Should coaches blog on Substack or on their own website?
Based on the data I reviewed, coaches should publish on their own website first and use Substack as a second channel. No study I found shows that Substack outperforms a coach’s own blog for Google or AI search, while owning your blog gives you authority, links, and technical control that Substack can’t. If you don’t have a website yet, Substack is a good temporary place to start, but it shouldn’t be your long-term home.
That’s my conclusion after spending time with the research. In this article, I’ll show you the numbers first, then tell you what I think they mean for your coaching business. I’ll label my opinions clearly so you can tell the difference between what the data says and what I believe.
Why did I look into this?
I looked into this because coaches in my community keep asking whether they should move their blog to Substack. Substack advice is everywhere right now, and some coaches are paying for courses that promise faster growth there.
I’m on Substack myself, and I shared what I learned after my first 30 days on the Make It Visible podcast. I like it. But before I recommend that anyone move their content, I want to see the evidence.
Here’s what I reviewed:
A Search Engine Land analysis of blog posts that ChatGPT cites
An Ahrefs study of 1,885 pages that added schema markup
Published case studies on blogs that moved onto, or off of, a company’s main domain
Research on how paywalls affect AI search
A domain rating check I ran on November 12, 2026, using Ahrefs’ free tool
How does Substack’s authority compare to a coach’s website?
Substack has far more authority than a typical coach’s website, but that authority belongs to Substack, not to you. Ahrefs measures a site’s authority with a score called Domain Rating (DR), on a scale of 0 to 100.
Domain Rating: platforms vs. a coach's website
Ahrefs Domain Rating (0 to 100) measures a website's authority. Checked November 12, 2026.
Source: Ahrefs Website Authority Checker. The scale is logarithmic, so each point gets harder to earn as the score climbs.
Domain Rating measures links, not results. My 19 is a starting point I’m building on in public, one post at a time, and this article is part of that.
What the data shows: Substack’s score of 94 is 75 points higher than my website’s score of 19. Because the DR scale is logarithmic, each point is harder to earn as the score climbs, so the real gap is even bigger than the numbers suggest. That gap is real, and it’s one reason new writers can sometimes show up on Google faster on Substack than on a brand-new website.
My take: This is the strongest argument for Substack, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But look at the top two rows. Squarespace and WordPress both score 96, yet my website on Squarespace scores 19. A platform’s authority doesn’t transfer to the sites built on it once you’re on your own domain. When you write on Substack, you’re borrowing a 94. When you write on your own site, you’re building your own number, and every post helps it grow. I would rather build something I keep.
What kind of content does ChatGPT cite?
ChatGPT tends to cite posts that give a clear answer near the top and include original insight, and neither of those depends on where you publish. A Search Engine Land analysis broke down the blog posts ChatGPT cited.
What the blog posts ChatGPT cites have in common
72.4% of cited blog posts gave a clear answer near the top.
Source: Search Engine Land
What the data shows: About 7 in 10 posts that ChatGPT cited opened with a short, direct answer. Only 13.2% had neither a clear answer nor original insight.
My take: This is good news for coaches, because your biggest advantage is something AI can’t copy: your own client stories, your methods, and your point of view. The platform doesn’t decide whether ChatGPT quotes you. Your writing does. That’s why I’d put the effort into writing well on a site you own, rather than chasing a platform.
Does adding technical code help you get cited by AI?
Adding schema markup, a behind-the-scenes code that describes a page to search engines, didn’t meaningfully increase AI citations in the largest test so far. Ahrefs tracked 1,885 pages that added schema and compared them with about 4,000 similar pages.
Did adding schema code increase AI citations?
Ahrefs compared 1,885 pages that added schema with about 4,000 similar pages.
| AI platform | Change in citations | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | +2.2% | No real difference |
| Google AI Mode | +2.4% | No real difference |
| Google AI Overviews | −4.6% | Small decline |
Source: Ahrefs
What the data shows: Schema didn’t move the needle in any meaningful way. Ahrefs notes the pages it studied were already being cited often, so schema may still help pages that AI hasn’t found yet.
My take: Be careful with anyone who sells a single technical fix as the key to AI search. The data points back to the basics: clear answers, original thinking, and a site that search engines can trust.
Does keeping your blog on your own domain help?
