I often read people claiming that their Substack subdomain benefits from the domain authority of substack.com.
I even read it on pages of so called ‘experts’ in the field, selling services, yet getting this very basic thing wrong.
The logic and thinking behind it is because Substack.com is a high-authority site, anything published under it, such as a sub domain, must also rank well in search.
But that’s not how it works. And the reason is simple: subdomains are treated as separate independent entities. Full stop.
Not to mention, domain authority is a third party metric that Google doesn’t even use, it uses a complex internal system known as Page Rank.
Oh, and what if I told you domain authority can be easily manipulated, and it isn’t as simple as high DA = Trusted site?
Ooo, spoiler alert for all the shady link sellers out there.
Not that Substack isn’t trusted by Google, of course it is. I just wanted to share the link.
Sub Domains Are Treated As Fresh New Sites
A subdomain like yourname.substack.com is not part of substack.com in the way some people seem to think.
It’s treated as its own independent site. Different authority, different trust signals, and different history.
It’s no different than launching your own site on yourname.com.
Same rules apply, you’re starting from zero.
The only thing Substack gives you is hosting and the ability to have your own newsletter. Everything else is on you.
The truth is, sub domains aren’t the best way to go from a SEO perspective in some scenarios, anyway.
I mean, how often do you see sub domains in your searches? I hardly ever see them. Doesn’t mean you cannot build them up of course, just know, it’s not ideal for different reasons.
It’s why Medium.com articles rank well, and why parasite SEO is rife on the platform, I see them often in searches as I am sure you do too.
And its because the domain they give you is medium.com/bla bla – You do piggyback off the medium.com domain, because your pages are on the root domain.
Unless the root domain links to the sub domain, only then you can get some link juice, like any normal backlink from a quality trusted source. But otherwise,. nope.
If you’re serious about building a brand on Substack, get a damn top level domain name. Never build on someone else’s address. Set yourself up for success on Substack from the get-go.
But anyway, your substack sub domain gains no authority or juice from substack.com.
The end.
