A fintech startup fires out investor explainers on Medium, polishing each post with the new AI Assist rewrite button. Reads soar inside the platform, yet Google impressions barely budge. We jump in, add off-site meta tags, point canonical links back to the firm’s main site, and—boom—the articles gain global visibility in days.
It’s a reminder that Medium’s domain authority is in the 90s, but up to 40 % of fresh uploads may be AI-generated, prompting new anti-spam guardrails (as WIRED recently noted). At Migration LLC, we help brands decide whether to ride that built-in network or migrate to a more SEO-friendly home base.
“Medium AI” in 2025: What’s Actually on Offer
Medium’s AI perks look shiny at first click, but the feature list—and the fine print—matter if you want long-term reach. Here’s the 2025 snapshot.
AI Assist block
Medium’s built-in AI Assist hovers beside any paragraph. Click once to rewrite, shorten, translate, or shift tone (formal ↔ casual) on the fly—handy for polishing long reads into punchy summaries.
Boost program
After you hit publish, Medium’s algorithm grades the draft. Posts that combine solid engagement signals with a sprinkle of AI-Assisted edits can earn a coveted Boost tag, which pushes the story into Network Distribution for extra in-app reach. Only a small slice of total uploads win this lottery, but the lift is real.
Missing pieces
All that magic happens inside the editor. Outside the walled garden you still have no meta-description field, no schema editor, and headlines longer than ~60 characters get auto-truncated in the page <title>. For SEO tinkering, Medium leaves you empty-handed.
New policy guardrails
Because as much as 40 – 47 % of recent posts may be AI-generated, Medium now bars pure-AI stories from its paywalled Partner Program unless they’re “substantially human-edited.” If you leave an LLM draft untouched and put it behind the meter, expect a takedown.
Takeaway
“Medium AI” delivers fast rewrites and possible network Boosts, but lacks the granular tags search engines crave—and new rules make full-auto content risky behind the paywall. Use it for polish and reach; rely on Migration LLC for the SEO glue.
Medium’s Native SEO Ceiling
Google respects Medium’s authority, yet the platform withholds many of the signals that help individual pages climb search results.
Canonical locked to Medium domain
Each story inherits a canonical link that points back to Medium. You can only change it by using the import tool, and the URL slug always mirrors the headline—no manual shortening.
Title and description limits
The page title comes straight from your headline and cuts off after about sixty characters. Medium then grabs the first lines of the article for the meta description, so you cannot craft a keyword-rich summary.
Automatic sitemap, fixed robots file
Medium generates an XML sitemap for every account, but the robots file is closed to edits. You cannot release blocked paths or slow crawl rate if search bots overload your page.
No FAQ, Product, or Event schema
Rich snippets are out of reach. Medium offers no schema editor, leaving you to paste raw JSON-LD into an embed block and hope later edits do not strip the code.
These limits mean Medium’s strong domain gives you a head start, yet the lack of detailed tags and structured data caps long-term search growth.
Global Visibility via Network Effects
Medium offers reach most platforms dream about, yet that reach comes with quirks that shape real world traffic.
Native follower graph and topic tagging
Every story is linked to a public profile and a set of topics. When you tag “Fintech” or “Startups,” the piece lands in themed feeds, pushing it to readers who never knew your brand five minutes earlier.
Curation lift with strict limits
Medium’s editorial team handpicks standout posts for extra exposure, yet staff review touches only about five percent of all new stories. Winning that nod feels great, but odds are slim.
Free versus member only visibility
Search engines can crawl free posts. Lock a piece behind the paywall and Google still indexes the title, yet most body text stays hidden. That paywall line shapes how many casual readers ever see your words.
Mini study: what one tweak can do
A fintech explainer we managed pulled twelve thousand reads inside Medium but only one thousand visits from Google. We added a canonical link that pointed back to the client’s site, refreshed the meta description, and nudged the headline under sixty characters. Within ten days, organic clicks jumped and the brand site gained new newsletter signups—proof that network reach and classic SEO can work together when you give search bots clear signals.
Workarounds to Unlock Deeper SEO
Medium keeps many search settings behind glass, yet a few clever moves can give you more control without leaving the platform.
Republish with canonical
Publish the long version on your own site first. Once Google indexes that page, use Medium’s import tool to bring the text over. The tool assigns a canonical link that points back to your domain, telling search engines the original lives there. You earn network reach while protecting your primary ranking signal.
