Personal Blog vs. Substack: How to Use Both Without Losing SEO Power
Wondering whether to publish your content on your personal blog or Substack? In this post, I break down the pros and cons of each, explain how to keep your SEO authority where it belongs, and share how to use both strategically to grow your audience and your ranking power.
The Platform Dilemma: Blog or Substack?
A lot of my friends and acquaintances are really down on Meta (Facebook, Instagram,) at the moment. Understandably, many people take issue—both morally and ethically—with the company.
And I get it. Nobody wants to be beholden to an algorithm that prioritizes wealth, beauty, and success. Why are these topics prioritized? Simple—because they attract the most ad money.
Not to mention the fact that the owner of Meta is an obsequious billionaire who seems far more interested in protecting his own wealth than supporting democracy or the general human condition.
Turning Away from Meta: Enter Substack
One solution to the Meta problem is to turn to Substack.
Substack is a great platform that can help boost your total reach. But the problem with relying on it exclusively, especially if you have a small business website, is that all that fantastic content—all those yummy words and ideas—boost Substack’s SEO, not that of your own website.
The Good News: You Can Have Both
I’m here to tell you that you can have your cupcake and eat it, too.
Here’s how.
When you write something you want to share, post it first on your website blog. After posting, wait a day or two for Google to index it.
The SEO Essentials for Bloggers
It’s important to remember to add the key SEO features for blog and Substack posts.
I recommend running your content through AI for an optimized title and meta description. You can also ask for keyword suggestions and minor edits to improve your search results.
Both your website and your Substack post should have SEO titles and descriptions—but they shouldn’t be identical. Create similar, but different, versions for each platform. You can use AI for this too: provide your website’s title and description, then ask for a rewritten version tailored for Substack.
Note: Always write your own content. Use AI only for editing, titles, and keyword suggestions. AI-generated content alone doesn’t perform as well as human or human/AI collaborative writing.
While AI is fast and an excellent creative partner, human-created content is still preferred—by both readers and algorithms.
The Publishing Sequence That Protects Your SEO
After posting to your blog and waiting a couple of days, publish the same content on Substack. Be sure to include an attribution at the beginning or end of your Substack post, such as:
“This article was originally published on [YourWebsite.com].”
Doing this helps you establish SEO authority on your own site while expanding your readership and creating backlinks through Substack (or even Medium).
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO MANAGE YOUR SEO, SEE THIS POST->
What About Duplicate Content?
You may be wondering about duplicate content. Until I dug into this topic, I also thought Google punished duplicate posts.
Apparently, that’s an oft believed myth.
When search engines find duplicate content, they don’t penalize you—they simply decide which version has the highest authority or which was indexed first. That’s why it’s so important to publish first on your blog, wait for it to be indexed, and then post elsewhere with attribution.
Although you can technically republish the exact same post, it’s better to tweak it slightly for each platform. Add a new intro and/or outro, or adjust your calls to action (CTAs) for the platform’s audience.
Substack tends to be more conversational and relational—focused on community, comments, and sharing—whereas a blog is often more formal, focused on delivering value to your ideal client or reader.
Enter the Content Waterfall Strategy
All this talk about republishing leads me to think of the content waterfall.
A content waterfall starts with one long-form, original piece of content, which you then repurpose into smaller pieces across different platforms.
For example, you could take a blog post, essay, or white paper and turn it into multiple snippets for LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or any other social media platform. Each subtopic could cascade into its own short post, creating a steady flow of connected content across your digital ecosystem.
Final Thoughts
Choosing between a personal blog and Substack doesn’t have to be an either/or decision. The best choice is actually to use both. Use your blog as your SEO home base, and let Substack (or similar platforms) become your outreach and community channels.
By understanding indexing, attribution, and smart content repurposing, you can grow your audience, strengthen your brand authority, and make every word work harder for you.
And remember: always publish on your own platform first. That’s your digital home, the marketing hub for your business—make sure Google knows it.
Are you ready to fall in love with your website? I have multiple services at several price points available. From a complete and customized website to a creative brand strategy session, I’ve got you covered.
