Being found on Google

What is generated for you with every publication, what you set page by page, and how long it takes to appear in Google.

Search engine optimisation asks almost nothing of you: sitemap, tags, and security are generated with every publication. What matters is a permanent address and text that describes your business.

A permanent address first#

Google remembers the address where it discovers your pages. Before trying to be found, give your site its permanent address: the subdomain chosen in its settings or, better still, your own domain name. See Site Settings and Connect Your Domain Name.

What is generated for you#

• A sitemap (sitemap.xml) with one entry per page and per language, and the robots.txt file that points to it. Pages you mark as “do not index” and the shop’s technical pages are not included.
• On each page: the title, the description, the canonical address, the links between languages, the share image for social media, and structured data (blog posts, products).
• The https security certificate, issued and renewed automatically.

What you set page by page#

In the editor, Page Properties holds the title for Google, the description, the share image, the page address, and the Prevent indexing checkbox for a page you don’t want to appear in search results. See Page Properties. The assistant offers Optimise the SEO title and description: it drafts suggestions that you approve before applying them.

How long before you appear?#

Google works at its own pace: a few days to a few weeks for a new site, often less for a page added to a site it already knows. The sitemap helps it discover your pages; publishing regularly (a blog post, for example) encourages it to come back. We cannot speed this up for you.