Because It Deserves to Be Seen

Already publishing on Substack? Great. You Should. It’s the place to be 2025.

But if your Substack not listed on Google, does it even exist?

Getting your newsletter indexed by the search engine(s) means more eyeballs, more subs, and more money.

Why Bother With Google?

Because 92% of the world starts their info hunt there. Show up in search and you’ll get:

• More traffic

• More subscribers

• More clout

• Better engagement

Step 1: Connect to Google Search Console

Search Console = Google’s dashboard to tell you what’s working, what’s not, and why your brilliant post about oat milk for dogs isn’t ranking.

✅ Sign in with a Google account

✅ Add your Substack domain (yournewsletter.substack.com)

✅ Choose “URL Prefix,” not “Domain”

✅ Try automatic verification (spoiler: it probably fails)

✅ Verify manually via Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager

Google Analytics Setup

Beware: This setup may return an error. If so, try the other method. Also, the analytics option works better for Substacks with a custom domain. (You should connect a custom domain, by the way.)

• Get your Google Analytics ID (starts with G-…)

• Paste it into Substack: Settings > Analytics > Google Measurement ID

• Return to Search Console, hit Verify. Wait.

Tag Manager Setup

Go to tagmanager.google.com:

• Create an account

• Name it whatever you like

• Enter your Substack URL (yournewsletter.substack.com) as the container

• Choose Web, then click through the setup

Ignore the code snippets: Google will hand you HTML snippets to paste into your site. You can laugh politely and ignore them — Substack doesn’t let you do that anyway.

Copy your GTM ID: Top right corner, looks like GTM-XXXXXXX. Copy it.

Paste it in Substack: Go to Settings > Analytics on Substack. Paste the ID into the Google Tag Manager ID field. Save.

Verify in Search Console: Choose the Tag Manager method and click Verify.

Step 2: Submit Your Content

New post? Tell Google.

• Use the URL Inspection Tool to submit a new article

• Or let Google do the heavy lifting with your sitemap:

• 👉 Check yournewsletter.substack.com/sitemap.xml

• 👉 If it exists, paste it into Search Console > Sitemaps > Submit

Google now knows where to look.

Step 3: Wait

Monitor indexing progress inside Search Console.

Be patient — Google works in mysterious (and slow) ways. If things go sideways, Search Console will tell you why (404s, redirects, bad juju, etc.).

Issues

Sometimes, the search console throws an error at you. First, try again. Try both methods. Try both again. Sometimes, you also need to wait a day. Sometimes caching is an issue.

Also, it works better with a custom domain (which you should use anyway in the long run).

Bonus: SEO

• Use keywords (not keyword soup)

• Write useful, long-form content

• Get backlinks (ask your blogger buddy)

• Add images/videos

• Be consistent

• Promote like it’s your side hustle

• Check analytics for what’s hitting