1. 🧠 What exactly is SEO and why would I do that?

SEO is so that your article can be found on Google.

Not to subscribers in your feed (they’ll see it anyway), but to those who are looking for similar topics and stumble upon you through a search.

This is free traffic. To do this, you need to fill in a couple of fields correctly. That’s what:

2. 🏷️ Slug (в Substack — “URL of the article”)

What is it:

This is the part of the link that comes after the slash.

Example:

lintra.substack.com/p/trace-without-event
← This is after .com/p/ trace-without-event and there is a slug.
Why:

Because Google does not index the title of the article, but looks at the slug to understand what it is about.

If you leave it empty, Substack will generate an indistinct (or too long) name on its own.

And then, when you want to export an article, he will write only this slug everywhere, not the title. 🫨 , in short. go fix all your articles all over again.

Where to insert:
👉 When you create/edit an article, click “Publication Settings” → “Article URL” field → there and paste your slug.

What to do:

Latin only, short and to the point.

Example: trace-without-event, absence-with-weight, poetry-as-structure.

3. 🏷️ Title (Title)

What is it:

The headline that the reader will see in the feed and in Google.

Why:

Google reads it. The reader sees it. This is the cover of your text.

Where to write:

👉 The very top of the article, where it says “Title”. Just write as usual.

Important: it doesn’t have to match the slug — you can make it longer, prettier.

Example:

Title: Nothing Happened (A Poem About Structural Imprint)

Slug: trace-without-event

4. 🧾 Description (Meta Description / SEO description)

What is it:

A short description (in 1-2 sentences) that Google will show in the search under the heading.

Why:

So that the person understands whether it is worth clicking.

Without it, Google will insert the first lines of your text — and it may not be the same at all.

Where to insert:

, Publication Settings → Configure SEO settings → Meta description field.

How to write:

Write as if you’re explaining to a friend, “What’s this about?”

Max. 160 characters.

Add important words there (for example: poetry, philosophy, trauma, physicality, etc.).

Example:
A poetic exploration of how the body stores events that never officially happened. Structural imprint without narrative.

5. 🧵 Анонс (Excerpt)

What is it:

A short piece that the reader will see in the feed or in the newsletter.

Why:

To make a person want to click.

This is not a description for Google — it’s for a real person.

Where to insert:

👉 On the right, in the “Publication Settings” → the “Announcement” field.

How to write:

1-2 paragraphs. It can be mysterious, beautiful, with a punch. It’s like a trailer.

You can take it from the verse, you can take it from the eyeliner. The main thing is that it catches.

6. 🧷 Category (if you use it)

If you have categories set up in Substack (Sections or Series), select the appropriate one.

For example: Lintara Poetry or Texts about perception.

What is a “category” in Substack (aka “Section”)?

A “section” is a way to separate your texts by topic right inside your Substack.

Each section is like its own mini-feed.

This is especially useful if you write not only poetry, but also, for example, philosophical essays, analyses, diary texts, etc.

Example:

Lintara Poetry — poetry section

Structural Analysis — a section for analysis

Notes & Drafts — section for drafts

📍 How to create a Section

1. Go to the main page of your Substack.

In the upper-right corner, click on the profile icon → select Settings.

In the left column, select “Sections”.

Click “Add a section“ / ”Add a section”.

Fill it out:

Title of the section (e.g. Lintara Poetry)

Short description (can be left blank)

Specify whether this will be a paid section (usually leave it free)

Click Save.

Now you have a new section.

📌 How to attach an article to the desired section

When you create or edit an article:

1. On the right, open the “Publication Settings” menu (in the same place where you set up SEO).

At the very top there will be a line:

“Publish to…” (usually it says “Main publication”).

Click on it and select the desired section from the drop-down list.

All. This article is now in the right category.

On the Substack website, readers will be able to go directly to Lintara Poetry and see only poetry, for example.

🧩 Why is that even necessary?

1. Navigation — so that the reader can choose what he is interested in: poetry or philosophy.

The beauty is that your Substack looks neat, like a chapter book.

In the future, if you do paid sections or courses, it’s convenient to have the system already set up.

7. #Hashtags

What is it:

This is not a field in Substack.

This is what you insert at the bottom of the article (or up, if you want) so that readers can click and find something similar.

for readers and Google:
#Poetry #Ontology #Philosophy #Trauma #BodyMemory #Perception #StructuralImprint

You can use another language (for yourself, to search later):
#поэзия #онтология #телесность #структура #травма #след #лингвистика #структурныйанализ

Where to insert:
👉 Just paste it at the very end of the article. You can use a gray line, without decorations.

