Move your blog to Substack: the complete guide for UK writers

SEO preservation is the single biggest technical concern for UK bloggers moving to Substack. The core principle: never delete your old content without a plan for the ranking equity it holds.

If your blog is on a custom domain, preserve the URLs wherever possible. When URLs must change and you control the old site, map each valuable source URL to its closest destination and apply a permanent redirect only after the destination preserves the useful content and search intent.

If you do not control redirects from the old platform, avoid assuming a canonical change will transfer performance on a predictable schedule. Keep valuable originals stable, publish only meaningfully adapted versions, and monitor both properties before consolidating anything.

The most important thing to preserve: posts that rank on page one of Google for any keyword with meaningful search volume. These are your SEO assets. Import them to Substack first, set up the canonical or redirect relationship, and monitor their rankings in Google Search Console for 90 days after migration.

If your blog has an email subscriber list, the migration to Substack involves transferring those email addresses to a new platform. Under UK GDPR (which post-Brexit mirrors EU GDPR in substance), you need a lawful basis for this transfer.

The correct lawful basis cannot be inferred from the fact that someone once subscribed. Document how the list was collected, what people were told, which providers will process it, and how opt-outs and data rights will be handled. Check current ICO guidance or obtain advice for the specific transfer.

A conservative approach is to notify subscribers before the transfer, explain the new processor and purpose, preserve consent records, and provide a clear opt-out or re-confirmation path. Check current ICO guidance or obtain legal advice for your specific list and lawful basis rather than relying on a generic migration rule.

Do not import purchased, scraped, or otherwise unpermissioned addresses. Retain an audit trail of the source, consent status, notices, and suppression requests for the addresses you are entitled to process.

Once you've migrated, your old blog posts don't have to sit as a static archive. Every well-written blog post is potential raw material for Substack Notes — short, punchy content that drives engagement in the Substack feed without requiring readers to click through to a full article.

Narrareach's AI repurposing feature reads any article URL and generates a Substack Note from it. For UK bloggers with large archives, this means you can create months of Substack Note content from posts you wrote years ago, scheduled to go out automatically.

This approach serves two purposes: it gives new Substack subscribers exposure to your best older work, and it keeps you active in the Substack feed during the period when you're rebuilding your publishing rhythm after the migration.