HTML head injection
Members of the Partner Program can insert small code snippets for analytics. We use that same slot to drop JSON LD structured data. A simple script adds FAQ or How To markup to every post without touching the editor. Google now sees rich hints even though Medium offers no native schema panel.
Zapier flow
Set up a chain where your content system sends a fresh draft to ChatGPT for a concise summary, then posts that summary to Medium through the API. A writer does one quick scan, updates the headline and tags, and hits publish. The flow gives you a bite size version that fits Medium readers and keeps the full article on your main site.
Newsletter bridge
Medium can send each new post as an email to followers. Use that instant surge to seed early engagement, then build a Google Analytics segment for visitors who arrive from the Medium newsletter. Retarget those readers with ads or tailored content on your own hub, guiding them from borrowed audience to owned list.
Together these four moves turn Medium from a closed garden into a relay station that boosts reach while feeding authority back to your main domain. When done right, you keep the network effect and gain structured signals search engines need for long term growth.
Migration LLC Playbook: Dual-Publishing for Maximum Reach
The fastest way to blend Medium’s network with full SEO control is to run two versions of every piece—one on your own domain, one on Medium. Here is how we do it step by step.
1. Prompt once, publish twice
We start in ChatGPT with a single prompt that produces a detailed article. The long form lives on your self-hosted site, where you can tweak meta tags, add schema, and collect leads. Next, we ask the model to compress the same draft into a tight, seven-hundred-word version. We import that into Medium and confirm that the canonical tag points back to the original. Readers get a snack, and search engines know where the full meal lives.
2. Narada sync
Keeping two versions updated sounds painful, so we let Narada handle it. Our orchestration layer watches the leading site’s RSS feed. Narada pushes the change to Medium through its API when you edit a title, swap an image, or add a link. It also checks that both pages link, reinforcing authority across domains.
3. MRNI tracking
Views do not pay bills; profit does. We break traffic into three buckets—Medium member reads, external clicks on the canonical link, and on-site conversions. A dashboard updates daily, showing which channel moves revenue. If Medium drives many reads but few trials, we know to adjust the call to action. If the self-hosted page pulls leads, we double down on SEO.
4. Iterate fast
Language or city pages that lag get fresh headlines. Narada calls the Medium API, swaps in a new AI-tested title, and logs the result. We keep changes live for one week, measure uplift, and lock in winners. The loop runs without manual edits, so your content keeps learning while you focus on strategy.
Follow this playbook and you enjoy Medium’s reach, your site’s authority, and clear income insight—no trade-offs required.
Decision Lens: Stay, Syndicate, or Shift
Choose your path based on reach, control, and revenue goals:
- Stay native if you want brand voice, quick publish, and follower momentum inside Medium. The platform’s built-in graph rewards consistent posts, and the AI Assist polish keeps drafts crisp.
- Syndicate with canonicals when you need the best of both worlds—Medium’s built-in audience plus organic clicks to your own domain. Publish long form on your site, import a trimmed version to Medium, and point the canonical link back home.
- Shift entirely once rich schema, online shop funnels, or many language versions become vital. We at Migration LLC design a move that keeps every link live, content visible, and revenue flowing during the transition.
FAQs
Does Medium’s AI Assist hurt search rankings if I use it heavily?
No, the tool itself does not lower rankings. Problems only appear if you publish low-value text or skip adding a canonical link back to your main site. Keep quality high and search bots will treat the post like any other.
How do I add meta descriptions on Medium if there’s no field?
You cannot add them directly. Instead, publish the full article on your own site where meta tags are open, then import it to Medium with a canonical link. Google will pull the description from your primary domain.
Can I run ads on Medium to monetize AI-written posts?
Medium does not allow external ad networks. Revenue comes from the Partner Program, which pays for member reads. If ads or product pages are in your plan, host the full version on your own domain and use Medium only for reach.
What is the quickest way to translate a Medium story for global readers?
Use AI Assist’s translate option, then have a native speaker scan the text. Publish each language on your main site for full SEO control and republish a shortened version on Medium with a canonical tag.
When should I call Migration LLC for help?
If you need structured data, multilingual routing, ecommerce, or a zero-downtime move off Medium, we build the plan. We also set up dual-publishing workflows that track real income, not just views, so you know which channel pays.
