Take your Ghost publication to the social web.

Confirm how your host provides social web.

Get the domain right before promoting it.

Ghost requires a custom domain for social web. A site under a path such as example.com/blog is not supported. A subdomain such as blog.example.com is a different arrangement from a subdirectory.

Reference: Custom domain requirements ↗

• Open your publication in a signed-out browser and confirm HTTPS works.
• Record the final address after redirects, including whether it uses www or a subdomain.
• Ask your host to check the domain configuration if the public site and profile advertise different addresses unexpectedly.

If you want the handle to use a different domain from the website, treat that as a separate configuration task. Use Ghost’s current custom-handle instructions with your host, then repeat discovery and delivery checks before sharing the new address.

For Docker installations using www, follow the documented Caddy domain configuration. A working article page alone does not prove the federation routes are configured correctly.

Reference: Domain and routing configuration ↗

Copy the real handle and review the profile.

In Profile → Edit Profile, review your social identity. The default handle is @index@yourdomain.com; its first part can be customized. Copy the value your installation shows.

Your site title and description feed into the social profile, so review those in Ghost settings as well as the social profile editor. Use a recognizable publication name, image, and concise description. Explain what readers will receive and who is speaking. If several people publish for the site, agree on the voice of this account before anyone starts replying.

These are different pieces of information. Do not build a profile URL by guessing a path from the handle. Check the URL while signed out, and ensure it identifies this publication rather than an unrelated personal account.

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Find your identity in Ghost

1. Open Profile in the social web navigation.
2. Use Edit profile to review your publication’s identity.
3. Copy the complete handle below the name—not just the display name.

Follow one account before testing your own.

Explore finds accounts. Reader presents long-form articles; Notes contains shorter posts. Notifications collects social interactions, and Profile shows your publication’s activity.

Reference: Ghost’s social web interface ↗

1. Choose a publication or person you already recognize.
2. Copy their full handle from a trustworthy page they control.
3. Search for that complete handle in Explore and inspect the result.
4. Follow the intended profile, then open a post and locate the reply action.

Use this as a short orientation exercise. Being able to read somebody else’s work is useful, but it is not proof that your publication can send posts to followers.

Find your publication from another server.

1. Paste your full publication handle into our connection checker.
2. Compare the returned profile with the identity you recorded. Save the report.
3. In your separate Fediverse account, search for the same full handle.
4. Open the result, confirm it is yours, and choose Follow.
5. Check that the follow is established before publishing the test article.

The checker reads public discovery and profile information. It cannot establish a follow or prove delivery. If an automated lookup fails, record the error and try the real account lookup before deciding the integration is broken.

Use a receiving account on a different server so the test exercises communication beyond your own hosting environment. Record that server’s name and the time you followed.

Send a new public article through the whole path.

Create an ordinary new post with a distinctive title, a short paragraph, one link, and optionally an image with alt text. In post settings, choose Public access for this first test. Ghost also supports members-only, paid-members-only, and specific-tier access; those are different reading experiences.

Reference: Post access levels ↗

Use Preview to review the public visitor’s view. In the publishing menu, choose to publish to the website; send an email only if you also intend to notify newsletter subscribers. Ghost lets you publish on the web, send email, or do both. For a scheduled post, check the site timezone and wait until it is actually published.

Reference: Preview, publishing options, and scheduling ↗

Publish after the follow is established. Keep the original article URL and publication time. Inspect the received post rather than assuming that the website preview represents every social app.

Allow time for delivery and refresh the receiving app. If the article does not arrive, use the troubleshooting section instead of publishing repeated copies. Do not use whether an old article appears as the success criterion for this test.

Test a reply and a short update separately.

1. From the receiving account, use the delivered article’s Reply action to send a short public response.
2. Find that interaction in Ghost’s social web area and reply from the publication.
3. Return to the other account and confirm the response arrives in the intended thread.
4. Write a short test Note, then check how it appears to the follower.

Notes are social posts; Ghost’s guide says they do not currently appear as website posts. Choose an article when the content needs a permanent place in your website’s publication archive.

Do not use your website’s member-comment section as the sole test for social replies. Ghost’s native comments are a member feature, configured through Settings → Membership → Access. Comment access may be limited to all members or paid members, and readers must be signed in.

Reference: Native website comments and member access ↗

Write down where each test conversation appears. If a reply is visible on one server but absent elsewhere, keep both URLs; they are much more useful for diagnosis than “comments don’t work.”

Give readers a clear choice of how to subscribe.

Add your tested handle and profile URL to a Follow page or your About page. The follow-link builder can produce a simple HTML link or plain text for your site and newsletter.

Replace the placeholder with your actual handle. Ask someone who did not help with setup to try the instructions. Make the newsletter link lead to your real signup flow.

Social followers and Ghost members are separate audiences. A social follow does not itself create a newsletter subscription or paid membership. Use distinct labels for the two actions.

Diagnose the failed step.

These are suggested checks, not a claim that every failure has the same cause. Change one variable at a time and keep the failing example.

Make the connection part of publishing.

Choose who monitors incoming social conversations and who speaks for the publication. Keep a short record of the accounts and apps used in your successful test. Repeat that test after a domain change, hosting move, or substantial configuration update.

If you publish protected material, test a representative protected post separately. Inspect what a signed-out visitor and a social reader can see, including any teaser, title, or image. Do not assume that a successful public-article test establishes how every access level behaves.

Before changing hosts or the service behind your handle, ask how the profile identity and follower relationship will be preserved. A database or content export should not be assumed to cover the separate ActivityPub service automatically.