I didn’t know this until Mia Kiraki 🎭 tipped me off, but you can set up Google Analytics and Search Console for your Substack newsletter without switching to a custom domain. This way, you get better analytics and keep Substack’s domain authority!

I’ve attached a five-minute video that runs through the following:

Set up Google Analytics

1. Go to analytics.google.com and sign in.

2. Click Admin (gear icon in the bottom left).

3. Click Create → Property.

4. Enter a property name (e.g., "My Substack"), select your time zone and currency, then click Next.

5. Answer the business questions (or skip them) and click Create.

6. When prompted to set up a data stream, select Web.

7. Enter your Substack URL (e.g., yourpub.substack.com) and give it a stream name, then click Create stream.

8. A Google Tag popup will appear showing a JavaScript snippet. Your Measurement ID is at the top of this snippet (looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX). Copy it.

9. In Substack, go to Dashboard → Settings → Analytics.

10. Paste the Measurement ID in the Google Analytics field and click Save.

11. Back in Google Analytics, close the Google Tag popup and click Test in the data stream panel to confirm the connection is working.

Add Google Tag Manager (GTM)

1. Go to tagmanager.google.com and sign in.

2. Click Create Account.

3. Enter an account name (e.g., your name or business name) and select your country.

4. Under Container Setup, enter a container name (e.g., "My Substack") and select Web as the target platform.

5. Click Create and accept the Terms of Service.

6. A popup will appear with two code snippets. You don't need to copy these—just close the popup.

7. Your Container ID appears at the top of the workspace (looks like GTM-XXXXXXX). Copy it.

8. In Substack, go to Dashboard → Settings → Analytics.

9. Paste the Container ID in the Google Tag Manager field and click Save.

Verify in Google Search Console

1. Go to search.google.com/searc… and sign in with the same Google account you used for GTM.

2. Click the property dropdown in the top left and select Add property.

3. A popup will appear with two options. Choose URL prefix (on the right), not “Domain.”

4. Enter your full Substack URL (e.g., yourpub.substack.com) and click Continue.

5. A verification panel will appear with several methods. Choose Google Tag Manager.

6. Click Verify. Google will check your homepage for the GTM snippet.

7. You should see a green “Ownership verified” confirmation.

Hope this helps! And let me know if you think a deep dive article with an even more detailed breakdown of this process plus SEO + GEO strategies would be helpful.

p.s., My paid launch ends EOD tomorrow when special pricing ($5/month, $49/year) expires.