Several case studies suggest that a blog on your main website performs better than one kept somewhere separate, though experts disagree on why. These are reported examples, not controlled studies.
What happened when blogs moved on or off the main website
Reported case studies, not controlled experiments.
| Case | What changed | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Pink Cake Box | Moved blog from a subdomain onto the main website | 40% more sessions |
| Salesforce | Moved blog from a subdomain onto the main website | Traffic doubled overnight |
| iwantmyname | Moved blog off the main website to a subdomain | Traffic dropped and didn't recover after six months |
SEO expert Rand Fishkin says content inside your main site almost always performs better than the same content on a subdomain. Ahrefs disagrees. It argues many of these gains came from the blog suddenly being linked from every page of the site.
My take: I find both explanations convincing, and they lead to the same place. A blog that lives on your website and is linked from your home page, services page, and opt-ins is in a stronger position than writing that lives on someone else’s platform. With a custom domain, Substack only lets you use a subdomain or a separate domain, never yoursite.com/blog.
Can AI tools read paid Substack posts?
No. Paid Substack posts sit behind a login that blocks AI crawlers, according to Passionfruit.
My take: This one surprises coaches the most. If your best how-to content is behind a paywall, the tools your future clients are asking can’t read it or recommend you for it. If AI visibility matters to you, keep your most helpful posts free and public.
What does the data not show?
The data doesn’t include a single study that compares the same coach’s posts on Substack and on a personal website. I looked for one and couldn’t find it.
That gap matters. It means no one can say with research that Substack beats your own blog, and it also means I can’t prove the reverse with a controlled study. What I can do is look at what the evidence points toward, combined with what I see working for coaches.
What are the people selling Substack leaving out?
The people selling Substack are mostly selling discovery, and they rarely mention ownership, authority, or control. Their results are often real, but they’re individual stories, and many come from writers who already had an audience when they started.
Here’s what I’d want any coach to know before moving their blog:
The authority isn’t yours. Every free post on Substack adds value to Substack’s website.
You can’t mark your original. Substack doesn’t let you add a canonical tag, which tells Google which version of a post is the original, as an SEO strategist explains on the Marketing for Entrepreneurs podcast. If you post the same article in both places, Google may show the Substack copy instead of yours.
Paid posts are invisible to AI. Your best content may be the content ChatGPT can’t see.
The rules can change. If Substack changes its policies, raises its fees, or shuts down, your posts and search visibility go with it.
Why do I believe coaches should own their blog?
In my opinion, whenever you can, a website gives you benefits no other platform can match: it builds your own authority, lets you link every post to your business, and gives you control over the technical settings that affect how and when you show up.
It builds your authority. Every post you publish on your site strengthens your own domain. Over time, that’s what helps Google and ChatGPT treat your website as a trusted source in your niche.
It lets you link with purpose. Each post can point readers to your services page, your free resource, and your strategy call. Those links guide readers toward working with you, and they help search engines understand what your business does.
It gives you technical control. On your own site, you choose your page titles, meta descriptions, web addresses, page structure, and canonical tags. On Substack, you get the settings Substack gives you.
It lets you control how and when you show up. No one can guarantee a ranking, and I won’t promise you one. But on your own site, you decide what to publish, when to update a post, how to structure it, and when to ask Google to look at it again through Google Search Console. You control the inputs, and the inputs are what search engines respond to.
How does a website blog compare to Substack?
A website blog wins on ownership, authority, links, and control, while Substack wins on built-in readers and a faster setup.
Your website blog vs. Substack
Where each one wins for coaches.
| Your website blog | Substack | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | You | Substack |
| Authority builds up on | Your website | Substack's website |
| Links to your offers | Built into your whole site | Only the links you add in each post |
| Page titles and descriptions | You set them | Basic settings only |
| Canonical tag to mark your original | Yes | No |
| AI can read your best posts | Yes, when they're public | Not when they're paid |
| Built-in readers | No, you bring them | Yes, through Notes and recommendations |
| Setup | Takes more work | Fast and easy |
How should coaches use Substack and their own blog together?
Coaches should publish the full post on their website first, then share an adapted version on Substack a few days later. This is the process I recommend:
Publish on your website first. Use a title that matches the question your ideal client would type into Google or ChatGPT.
