Search engines and the head of a page
On this page
You control how a published manual looks in search results and in link previews from two places: the SEO and sharing fields, and the indexing checkbox under Visibility. Only a fully public manual is ever put in a search index.
WhereDashboard, Brand manual, Settings, SEO and sharing
SEO and sharing holds four fields: Page title, Meta description, Favicon and Social preview image. The indexing checkbox is one group over, under Visibility. Both are on Brand manual (opens in a new tab), under Settings.
Title and description
Page title is what the browser tab and a search result show. Leave it empty and the manual title is used. Fill it in when the public wording should differ from your working title.
Meta description is the short summary under that title, and the text a link preview shows in a chat or a mail client. Leave it empty and the page carries no description. Nothing is invented in its place.
Both are used on the public page only. The editor does not change.
Favicon and social image
Favicon is the square icon in the browser tab. Pick it from the library or upload it in place; the picker offers a crop, because the icon is square. Without one, the page shows the Stylehub icon.
Social preview image is the picture shown when someone shares the link. 1200x630 works best. Leave it empty and the link previews as plain text.
Only http and https addresses are kept
https:// in front gets it added.Keeping a page out of search
WhereDashboard, Brand manual, Settings, Visibility
With the visibility set to Public, a checkbox reads Allow search engines (Google indexing). It is on by default. Clear it and the page still opens for anyone with the link, but search engines are told not to index it.
On every other visibility the checkbox is not shown, and the manual is never indexed whatever else is set.
Out of search is not private
What each visibility does
| Visibility | What it means | In a search index |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Anyone can find and view it. | Yes, unless the checkbox is cleared |
| Unlisted | Only people with the link. Hidden from search. | Never, whatever else is set |
| Private | Not shown publicly. Team views it in the app. | Never, whatever else is set |
| Password protected | Public link, but a password is required. | Never, whatever else is set |
Pages that show nothing to a search engine
A private or password protected manual shows only the brand name to a search engine. The title, the description and the social image are not handed out. Two more cases behave the same way.
- A manual past its end date. The page stays online and says the manual is no longer available, so an old link does not land on a 404.
- A brand with nothing published. Visitors see Not published yet and a note that the brand is still working on its hub.
The sitemap
Every brand hub serves its own /sitemap.xml at whatever address the visitor arrived by, the free subdomain or your custom domain.
https://acme.stylehub.cloud/sitemap.xmlIt lists:
- Published manuals of that brand only.
- Of those, only the ones that may be indexed.
- Nothing past its end date.
The primary manual is listed at the root of the host, every other one under its slug, and each entry carries the date the manual was last changed. A hub also serves /robots.txt, which allows everything.
Which address applies to you is in Addresses, and putting your own domain in front of it is in Using your own domain.
A manual can be reachable at the brand subdomain, a subdomain of its own, and a custom domain once it is verified. If you want search engines to settle on one of them, publish and link that one.
Who may change this
The four SEO and sharing fields need manual:write, which is Edit sections and content.
The indexing checkbox needs manual:publish, which is Publish and unpublish, the same permission as changing the visibility or setting a password. An editor who may write but not publish cannot change it. See Roles and Custom roles.
Publish the manual first
None of this applies to an unpublished manual. There is no public page, no sitemap entry and nothing to index. See Publishing and unpublishing.
If your brand reviews changes before they go out, these settings are live as soon as you save them. The content around them waits for Publish changes. See Reviewing changes before they go live.
Setting a manual up for search
- Publish the manual at the address you want people to use.
- Set the visibility to Public.
- Leave Allow search engines (Google indexing) checked.
- Write a Page title if the public wording should differ, and a Meta description of one or two sentences.
- Add a Favicon and a Social preview image.
- Save, open the page to check the tab title, and paste the link into a chat to see the preview.
- Submit
/sitemap.xmlat your hub address to your search console.
When a page is not turning up
Where to go next
- Who may see a manual for the four modes and the end date.
- Analytics for who is arriving, and from where.
Still stuck? Write to hello@stylehub.cloud and say which page you were on.