An improved magneto-optical recording medium and a method of making the same, the medium including a substrate base and a magneto-optical recording layer formed on the base and composed of a plurality of layers each of which contains a rare earth metal and a transition metal. The relative concentration ratio between the rare earth metal and the transition metal in the layers varies cyclically in the direction of the thickness of the magneto-optical recording layer. The recording medium is conveniently manufactured by simultaneously depositing the transition metal and the rare earth metal by co-sputtering the two metals on a base and providing relative movement between the base and the metal sources during co-sputtering to produce the multilayer recording structure.