substack sub-domain for the Google Search console? I want to copy and paste the meta tag into the analytics section in settings as you suggested, but which is the appropriate field to drop this into?

Sufyan Maan, M.Eng's avatar

Thanks for sharing these detailed insights, Colin

I will update everything on the weekend as you suggested. Thanks

Salvador Lorca 📚's avatar

Very good insight about seo. Can i translate last part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter?

olayanjuidris's avatar

I read your article and I am blown away

Anitha Bellary's avatar

I dont see Google site verification row in My Substack Analytic setting. So I am unable to past the the meta HTML content. Any reason why I dont have it in my Substack settings?

Evelyn So (Thinker & Co.)'s avatar

I have the same problem and would like further instructions, thank you!

Jens Stark's avatar

Hey Evelyn, I've managed to find a complementary source of info for this. DM me and I'll share, as I don't want to link away from Colin's content.

Bougie Tech Dad's avatar

Hi Colin. Very helpful post. Thank you. I created a substack in January and haven’t seen a sitemap.xml file yet. From what I’m reading in Reddit and similar spots, substack may have stopped providing the files (perhaps related to the fact that google is leaning so hard into their ‘AI generated search results’, which is a major shift for SEO because it basically has stopped driving traffic to sites. )

But that’s a whole other conversation.

A workaround that I just did was the following:

1) Substack still creates an RSS feed for you.

2) So just go to yoursubstack.substack.com/feed and you can download the file

3) if you’re not into coding, you can upload that .rss file into ChatGPT and ask it to convert it to a sitemap.xml file.

4) you can then upload that file to the search console.

Capital Z's avatar

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The Kind Nourish's avatar

This is outstanding content. I have immediately subscribed. Thankyou for this amazing resource

Gabrielle Manfré's avatar

Bonjour, je n'ai pas trouvé où coller la balise méta dans les paramètres de Substack. Pouvez-vous m'aider ?

Au plaisir,

Gabrielle

Mark S. Carroll ✅'s avatar

Fantastic breakdown, Colin. Most creators underestimate how much Search Console and internal linking can elevate discoverability on Substack. Your step-by-step approach makes it approachable instead of technical, which is rare in SEO guides.

I’ve been experimenting with similar optimization techniques through my own publication, Collaborate with Mark, but focused more on alignment between message clarity and audience intent. Especially for thought leaders and nonfiction writers. Your article fills a real gap here. 👏

Odiambo's avatar

The beginning instructions may be missing some important details.

Substack does have a place for just the 'html' tag. Its either the tag manager or the analytics codes.

The instructions depart pretty early, is it due to an update?

Aurora's avatar

Do you have any idea why Substack wouldn't be generating a sitemap for me yet? I've had my Substack (https://fountainpengirl.substack.com) since May and it has 37 posts - more than my other Substack that somehow does already have have a sitemap?

Maria Sukhareva's avatar

Wow that’s super useful!

Cassandra Day's avatar

Hi Colin, thank you for your article. I don't believe that the Google Search Console works anymore. I tried your steps and it looks like SubStack no longer allows this option.