Thanks for posting this! I followed your instructions successfully, but have been stuck with the "data is being processed, check back in a day" message in console - for the last week. Anyone know what could be happening?
Google's back-end processes are a little bit unpredictable. I remember it took just over a week for them to join all the dots for my stack, only then could I start manually requesting indexing. If you've got this far you've done everything right, just be patient.
I really think something is up with Substack. I just checked search console again and I added my newsletter as a property on February 27 - so longer than a week. I also don't have a sitemap. I get a 'there is no sitemap for this publication' message when I put in the sitemap url. My publication is more than three months old, so it's not that I haven't given it enough time.
I've read elsewhere that Substack has stopped generating sitemaps at all.
Substack is a bit oblique on when it generates a sitemap for substacks, my best guess is you will get one when you hit a certain amount of views or subscribers. I got one before I hit 100 subs after one particular post got a few hundred views . When you do get one you can submit it to search console as described above. In the meantime no need to worry about that, after Google has initiated your site fully you can start using the url inspection tool to submit your individual posts. I remember I was initially restricted on search console to submitting only one or two pages a day, again a bit frustrating, but this restriction was lifted after about a week. I think Google puts these breaks on to stop scammers overloading their servers. Unfortunately Google gives no time guarantees for indexing, and even in thier docs mention it can take weeks.
It depends on the type of content or the author. If you write non fiction it is more likely to be searched for on Google. Or if you are famous. For new writers it is always difficult unless you write something that is trending or newsworthy.
For me the topic of this post always does better on Google than my other posts because it is a problem that people are interested in and actively search for answers about.
Yes, I've been looking, and I think you are the first one to go in depth on the importance of google in Substack. It seems that the others rely more on Notes and recommendations.
But, for newsletters that have lots and lots of non-fiction posts, the main source of traffic should be Google and Bing, save Substack is doing something against SEO. Or am I wrong? Because this my top strategy.
Thanks so much for this post. I've just followed all the steps. When I try to Index my latest post it comes up with this error: "Quota exceeded
Sorry, we couldn't process this request because you've exceeded your daily quota. Please try submitting this again tomorrow." I'm not sure how I've already exceeded my quota? Anyway will keep trying! Thanks again, I've subscribed!
Yes that happened to me too at first. It's just a poorly formed error message. Google takes a few days to initialize your site after the verification process then you can start to manually request page indexing. Just wait a a day or two and try again. I seem to remember it took about a week before I could index freely.
Oh my, I am smitten. Thank you. This is hugely helpful. I'll be tracking this whole series to share with my Projectkin.org community. I did get caught at the "wait a day" stage but that doesn't worry me. Your instructions are impeccably clear and I'm confident this will sort itself out. One quick question... I found myself here out of curiosity because I didn't think there WAS a way to manipulate search as a substack subdomain. Then I bumped into https://substack.com/sitemap. This obviously is some kind of automated page. Any idea why that's there?
Oh I hadn't spotted that page before, that could of course be crawled by Search engines to find substack pages. I don't think google grabs it but it maybe picked up by bing and others as they are often quicker to index new pages than google.
Substack should replace their A.I. tech support with you.
I literally just followed this guide and the whole process works as expected! Thank you so much for your help, it is much appreciated!
Thanks for posting this! I followed your instructions successfully, but have been stuck with the "data is being processed, check back in a day" message in console - for the last week. Anyone know what could be happening?
Google's back-end processes are a little bit unpredictable. I remember it took just over a week for them to join all the dots for my stack, only then could I start manually requesting indexing. If you've got this far you've done everything right, just be patient.
I really think something is up with Substack. I just checked search console again and I added my newsletter as a property on February 27 - so longer than a week. I also don't have a sitemap. I get a 'there is no sitemap for this publication' message when I put in the sitemap url. My publication is more than three months old, so it's not that I haven't given it enough time.
I've read elsewhere that Substack has stopped generating sitemaps at all.
Substack is a bit oblique on when it generates a sitemap for substacks, my best guess is you will get one when you hit a certain amount of views or subscribers. I got one before I hit 100 subs after one particular post got a few hundred views . When you do get one you can submit it to search console as described above. In the meantime no need to worry about that, after Google has initiated your site fully you can start using the url inspection tool to submit your individual posts. I remember I was initially restricted on search console to submitting only one or two pages a day, again a bit frustrating, but this restriction was lifted after about a week. I think Google puts these breaks on to stop scammers overloading their servers. Unfortunately Google gives no time guarantees for indexing, and even in thier docs mention it can take weeks.
Why substack IS not open on this important thing?
Because it's more work. It is down to us to promote I'm afraid.
Yes, but it can say when we have the right to have a sitemap, o when our links are dofollow. And not guessing about it ...
Views from Google are about 50 per cent of the total?
It depends on the type of content or the author. If you write non fiction it is more likely to be searched for on Google. Or if you are famous. For new writers it is always difficult unless you write something that is trending or newsworthy.
For me the topic of this post always does better on Google than my other posts because it is a problem that people are interested in and actively search for answers about.
Yes, I've been looking, and I think you are the first one to go in depth on the importance of google in Substack. It seems that the others rely more on Notes and recommendations.
But, for newsletters that have lots and lots of non-fiction posts, the main source of traffic should be Google and Bing, save Substack is doing something against SEO. Or am I wrong? Because this my top strategy.
You may be right, but it wouldn't harm to try to connect with writers of related content if you can find.
Great stuff! Thanks!
That piece is so well and detailed written. So helpful, thank you!
Very informative and helpful guide. Thank you!
Very handy, thank you.
Great guide! Thank you a lot
Super useful, than you very much! It's working great :)
Really helpful post, thank you!
Wow. This was spot on. Thanks this was the perfect walk through for how to do this.
Thanks so much for this post. I've just followed all the steps. When I try to Index my latest post it comes up with this error: "Quota exceeded
Sorry, we couldn't process this request because you've exceeded your daily quota. Please try submitting this again tomorrow." I'm not sure how I've already exceeded my quota? Anyway will keep trying! Thanks again, I've subscribed!
Hi Anastasia
Yes that happened to me too at first. It's just a poorly formed error message. Google takes a few days to initialize your site after the verification process then you can start to manually request page indexing. Just wait a a day or two and try again. I seem to remember it took about a week before I could index freely.
Thanks so much for your quick reply. That’s great to know. I’ll keep trying!
Thank you for this amazingly helpful and thorough content!
Oh my, I am smitten. Thank you. This is hugely helpful. I'll be tracking this whole series to share with my Projectkin.org community. I did get caught at the "wait a day" stage but that doesn't worry me. Your instructions are impeccably clear and I'm confident this will sort itself out. One quick question... I found myself here out of curiosity because I didn't think there WAS a way to manipulate search as a substack subdomain. Then I bumped into https://substack.com/sitemap. This obviously is some kind of automated page. Any idea why that's there?
Oh I hadn't spotted that page before, that could of course be crawled by Search engines to find substack pages. I don't think google grabs it but it maybe picked up by bing and others as they are often quicker to index new pages than google.
Thanks for the comment!
Interesting. My larger page listed there, but my smaller not.
This was really helpful. Giving this a try.
This is the best post in the whole of Substack!