Where to find SEO settings
Go to Settings > SEO. The window is called Search Engine Optimization. You need the Settings permission to open it.
These settings are for your home page and your search page, plus your robots.txt file and sitemap. They are shared by every market and every domain. Other pages have their own SEO fields:
- Products: see Product SEO.
- Collections: see Collections.
- Policy pages: see Store policies.
Want to verify your site with Google Search Console?
To add a google-site-verification meta tag (or a Meta, TikTok, or Snapchat verification tag) to the head of your store, do not use this window. Install the Domain Verifier app. It adds each platform's verification meta tag to your store for you. See Domain Verifier. To list your products on Google Shopping, that is a different tool, see Google Merchant Center.
The fields
SEO image
The picture shown when someone shares your store link on Facebook, WhatsApp, X, and other social apps. Pick it from your media library. The best size is 1200 by 600 pixels. It is optional. Leave it empty and no share image is set.
SEO title
Required. A short line that describes your store. It is also used as the SEO description when you leave the description empty. Your home page title in browser tabs and on social media is your store name, which you change in General settings.
SEO description
Optional. One or two sentences that Google may show under your store name in results. A counter shows how much room you have left. Search engines can still choose their own text.
SEO keywords
Optional. Type a keyword and press Enter to add it. Google and Bing give this tag very little weight today, so do not spend much time on it.
Visibility on search engines
When ticked, search engines may index your store. When unticked, every page of your store, including products, collections and policy pages, asks search engines not to index it, your robots.txt blocks all robots, and your sitemap is empty. Untick it while you are still building your store, and tick it again when you go live.
When it is ticked, each product, collection and policy page can still be hidden with its own "Visibility on search engines" switch.
Robots.txt file
Optional rules for search engine robots, served at example.com/robots.txt. If you leave it empty, all robots are allowed. If your text has no Sitemap: line, Storeep adds your sitemap link at the end automatically. Only edit this if you know what the rules do, because a wrong Disallow line can remove your whole store from Google. While Visibility on search engines is unticked, your own rules are not used and robots.txt blocks the whole store.
Sitemap link
Your sitemap address, https://example.com/sitemap.xml. Click the copy icon and submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so your pages are found faster. Search Console first asks you to verify your site: do that with the Domain Verifier app. It lists your visible products, collections, and published policy pages that allow indexing.
Saving
Click Save. You see "The SEO settings have been updated successfully". Changes show on the next page load of your store. Google updates its results on its own schedule, which can take days or weeks.
Common questions
- My store does not show on Google. Tick Visibility on search engines, connect your own domain, verify your store in Google Search Console with the Domain Verifier app, and submit your sitemap there. New sites can take a few weeks to appear.
- Google shows an old title or description. Wait for Google to crawl again, or ask for a new crawl in Search Console.
- The sitemap shows the storeep.com address. The sitemap uses your primary domain. Set your own domain as primary, see Custom domains.