Trust Is the New Algorithm

How audience engagement powers visibility, growth and strategic momentum on Substack

One of the first things I share with creators shifting toward Substack — especially those used to traditional platforms like Facebook or Instagram — is this:

Your audience isn’t just a number.
They’re part of the system that shapes what rises here.

On Substack, visibility isn’t driven by hashtags or solely by click-bait headlines.

It’s driven by trust signals — small moments of connection that help the platform surface thoughtful work.

When someone taps “like,” replies to a post or restacks a podcast episode, they’re not just affirming your work.

They’re telling Substack:

➡️ This voice matters.

➡️ This is the kind of work we want more of.

It’s not performance.

It’s relational momentum.

And I would know. The Substack discoverability network helped me grow from 12 readers and no social following to a bestselling, featured publication. I’m even known as the “Substack data queen” by my readers, which is just downright endearing and beyond anything I could’ve imagined for my 10-year goals.

The Ecosystem Here Is Built on Trust — Not Tricks

Here’s the next thing I tell folks who reach out to me. Substack’s growth engine isn’t based on algorithmic moodiness. It’s built around audience action and creator interconnection:

• People who respond with care and curiosity

• Creators who recommend each other’s work

• Audiences who share, restack and reach out

In this ecosystem, a single gesture from someone who trusts your voice can ripple outward — lifting your work into a new corner of the network.

That’s why asking for support isn’t overreaching. It’s part of stewarding something you’re building in relationship with others.

5 High-Trust, No-Cost Ways Your Audience Can Support You

These are small actions — but they carry real weight. Each one sends a signal to Substack’s discovery systems and to future subscribers:

This publication is alive. It’s resonating. It’s worth paying attention to.

1. 🧡 Tap the “Like” Button

Likes are private, but powerful. They tell the system (and you) that something in your voice connected. They also improve your visibility across Substack’s internal network.

2. 💬 Leave a Comment or Reply

Comments build relational depth. They encourage others to engage, increase time spent on your post and often become informal data points for future direction.

3. 🔁 Restack Posts That Land

A restack extends the life of your post — and introduces it to someone else’s trusted audience. Substack is deeply shaped by these micro-moments of shared visibility.

4. 🤝 Use the Recommendation Feature

If another creator recommends you, your publication can now show up in myriad places inside the Substack ecosystem, including by not limited to their homepage, on their “recommended reading list” when others are signing up" for their publication and more. That’s trust-based growth — and it’s one of the most powerful forms of discovery on the platform.

5. Interact With Your Notes

Inviting your audience to engage with something different inside your Notes feed is another way that your publication can grow — in fact it’s specifically tracker inside Substack’s data model.

Quick Data Moment: DYK? The Substack Activity ⭐️ Rating is a calculation of audience trust. It’s a combination of a subscriber’s interaction with your posts on your publication and how much they like, reply to or restack your Notes. You can read more here about what the head of Data at Substack shared with me and what that means for audience nurturing.

These Actions Aren’t Just Support — They’re Strategic Signals

If you're building something rooted, resonant and meant to last, inviting your audience to engage isn't just allowed — it's essential.

Because when your audience takes action — whether it's a like, a reply, a restack or a recommendation — they’re not just showing appreciation.

They’re sending signals to the ecosystem that your work is:

📡 Worth surfacing
🧠 Actively shaping the conversation
🔁 Built for participation, not just consumption

This is how trust becomes traction — and traction becomes momentum.

So don’t think of these gestures as favors. They’re part of a feedback system that supports your publication’s discoverability, deepens your data insights and builds relational equity over time.

You're not chasing scale. You're curating alignment.

And in this ecosystem, that’s what growth is actually made of.

📚 Continue the Substack Strategy series:

← What Subscribers Really Pay For — And Why It’s Not Perks
→ Up Next: The 30/90 Rule: A Data Rhythm That Supports Your Core Genius

In May we’ll be exploring audience trust — how it’s nurtured (and broken) in online communities and a better path for connecting with audiences in the new media landscape. I hope you’ll subscribe and stay tuned!