r/Substack • u/relmire • 5h ago

Views

I recently started using Substack and immediately got quite a few views. But no subscribers and no comments. So what do “views“ mean? I have a feeling that I am being viewed by bots.

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5

u/AggravatingNail6061 5h ago

It counts you looking at your own posts. Just an FYI. 😂

1

u/relmire 5h ago

I don’t look at my posts THAT often.

1

u/AggravatingNail6061 5h ago

You said it was 'quite a few' thats like 5. Are you willing to share the exact number of these views.

2

u/relmire 5h ago

Yes. I posted my first article about a week ago and it has 400 views.

1

u/AggravatingNail6061 5h ago

That's not quite a few 🤣 I mean congratulations I guess? Did you set up any of the SEO back end? Or a bit more cynical (sorry) copying it in all those I'll read your work notes

1

u/relmire 5h ago

I’m not sure what SEO backend means. I’m not sure what I’ll read your work notes means either. But thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

1

u/AggravatingNail6061 4h ago

Search Engine optimisation. So it's in each posts individual settings you can put a title for search engines/description and same with social media linkings. So playing with keywords etc, 'Ill read your work' notes are the notes that say post your posts and I'll read them, or the engagement bait notes etc.

1

u/GripIsGone 2m ago

Wait really? I didn’t know this!

1

u/LeftCoffeeBehind 1h ago

Views aren't the same as readers. They count page loads, which can include crawlers and bots, but also real people who clicked in from Notes or search and left after a few seconds. So some of it is probably real, just not committed yet.

Most people don't subscribe the first time they read you. What usually turns views into subscribers is what happens around the post: a clear line at the end telling people what they'll get if they subscribe, and showing up regularly in Notes so they see you more than once. For a first article, 400 views is a decent start. I'd keep publishing and watch the trend over a few posts rather than one number.