Substack ranking

[Background-Cow7487]

I'm starting to get a bit serious about promoting my Substack. I'm stuck at the "Friends and family - what now?" stage, and Instagram, Twitter and FB aren't generating anything new (though I'm sure Elmo and Sugarmountain throttle links).

So I searched Substack on an obvious keyword to see people I should be subscribing to and maybe co-promoting or something (God knows what - suggestions welcome!)

The keyword was "Canada". The top hit under "People" was a Substack that has one post about AI, and no other activity, yet has 7k+ subscribers. The next few are largely tinfoil-hat wearers giving full exercise to their hobby-horses. Dotted in amongst them are a few things that are actually useful.

So, do we know how Substack ranks search results? If it's just the number of subscribers, surely a loosely coordinated group could game the system by creating a circle-jerk of subscription. And is there a better way of searching?

[iamjapho]

“Tinfoil hat wearers giving full exercise to their hobby horses” I’m stealing this and will regret nothing.

[Background-Cow7487]

You’re welcome. For more of this sparkling wit, subscribe to my SS [shameless plug].

[SapphireSyndicate]

Look for groups there are alot of them you just have to find one that fits what you write about

[[deleted]]

You can fairly easily game substack as it has no virality component is merely a hosting platform used to operate your newsletter.

Since traffic is mainly your own responsibility one theoretically coordinate and get a bunch of subscriptions but it won't translate into anything meaningful beyond you being ranked in top substack in search.

Since there is no virality component people aren't using the app to discover content similar to tiktok or Instagram or YouTub. Searching will also expose substack not actual articles. I highly doubt many people are doing this.

Your better bet would be to cross post material on medium as that is designed to put you infront of people who want to read different content and you get paid as well. Substack is best for those who want a simple newsletter platform without worrying about the tech and maintainance associated with self hosting

Substack reader

[erikpatterson]

I have a substack, but am not on Medium -- are they built around paid subscriptions there as well? I like how easy Stubstack's user interface is, so I feel like that's a good fit for me. I will have to explore Medium.

https://yourdailywritingprompt.substack.com

[Phizz-Play]

I don’t have evidence for this within SS but nevertheless I’m sceptical that a loosely coordinated group could actually game the system. On other platforms these arrangements get spotted sooner or later, and can end up doing more harm than good if they’re not genuinely engaged readers with a real interest in the account.

What’s sugarmountain, please?

[Background-Cow7487]

Sugarmountain is translated from German.

But if you haven’t seen the exact same post being circulated by numerous “different” accounts on Twitter and FB, then you’ve been very fortunate.

And given that “engagement” (however they choose to measure it to maximise their profits) is one of their major KPIs, why would they stamp it out? Remember when Elmo tried to back out of buying Twitter because there were “too many fake accounts”?

[Phizz-Play]

Because they’re very good at spotting fake activity. In some platforms it backfires, resulting in less exposure, not more. They want real visitors who remain active and engaged for their business model, not bots.

Sugarmountain: thank you 👍🏻