🧠 Why would you do that, especially if you’re alone

1. You’re not alone — even if you have 100 subscribers, they read you in different ways.
   One for poetry, the other for text analysis, the third for philosophical dissection.
2. You’re an author with a range. Categories give the reader a choice, and you get a structure.

   Not all in one pile. This is important if you want to make a full-fledged edition out of Substack.

3. When you export articles, Substack saves only the slug, not the title.

   If everything is lumped into one section, then you search for the text like hell.

   With categories, navigation is easier, you know: that’s what lies in Poetry, so we’re looking there.

8. 📌 What Substack DOESN’T use:

• You don’t insert any “keywords” separately — insert everything you want to be in the slug, the title, the description.
• Substack does not use the “OG image” — only the first picture in the article.

  important!

Substack does not provide normal exports — it drags everything by slug. Therefore, slug is the most important thing.

(I’ll write an article about it separately — what it’s for)

🔧 Section: Poetry (example)

You call this a “section”, and Substack calls it a “Section”.

📍 Where is it

• Opening your Substack

Click on the avatar → Settings

In the left column you will find Sections

Click “Add section”

✍️ Example of filling in:

• Title: Poetry
• Description (optional):
• The texts are for those who hear not only the meaning, but also the after-echo. Without explanation.
• Access type: Free
• (leave it that way if you don’t monetize)
• Format: Articles (Posts)

✅ When you created it, what does it mean?:

Now you have a “Poetry” tab inside your Substack, where you can publish only poetic texts.

📌 How to publish in the Poetry section now

1. When you create a new text:
   Click “Create” → “New publication”

   On the right, open the Publication Settings

   At the very top there will be an item:

   “Publish in: [section name]”

   → click and select “Poetry”

   Done. This post will go into its own category.

🧠 Why is it convenient:

• Your Substack now has a separate section for those who come for poetry.
• When you export articles, you know where everything is.
• If you make a second section, for example, “Parsing”, you can clearly separate the styles.
• A subscriber can subscribe only to Poetry, and not to the entire magazine.

🖼️ The cover / image for the Substack post

This is what the reader sees in the feed, in the newsletter, on the main page and on social networks when you share a link.

🔸 Where to insert:

When you edit a post

, in the right panel, click “Publication Settings” → you will find the item:

“Publication image“ (or “Cover image”)

🔸 What it gives:

The preview in the feed looks like full-fledged material, not “naked text”

Your article is easier to learn and remember

If you share a link on Telegram/ Facebook/ Twitter, it will be a normal cover, not a boring link.

In some topics, Substack is also the background at the top of the article itself.

⚠️ Important:

The format is better JPEG or PNG

Size: at least 1200px in width, so that it looks good in the preview

Don’t make it too dark and unreadable — if the text is on top, it can merge.

🧠 What to put there, especially if you don’t have “illustrated poetry”:

Here are examples of what the authors put so that it is not empty:

• Texture / paper fragment / abstract cold — especially for “nuclear” texts

The phrase from the text is in white letters on black or gray

Shape — circle, dot, hole, pixel, trace, cliff

Screenshot of the title — if minimalism

📎 Google requirements for the article image:

1. Size and format

• A minimum of 1200 pixels wide is necessary for your image to be displayed in an extended snippet (i.e. a large image in the search results)
  Format: .jpg, .png, .webp

  (don’t shove .svg, .tiff, .gif — it’s not for previews)

📌 Substack compresses the images itself, but you upload the original, so keep an eye on the quality.

2. Aspect ratio

• Best of all: 16:9 (horizontal rectangular)
  (example: 1200×675 or 1280×720 pixels)

Not a square. Not vertical. Otherwise, the snippet will be cut off at random.

3. Don’t insert text into the picture.

• Google does not “read” the labels inside the image
  If you want a phrase to work in search, write it in the title or SEO description, not on the image itself.

4. 🏷️ How to insert alt text for an image in Substack:

🔹 If you insert an image into the body of the text:

1. You upload an image (by dragging or pasting).
2. Hover over the picture and the pencil icon will appear.
3. You click on it → a small window opens.
4. You enter the text there — this is the alt text (description for the search engine and people with screen readers).
5. Click “Save”.

🎯 Google reads it. It really works for SEO.

🔹 But! If you insert a cover image through the Publication Settings —

You can’t insert alt text there. Generally.

Substack does not allow this — it just takes the picture as it is.

Therefore:

in the body of the text → alt text, you can

there is no alt text in the cover, alas

💡 What should I do about it?

