Hosted blog

Overview

When you publish a post in Obsurfable and have a verified connected subdomain, the post is served automatically on your domain — no separate deployment or CMS upload.

Visitors see:

• Blog index at https://<subdomain>/ — list of published posts
• Post pages at https://<subdomain>/<slug> — rendered markdown with table of contents, metadata, and structured data
• Discovery files — sitemap, RSS, robots.txt, humans.txt, llms.txt (see Feeds & discovery)

The hosted blog is optimized for search and AI retrieval: canonical URLs, Open Graph images, JSON-LD (BlogPosting, BreadcrumbList, WebSite), and meta descriptions from your post description or auto-generated excerpts.

Who it's for

• Teams who want publish-to-live without WordPress, Webflow, or custom static builds
• AEO practitioners shipping retrieval-ready HTML on a branded subdomain
• Pro users connecting Act output to Index status and Search performance

Prerequisites

1. Pro plan.
2. A connected and verified subdomain (CNAME + Verify on /content/subdomains).
3. At least one post with status published and a valid slug.

Step-by-step

Connect your subdomain

1. Follow Connected subdomains: CNAME → Connect → Verify.
2. Optionally set blog title, description, and favicon in subdomain metadata.

Create and publish a post

1. Create a post at /content/new — see Creating posts.
2. Set a clear title, description, and URL slug on /content/[id].
3. Change Status to published and click Save.
4. Note the publish timestamp — it appears on the live post and in RSS.

View the live blog

1. Open https://<your-subdomain>/ for the post index.
2. Click through to https://<your-subdomain>/<slug> for the full article.
3. Confirm metadata with browser dev tools or a social preview debugger.

Validate discovery and indexing

1. Open Feeds & discovery and verify sitemap and RSS URLs.
2. Submit the sitemap via Index status.
3. Track queries and pages in Search performance after GSC data accumulates.

Update or unpublish

1. Edit the post in Obsurfable and save — changes appear on the live URL.
2. Switch status back to draft to remove the post from the public index, sitemap, and RSS.
3. Slug changes create a new URL path — set up redirects externally if you changed a live slug.

Tips

• Write the description field before publishing — it becomes the meta description and Open Graph summary.
• Keep slugs short, stable, and keyword-aligned; changing slugs breaks existing links.
• The blog index uses your subdomain title and description metadata — set these before sharing the blog publicly.
• Open Graph images are generated per post for social sharing.
• After publishing strategic content, re-run prompt runs to measure whether AI citations improve.
• If visitors see "This subdomain is not connected," complete CNAME setup and verification.

FAQ

Where is the blog hosted?

Obsurfable hosts the blog on our infrastructure. Your DNS CNAME points your subdomain (e.g. blog.example.com) to our blog host; SSL is provisioned on verify.

Can I use a custom design or theme?

The hosted blog uses Obsurfable's default blog layout — readable typography, table of contents, and dark styling. Custom themes are not supported in-app.

What content format is supported?

Posts are written in Markdown in the editor and rendered to HTML on the live site. Standard headings, lists, links, and emphasis are supported.

Do I need to redeploy after publishing?

No. Publishing in Obsurfable updates the live site immediately.

Can I host only some posts on the subdomain?

All published posts for your website appear on the connected subdomain. Use draft status to keep posts out of the public blog.

What SEO features are included?

Per-post and index metadata, canonical URLs, robots directives, JSON-LD structured data, Open Graph and Twitter cards, and auto-generated OG images.

Can I export instead of using the hosted blog?

Yes. On /content/[id] you can copy markdown or download Markdown/HTML files and publish elsewhere — the hosted blog is optional.