Separate two copies from two sources
Suppose you published a public project explanation on your own website and then republished it on Medium. A search answer may list both addresses. Before counting them as independent support, establish whether they are copies of the same article.
Keep the actual published URLs and the passages involved. Matching titles alone are insufficient: the body may have changed or only part of the story may have been reused.
Inspect the published source declaration
Medium says its official cross-posting tools automatically use the imported source as the canonical link. It also says that only the story’s author can set this field. To check a published story, its help instructs readers to use View page source and search for canonical. Source
Read the address in the canonical link element, rather than copying an unrelated occurrence of the word. Open the destination and confirm the host, page and relevant passage. This is a reading task; it does not require editing or republishing the story.
If you cannot inspect the source or open the destination, preserve the gap. A preview in a search result is not a substitute for the actual declaration.
Compare the relationship, not just the wording
| Observation | Source-review conclusion | Remaining check |
|---|---|---|
| Medium declares your website page | A declared relationship between those copies | Whether the destination contains the relevant passage |
| Both copies repeat the same account | Repeated presentation of one underlying assertion | Whether either provides independent supporting material |
| The destination is unrelated or unavailable | The declared link does not resolve your source question | Whether the intended original can be identified through your own records |
| The stories differ materially | Versions need separate descriptions | Which wording supports the claim being used |
Treat the canonical declaration as metadata supplied by the publishing workflow. It is not an independent witness to who wrote the material or when it first appeared. This guide makes no prediction about which URL a search engine will display.
Keep the final citation honest
Choose the inspected passage that supports the statement and retain any relevant version difference. In an AI-assisted report, label a republished copy as such rather than treating it as a second investigation.
Use the public-source checklist for claim-level support. If the source has changed and a historical comparison is relevant, record the earlier and current evidence separately rather than silently rewriting the history.
The App overview describes expanded public-content retrieval. More retrieved URLs can include repeated copies; the number of links alone does not measure independent corroboration.