## Medium

Medium is a publishing platform where writers can create public profile pages and publish stories under a Medium URL or Medium subdomain. A legitimate story or profile bio can include an external link, but inspected story links are user-generated nofollow links rather than dofollow authority links.

- URL: https://medium.com/
- Guide: https://backlinkbadger.com/provider/medium/
- Link type: nofollow
- Free option: yes
- Domain authority: 18/100
- Spam score: 2/100
- Difficulty: 40/100
- Estimated time: 30 minutes
- Requirements: Email or social login, Medium account, Useful story or profile bio

Medium is useful when you have a real article, essay, case study, or founder note that belongs on a public writing platform. The fastest backlink path is either a short URL in your Medium profile bio or a contextual link inside a published story. Do not expect dofollow SEO equity from story links; use Medium for indexable writing, referral traffic, and audience discovery.

### Method 1: Add a link to your Medium profile bio

1. Create or sign in to a [Medium account](https://medium.com/m/signin).
2. Open your profile menu, choose **Settings**, and find **Profile information**.
3. Add a concise bio. Medium's Help Center says the bio can be up to 160 characters and may include a link.
4. Save the profile and visit your public profile URL, such as `medium.com/@yourname` or `yourname.medium.com` if you enable the subdomain URL.

This is the quickest placement, but it is a small profile citation. It is best for entity consistency and giving readers a route back to your site, not for passing strong page authority.

### Method 2: Publish a story with a contextual backlink

1. Click **Write** or open [medium.com/new-story](https://medium.com/new-story) to start a draft.
2. Write a real story that fits Medium: a tutorial, opinion essay, product lesson, research note, or case study.
3. Highlight relevant anchor text, click the chain icon in the Medium editor, paste your URL, and press Enter.
4. Publish the story, then inspect the public page and confirm the link appears in context.

[Image: Medium evidence showing official link-support text and inspected nofollow story-link attributes]

The inspected public example was Tim O'Reilly's Medium story on Marker. Its external links, including an About Amazon citation, rendered in the live AMP HTML with `rel="noopener ugc nofollow"`. That makes the story method honest but conservative: it can still send readers and appear in search, but it should not be sold as a dofollow authority backlink.

### Practical advice

Use Medium only when the content stands on its own. A copied blog post with one promotional link is weak; a useful original story with one relevant source or project link is much safer. Medium's rules say violations can lead to account restrictions or content suspension, and Medium's distribution docs say low-quality stories may be removed from broader network distribution even if they remain visible to your followers.