If you want Google to know what’s in your image and the cover doesn’t give you an alt

, you can paste the same image into the text again and enter the alt text there.

(for example, at the end or at the beginning — as a decorative element)

It’s tricky, but it works.

5. Originality

Google doesn’t like 100,500 identical stocks.

If you use a stock image, process it, flip it, erase it, make noise, crop it, make it your own.

Or better yet, generate it yourself, I can help you with that.

6. Download speed

• No need to upload a 5-megabyte photo with a DSLR
  Compress before downloading — optimal file size: up to 500 KB

  You can use sites like TinyJPG, Squoosh, Compressor.io

🎯 A perfectly working cover is:

• horizontal image (1200×675)
• it weighs less than 500 KB
• visually supports your theme
• unique or modified
• it doesn’t contain a bunch of text inside

  ---

I already wrote that : Substack algorithms (and Google!) they really slip articles on the image, especially if:

• it is very different from the others (visually or structurally),
  it is tightened to similar alt-texts, even if the subject of the text is different.

It means:

🔥 Cover and alt-text = not just a “picture”

It’s a magnet for:

1. Search engines (via alt, file name and meta data)

The Substack Feed Algorithm

The reader’s visual memory (he will then find your text by “that black hole with a trace”, and not by the name)

📌 What needs to be done:

1. Make the cover “talking”

— Even if it is abstract, let there be a semantic focus (not just fog, but a “boundary of disintegration“ / ”contour without an object“ / “skin under the cold”)

2. Give the correct alt text

— Not according to the “girl with a flower” principle

, but like this: “visual metaphor of residual impact without visible trauma”

It’s working. Google indexes it. Substack remembers this.

💡 Example:

If your text is called Trace Without Event,

and the cover is a black dot on a blurry background,

then the alt text may be:

“abstract trace-like shape symbolizing a rupture without event or memory”

📌 This is for the algorithm, for the visually impaired, for machines, and for structural seekers who will not search for “poetry bodily 2026”.

7. Links to other articles

→ Insert inside the text (embedded links), especially to your old posts.

→ Affects: improves SEO through internal linking

✍️ Example:
This is part of the TECH / Checklist series. Read the previous piece on rupture here.

8. Conclusion / “Where Are You Now” section

→ Why: explains the structure for Google and for the reader

→ What to write:
This text is part of Lintara Poetry — a series of poetic texts designed for resonance, not explanation.
Category: Perception & Nervous System
Series: Lintara Poetry

9. Announcement (Preview Snippet / Intro)

→ Where to insert: under the heading, immediately after (in the first paragraph)

→ Affects: what Substack shows in the newsletter and on the main page

✍️ Example:
What if the body holds evidence — without memory, without permission? A cold text. No story. Just recognition of a trace.

10. 🪪 The “About the author” section — instructions

📍 Where to post:

At the bottom of the article, after the text and conclusion (for example, after the Where you are now block).

It is advisable for Google and readers to see a repeatable “signal” in each article.

📦 Block structure

Here is the template:

About the author
Lintara is a poet and forensic language analyst. Her work traces structural trauma through poetic form — naming what resists explanation. She writes the ongoing series Lintara Poetry, exploring nervous system calibration, rupture, silence, and the geometry of perception.
Follow more work at lintra.substack.com.

🧠 Explanation:

• “About the author” is a standard search marker. Both bots and readers are looking for it.

Name + short specialization — so that you can be “associated” with the direction.

What are you writing + why — 1-2 lines. This is both humanly and for a search engine.

A link to a series or blog strengthens your credibility and gives you a transition.

🔍 How it helps SEO:

• Improves the “credibility” of the page in the eyes of Google (E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust).
• Repeating the name + direction helps to gain a foothold in the subject.
• It makes it clear to search engines that the content is copyrighted, with the “ground” under their feet.

11. 🔗 What Is a Hub (And Why You Might Need One)

A hub is not just another post. It’s a navigational center — a place where readers can land, orient themselves, and find your key texts.

Think of it as:

• A map, not a monologue

A container, not a single idea

A living structure, not just a summary

Why it matters (for readers and for algorithms)

🌀 For your readers:

• Offers clarity in nonlinear work

Helps them find your “core” texts (without scrolling endlessly)

Gives a sense of your voice, scope, and range

🛰️ For search engines:

• Tells Google what your site is about

Links multiple posts together = better indexing

Raises visibility of your foundational writing

What to include in your hub post

1. Intro / Positioning (for humans)

A short opening that explains what this hub is.
Example:

“This is the center of gravity.
Here I collect texts that form the inner architecture of my work — not by theme, but by function.
Some clarify. Some disrupt.
All of them repeat in other keys.”

