Medium uses a third-party service to handle the technical side of importing a single story to Medium. We send a request to their API with the URL to be imported, and they return the contents of the URL to the best of their ability.
If the import tool is not able to interpret the page, you may see a blank page when you try to import or an error message. If that happens to you, you would need to manually import your post to Medium instead of using the import tool.
Manual migration of a post
Step 1: Copy-paste your content
- On your homepage, click the Write button to create a new draft.
- Copy the content you wish to publish on Medium and paste it to your newly created draft.
- Add images, embeds, and any additional content that is missing on your draft. Format your article using the Medium editor to make it look good. See this article to learn more about using the editor.
Step 2: Add a canonical link (optional)
You can optionally add a canonical link to your imported posts to make sure your SEO won't be penalized. Learn more here.
- Enter edit mode either by starting a new draft, or by visiting your story page, clicking the three-dot button in the top-right corner and choosing Edit story.
- In edit mode, click the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the page.
- From the drop-menu, click Customize canonical link.
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Enter your link and click Save. Make sure to click Publish to publish your changes.
Step 3: Publish the draft
- When you're ready to publish your story, click the Publish button in top-right corner to bring up the publish menu.
- From this menu, you can optionally add topics, customize your title and subtitle, schedule to publish your post later, and more.
- In the Story preview section, you can change the preview image on your story, and customize your title and subtitle. Please note that your image must be added to your post if you want to set it as your featured image. Learn more.
- If you're enrolled in the Medium Partner Program, you can also select your story to be eligible for revenue based on the engagement you post generates once it's published. To make sure your post will be monetized, select the Meter my story so it is eligible to earn money checkbox.
- When you're done making changes, click Publish now to make the story immediately visible on Medium and available for anyone to read.
Note: You may only import content from other sites for which you have the right to do so.