Answer the main question near the top. The data shows this is what AI tools look for most.
Add something only you can say. A client story, your method, or your opinion gives AI a reason to quote you.
Share an adapted version on Substack two or three days later. Rewrite the opening or shorten it instead of copying it word for word.
Keep your best educational posts free, and end every Substack post with a link back to your website, your free resource, or your strategy call.
I think of Substack as the coffee shop where people meet you, and your website as your office, where they get to know you and decide to book a call.
Is Substack ever the right choice for coaches?
Yes. Substack is a smart temporary home for coaches who don’t have a website yet. I tell my own students this: if you don’t have a website, start writing on Substack now instead of waiting.
Waiting for the perfect website can mean months of not publishing at all. Substack lets you build the writing habit, find your voice, and start growing a list right away. The key word is temporary. Substack is a starting point, not the answer.
When your website is ready, here’s how I recommend moving your home base:
Set up a blog on your own domain. Use yoursite.com/blog so your posts build your website’s authority.
Move your best evergreen posts to your website. Refresh each one as you move it, so your website has the strongest version.
Download your subscriber list from Substack’s settings. Your list is yours, and it should come with you.
Keep Substack as your second channel. Use it to meet new readers and send them back to your website.
How should coaches use Substack and their own blog together?
Coaches should publish the full post on their website first, then share an adapted version on Substack a few days later. This is the process I recommend:
Publish on your website first. Use a title that matches the question your ideal client would type into Google or ChatGPT.
Answer the main question near the top. The data shows this is what AI tools look for most.
Add something only you can say. A client story, your method, or your opinion gives AI a reason to quote you.
Share an adapted version on Substack two or three days later. Rewrite the opening or shorten it instead of copying it word for word.
Keep your best educational posts free, and end every Substack post with a link back to your website, your free resource, or your strategy call.
I think of Substack as the coffee shop where people meet you, and your website as your office, where they get to know you and decide to book a call.
What do these marketing terms mean?
Here are simple definitions of the SEO and AI search terms used in this article, in alphabetical order.
Marketing glossary for coaches
Simple definitions of the SEO and AI search terms used in this article, in alphabetical order.
- AEO (answer engine optimization)
- Making your content easy for AI tools like ChatGPT to find, understand, and quote in their answers.
- AI citation
- When an AI tool like ChatGPT names or links to your website as a source in its answer.
- AI crawler
- A program AI companies use to read web pages so their tools can learn from them and quote them.
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Search engines see backlinks as a sign that other people trust your content.
- Canonical tag
- A small piece of code that tells Google which version of a page is the original when the same content appears in more than one place.
- Custom domain
- A web address you own, like yourname.com, instead of one that belongs to a platform, like yourname.substack.com.
- Domain
- Your website's main address, like michellekuei.com.
- Domain Rating (DR)
- A score from 0 to 100, created by Ahrefs, that measures how strong a website's backlinks are compared with other websites.
- Google Search Console
- A free Google tool that shows how your website appears in search and lets you ask Google to look at new or updated pages.
- Indexing
- When Google adds a page to its library so it can show up in search results.
- Internal link
- A link from one page on your website to another page on your own website.
- Keyword
- The words people type into Google or ChatGPT when they're looking for something.
- Meta description
- The short summary that shows under your page's title in Google search results.
- Organic traffic
- Visitors who find your website through search results instead of ads.
- Paywall
- A barrier that lets only paying subscribers read a post.
- Schema markup
- Behind-the-scenes code that describes a page to search engines, such as who wrote it or what kind of page it is.
- SEO (search engine optimization)
- Making your website easier for search engines like Google to find, understand, and show to people.
- SEO title
- The clickable headline that shows for your page in Google search results. It can be different from the title on the page itself.
- Session
- One visit to a website. The same person can create several sessions.
- Subdomain
- A separate address that sits in front of a main domain, like blog.yoursite.com or yourname.substack.com. Search engines may treat it more like a separate website.
- Subfolder
- A section inside your main website, like yoursite.com/blog. It shares your main website's authority. It's also called a subdirectory.
- Substack Notes
- Substack's social feed, where writers share short posts and readers discover new publications.
- URL slug
- The last part of a web address that names a specific page, like /substack-vs-own-blog-for-coaches.