Keep it simple or poetic — as long as it explains why this post exists.

2. Organize by function, not theme

Instead of grouping by topics like “trauma” or “language,” try categories like:

• Core Texts (anchor pieces)

Applied Pieces (where ideas show up in life)

Expansions / Mirrors (alternate takes)

Reader-Focused (guides, checklists, intros)

Transmissions / Untranslated (poetic or disruptive)

You can format it like:
→ Core Texts
– [The Door](link)
– [Forgiveness](link)

→ Disruption
– [Get on Your Knees](link)
– [Trace Without Event](link)

→ Reader Orientation
– [How to Read My Texts](link)
– [Glossary / Terms I Use](link)

(Use actual Substack links.)

3. Meta info / clarity block

At the bottom, you can include:

This hub will be updated regularly.
Some texts are poetic, others analytic.
All are part of an ongoing system.

If you’re new, start here.
If you’re returning, feel free to wander._

You can also add:

• Contact info

Link to comment section

Link to glossary / philosophy intro if you have one

Where to place this in your Substack

• Publish it as a standalone post
• Pin it to the top of your homepage (Substack allows this in Settings → Homepage → Featured Posts)
• Optionally, add it to your “Welcome” email for new subscribers

SEO Tips for the Hub

• Slug: hub, core, start-here, or archive — something clean
• SEO Title: Hub: Anchor Texts & Core Mechanisms
• SEO Description: Explore key texts that define the architecture of Lintara. Poetic, structural, and designed to persist.

Here’s the complete checklist (in English) for what else should be on your Substack publication page (main feed) — to help readers navigate, help Google index, and help your project feel cohesive and intentional.

🧭 1. Pinned Post (Start Here / Hub)

What it is:
A permanently pinned post at the top — your welcome message, hub, or roadmap.

Why it matters:

• Gives new readers orientation
• Shows structure
• Sets the tone and voice

Where to do it:
Settings → Appearance → Featured post

🗂 2. Sections (Categories)

What it is:
Substack lets you split your posts into sections like Poetry, Essays, Audio, Dispatches, etc.

Why:

• Makes it easier to browse
• Readers can subscribe to specific sections
• Search engines read site structure better

Where to set it:
Settings → Sections

🎨 3. Consistent Visual Covers

What it is:
Your post thumbnails (cover images) should follow a style — same color family, font, or visual tone.

Why:

• Makes your feed look intentional
• Improves recognizability
• Helps algorithm show your content

Tip:
Avoid generic stock photos. Think in symbols, texture, or repeatable design formats.

✍️ 4. Short Preview / Lede (Excerpt)

What it is:
The short line under your title — shown in email previews, RSS, social media cards, and on your main feed.

Why:

• Helps the reader know what to expect
• Helps the algorithm understand topic

Tip:
Use a tone that matches the post: concrete and informative, or poetic and mysterious — but make it intentional.

🔗 5. Top Navigation (Header Menu)

What it is:
Links at the top of your publication. You can include:

• Start Here
• Poetry
• Glossary
• Support
• Contact

Where to set it:
Settings → Appearance → Navigation Links

🧾 6. Publication Bio (Tagline)

What it is:
Short sentence under your publication name. Think of it as your one-line pitch.

Example:

Lintara — poetic mechanisms, language collapse & nervous system text.
Texts that don’t soothe. They rewire.

Where to add it:
Settings → Basic Information → Publication description

💬 7. Comments + Featured Replies

What you can do:

• Enable comments
• Feature important reader responses
• Add a short prompt like:
  “What did this leave in your body?”
  “What does your nervous system do when it reads this?”

📇 8. SEO (Search Engine Metadata)

In each post, click:
Post settings → Customize SEO to add:

• SEO title (for Google, different from your post title if needed)
• Meta description (for search snippets)
• Custom URL slug (clean, descriptive link)

Why:

• Search visibility
• Post appears clearly in Google (not just /p/fji32lf9)

  ---

  💬 Join the Conversation

  Feel free to leave comments, questions, or corrections — I may have missed something, or made an error.
  Your experiences, critiques, and additions are welcome. Let’s build clarity together.

### Where you are now

This text is part of the cycle How Substack Actually Works —

This article is part of the Substack Toolkit — a practical series for writers and poets who want to make their posts more visible, searchable, and structurally strong.

→ How to Read My Texts

Cycle: How Substack Actually Works

Category: Media & 🖋️ About the Author

🖋️ Author

Written by Lintara — essays, structures, and poetic systems.
Read more:

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