Skip to main content

SEO & Discoverability

SEO (search engine optimization) is everything that helps people find your site when they search on Google. This section explains what Kite takes care of for you, what you can ask Kite to fine-tune, and how to move an existing site over without losing the rankings you already have.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for "search engine optimization." It's the work of making your site easy for search engines like Google to understand and recommend, so the right people can find you.

What Kite handles automatically​

When you build and publish a site with Kite, a lot of the technical groundwork is done for you:

  • Page titles and headings are generated from your content as Kite builds each page.
  • A sitemap.xml file is created so search engines can discover your pages. See Sitemap & robots.txt.
  • A robots.txt file tells search engines which pages they're allowed to crawl. See Sitemap & robots.txt.
  • Mobile-friendly, responsive layouts, which search engines reward. See Responsive design.

What you can ask Kite for​

You don't edit code in Kite — you describe what you want in plain language and Kite makes the change. For SEO, you can ask Kite to:

  • Set or rewrite a page's title and meta description. See SEO Basics.
  • Add alt text to images so they're described for search engines and screen readers. See SEO Basics.
  • Update your sitemap after you add or rename pages. See Sitemap & robots.txt.
  • