Canonical Links

Canonical Links For Cross-Posts That Send Readers To Your Publication

Ian Kiprono

Narrareach sets canonical links for cross-posts automatically: Medium and Ghost copies of an article point to the original on your Substack publication, even when a copy goes live before the newsletter does.

At a glance

One canonical link for every copy

Publish one article to Substack, Medium, and Ghost. Narrareach points every copy back to the original on your Substack publication, so readers and search engines know where the article lives.

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  • The link points to the article on your publication, not to your homepage.
  • A canonical link the writer set on Medium or Ghost is kept.
  • Narrareach confirms the link on Medium before counting the copy as linked.

Connect Substack, Medium, or Ghost in integrations, then publish your first article to all of them.

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Quick answer

Start with this workflow

Narrareach points Medium and Ghost copies of an article to the original on your Substack publication, at publish time or as soon as the newsletter is confirmed live.

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Workflow

  1. 1Write the article once and choose Substack, Medium, and Ghost as destinations.
  2. 2Schedule each platform when it suits you; the publishing order does not matter.
  3. 3Copies that publish after the newsletter get the canonical link straight away.
  4. 4Copies that publish first get the link once Substack confirms the article is live.

What Narrareach adds

  • The link points to the article on your publication, not to your homepage.
  • A canonical link the writer set on Medium or Ghost is kept.
  • Narrareach confirms the link on Medium before counting the copy as linked.

Availability and publishing details

  • LinkedIn articles, X, and other social platforms have no canonical link setting.
  • Copies need a working Medium or Ghost connection for Narrareach to update them after they publish.

How Narrareach sets the canonical link on each copy

When the Substack article is already live, Narrareach sets the canonical link as each Medium or Ghost copy publishes. The link points to the article on your publication, not to your homepage.

If a copy goes out first, Narrareach adds the link after Substack confirms the article is live. You do not need to publish in a set order or wait a few hours between platforms.

A canonical link you set yourself on Medium or Ghost is kept. Narrareach only fills in the link where the copy still uses the platform default.

  • Schedule the newsletter and its copies in one pass; the order no longer matters for search credit.
  • Keep Medium and Ghost connected so Narrareach can update copies after they publish.
  • Open the copy's story or post settings once to see the canonical link Narrareach set.

The problem

The manual version gets old fast.

Cross-posting an article to Medium and Ghost brings in new readers, but it also creates several copies of the same piece. Without a canonical link, search engines pick which one to rank, and it is often not your publication.

Setting the link by hand means waiting for the newsletter to go live, copying its address, and opening each copy's settings. It is easy to forget, and a copy that publishes first has nothing to point at yet.

Narrareach handles it for you. When your Substack article is live, every Medium and Ghost copy of it points there, so readers who find a copy are one click from the publication they can subscribe to.

How Narrareach solves it

Keep the publishing system close to the writing.

Canonical link at publish - so Medium and Ghost copies point to your Substack article from the moment they go live

Link added after the newsletter goes live - so copies published before Substack still end up pointing to the original

Your own links kept - so a canonical link you chose on Medium or Ghost is never replaced

Start here

Send every reader to your publication

Connect Substack, Medium, or Ghost in integrations, then publish your first article to all of them.

Start your 7-day trial - no credit card required

Questions writers ask

What is a canonical link?

A canonical link tells search engines which copy of an article is the original. Copies on Medium or Ghost that point to your Substack article send their search credit there instead of competing with it.

Which platforms get a canonical link?

Medium and Ghost copies. LinkedIn articles, X, and other social platforms have no canonical link setting, so Narrareach cannot set one there.

Do I have to publish on Substack first?

No. If a Medium or Ghost copy goes live before the newsletter, Narrareach adds the canonical link after Substack confirms the article is live.

Will Narrareach overwrite a canonical link I set myself?

No. If a copy already points somewhere you chose, Narrareach leaves it alone.

What if my Medium or Ghost connection has expired?

Narrareach retries for a while after the newsletter goes live. If the connection stays expired, reconnect it in integrations, or set the link in that copy's settings yourself.

Narrareach LLM connector

Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any MCP-compatible agent to read drafts, schedule posts, and automate Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, and Threads workflows.

Read the docs