Impact of Medium blog hosted on my subdomain

[davidevans_seo]

I am using the Medium blogging platform to blog, but it is pointed to my site and appears at blog.mysite.com.

Since the content is hosted on Medium and pointed to my subdomain via an A Record / CNAME / etc...

1. Will my domain get credit for backlinks to the blog content?

2. If Medium changes in the future and no longer points to my subdomain, will I lose all of the backlinks I've built up?

[Tylerj]

1. Yes your domain gets credit for the backlinks.

2. If they change in the future and just have everything on Medium and not your subdomain you would lose the backlinks. I don't see that happening though.

[dohertyjf]

David -

Thanks for your question, and it's one I see often. I would say this is a much bigger question than "subdomain v subfolder", but really the ability to affect your own SEO.

In direct answer to your questions:

1. Since it's on your subdomain, yes. Make sure you have that subdomain verified in Search Console and sitemaps submitted, parameters controlled, etc as well. Also link between your main domain and your subdomain to pass link equity back and forth.
2. If they change in the future and no longer point to your subdomain with no way for you to reclaim your content and republish it on a blog you host yourself, then yes. However, I don't really see this happening anytime soon.

Point 2 brings up the bigger question of if you should host your blog on Medium. While it is indeed a beautiful platform and writing on it is a joy (I actually do a lot of blog drafting in their editor), you don't have control over a lot of things such as:

• Internal linking within sidebars/top navs to other important places on your own website
• Full branding. I do recognize that you can add a top banner and branding at the top of blogs hosted on Medium, but it still overall looks like a Medium blog (their typeface, their styles, etc) not like your own brand

If you are concerned about the SEO implications (as you seem to be and should be), I'd definitely recommend investigating a self-hosted blog platform like WordPress instead of Medium.

Good luck!

[LoganRay]

David,

Everything John just said in Point 2 is exactly what was running through my mind as I read your question. As the person responsible for the SEO strength of your website, you should have full control over as much of your SEO activity as possible. If your blogging platform is concerning as described, you really need to reevaluate whether that's the best thing for your site.

[davidevans_seo]

Thanks John,

The right decision is clear to me now.

-Dave