New Writer’s Crash Course #2: Subdirectory or Subdomain?
Which Medium URL should you choose as a new writer?
When you first sign up for Medium, you’re asked immediately if you want your profile page URL to:
- Stay as a subdirectory, which is the default choice (for example: Medium.com/@yourname), or
- Switch to a subdomain (for example: Yourname.Medium.com).
What’s the difference? More importantly: which Medium URL is better for new writers?
All Medium says is:
“Note: new profile page on a subdomain can take longer to rank in Google search compared to a profile page under the medium.com domain.”
That’s just vague enough to both tell me something, and not much at all. So Google might take a few more days to rank my blog if I opt for the subdomain? That doesn’t sound too bad, especially if I’m just starting out anyway.
I couldn’t find more info within Medium on the pros and cons of subdirectory vs. subdomain, so I did a broader search. Here’s what I found as general arguments for each type (not specific to Medium):
Subdirectory
Subfolder below main domain (vertical structure)
- Pros: ranks higher for SEO (closely tied to Medium’s high domain authority)
- Cons: URL doesn’t look as nice
Subdomain
Separate section of main domain (horizontal structure)
- Pros: URL looks much nicer for branding
- Cons: ranks lower for SEO
Why I chose a subdirectory
There are so many strong arguments for subdomains lowering your ranking for SEO, that I became pretty convinced that staying as a subdirectory was the best choice for me — a new writer without much of a following yet.
Still, I was very tempted to switch to a subdomain instead. Subdomain URLs just look so much nicer! “Dancyfu.Medium.com” looks like a bona fide website all on its own — one that I didn’t even have to pay for, doesn’t it?
I also noticed that the vast majority of top writers use subdomains. If they’re all choosing subdomains, that must mean the SEO ranking isn’t as bad as I’d feared.
What was I missing?
When to switch to a subdomain
If you’re a new writer who already had an audience prior to joining Medium — that’s when you might want to switch over from a subdirectory to a subdomain.
The subdomain URL is so much easier to share with your existing audience, who will search for you regardless of any hit you take from SEO rankings. That’s when your priority shifts from discoverability (a top need for new writers) to branding (a top need for established writers).
Mark Henkel is a new writer who just joined last month. Because he already had a following prior to joining Medium, he chose a subdomain because “putting an “@” in an URL is usually too confusing for me to say “out loud” to people” when sharing.
Another reason why you might want to switch to a subdomain, is when you’re primarily writing for Medium publications.
Since publications are always housed under the Medium main domain as a subdirectory, your publication articles are assured high SEO ranking — freeing your own profile page to leverage a subdomain URL to build up your brand.
This advice was offered by Aamir Kamal, whom I’d noticed actually advise his readers to stick with subdirectories too, but then, later on, switched to a subdomain himself. Curious as to why I reached out to him. Here’s his response:
“If you are publishing stories on your own blog, I wouldn’t advise to get a subdomain, as this will hurt your SEO. But if you are publishing 99% of stories in publications, then having a subdomain could help you easily point someone to your profile.”
Ah, so this is why so many top writers use subdomains! They’re publishing most of their content for publications anyway. Aamir, for example, writes a lot for his own publication, Menlo Blogging. This is what I would call having your cake and eating it too. Brilliant! 😝
My takeaway here is: we newbies should stick with subdirectories for a bit longer, until we too start sending most of our writing to publications, and/or have amassed enough of a following and SEO credibility that a subdomain for branding purposes becomes a bigger priority than search rankings!
If anyone has any further insights into whether a Medium subdirectory or subdomain is the better choice for new writers, please share with us in the comments!
Psst: has Medium indexed your articles yet? (i.e. make searchable on Medium/Google) If you’re wondering what you’ll need to do to get indexed, check out the first story in my Crash Course series above!
Dancy Fu is a writer and learning experience designer. She has been analyzing movies, TV shows, novels and screenplays for more than 16 years, collecting storytelling insights to improve her writing and online courses. Want the most fun way to learn storytelling? Join my email list!
