Search engines
Search engines such as Google and Bing find, read and list websites. Every site Briks builds is prepared for them from its first publish, and opened to them once it is in production. This page lists what is in place, what Briks leaves to you, and the steps that make the most difference.
What every site gets
| What | What it does |
|---|---|
| Page titles and descriptions | Every page carries a title and a short description, shown in search results and when someone shares a link. Page titles end with your site's name, such as “Menu | Crumb & Co”. |
| Share cards | Links shared in chats and social posts show a title, a description and the site's main picture where it has one. |
| One main address per page | Each page names its own address as the copy that counts, on your own domain once it is live. |
| A sitemap | A list of every page at /sitemap.xml, including a page for each published record that has one, such as a post, an event or a job. |
| Robots rules | A file at /robots.txt that tells search engines what they may read. In production it lets them in and points them to the sitemap. |
| Structured data | A description of the business in the format search engines read: its name, web address, email, phone, street address, logo and social profiles, where the site has them. |
| A not-found page | An address that does not exist gets a page with your header and footer and links back to your main pages, instead of a bare error. |
| Fast pages | Lean fonts, right-sized pictures and sensible caching. More below. |
The launch check makes sure each page other than the home page has its own title and description before a site goes to production (see Publish to production). The words themselves come from your brief, and you can change them at any time.
Previews stay out of search
While a site is a preview, its robots file asks every search engine to stay away and each page says not to list it. That is why a preview never turns up in results, even though anyone with its address can open it. Publishing to production lifts both (see Preview and production).
To keep a production site out of search as well, switch on Keep this site out of search results under Settings, Preferences, in the Building and publishing group. Its note reads “Asks search engines not to list it. Useful while the site is still being worked on.” Press Save at the foot of that group, then Apply to the live site so the live site picks it up. The launch check reminds you if it is on.
Fast pages
Search engines favour pages that load quickly, and so do visitors on a phone. Every site gets the same groundwork:
- Only the fonts your site uses are loaded, and they are served with the site rather than fetched from somewhere else.
- Pictures are served in a compact modern format, with smaller copies for phones and tablets, so a small screen never downloads the largest file.
- The site's scripts and styles are kept by browsers for a year and its fonts for a month, so a returning visitor downloads less.
- Pages themselves are fetched fresh on every visit, so a change shows the moment it is published.
What you put on a page still counts. A full-screen video weighs more than a photograph, and twelve large pictures weigh more than four. If a page feels slow, ask in the studio for lighter media on it.
What Briks leaves to you
Briks prepares the site, but it does not sign you up with search engines, submit your sitemap or promise a position in the results. Those steps are yours, and none of them is long.
Get your site listed
Connect your domain first
Where: Settings, Domain
Connect your own domain and wait for Live before you launch, so the address search engines learn from day one is yours. Briks then publishes the site again with your domain in its sitemap and page addresses (see Connect your domain).
Publish to production
Where: Studio top bar
Press Publish. Until the site is in production, search engines are asked to stay away.
Add the site to the search engine's tools
Where: Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools
Sign in to the search engine's tools for site owners and add your domain. When it asks how you will prove the site is yours, choose the option that gives you an HTML tag, and copy it.
Paste the code
Where: Settings, Preferences
Under Building and publishing, paste it into Google Search Console code or Bing Webmaster Tools code. Pasting the whole tag is fine; Briks keeps just the code. Press Save at the foot of the group, then Apply to the live site.
Verify and submit the sitemap
Where: The search engine's tools
When the publish has finished, press verify in the search engine's tools. Then submit your sitemap: your domain followed by
/sitemap.xml, such ashttps://crumbandco.com/sitemap.xml.
Write titles people click
Briks writes titles and descriptions from your brief, and the launch check makes sure every page has its own. Whether they are the best ones is another matter: you know what your customers type into a search box. Change them like anything else, by asking in the studio conversation (see Making changes).
“On the Services page, set the search title to ‘Dental implants and clear aligners in Galway’ and the description to ‘Implants, clear aligners and family dentistry in Galway city centre. Evening appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays.’”
The new title and description were published with the change, and the page title in search results now reads “Dental implants and clear aligners in Galway | Harbour Lane Dental”.
- Put what people search for first: the service, then the place.
- Keep titles to about 60 characters and descriptions to about 150, so search results show them in full.
- Give every page a different title. Two pages called “Services” compete with each other.
- Show your real business details on the site. The structured data reads your address, phone and email from the site itself.
See how people find you
The How people find you view of the Analytics tab puts the ways in side by side: Search, AI assistants, Social and campaigns and Other sites, each with its visitors and how many of them enquired. Under Search you see Search engines that sent visitors, the Pages they landed on and how often search engines' crawlers read the site. While the site is a preview, the view reminds you that search engines and AI assistants are asked to stay away (see Analytics).
Where the studio can read Google's own figures, the analytics Settings also has a Google Search group. Add the address it shows as a user of your site's property in Google Search Console, then press Connect, and the searches the site is shown for, with their clicks and average place, appear beside your visits.
Two agents can take this work on (see Hire AI agents). The SEO agent works on titles, descriptions, headings, picture text and links between pages. The AI search agent checks that AI assistants can read and quote the site, asks them your buyers' questions each month and shows under Named in their answers how often they name you. A change either one wants to make to the site asks you first, unless you let the agent make it on its own (see Approvals and budgets).
What to expect
Getting listed takes time. A new site can take days or weeks to appear, and nobody can promise a position. The search engines' own tools show which pages they have found, what people searched to reach you and any problems they met, so check them now and then after launch.
Does Briks submit my site to search engines?
No. Briks prepares the site and its sitemap. Adding the site to each search engine's tools and submitting the sitemap is up to you.
Will my briks.live address compete with my own domain?
No. Once your domain is live, every page names your domain as the main copy, so search engines credit your domain.
Why can I not find my preview in search results?
Previews ask search engines to stay away. Publish to production to open the site to them.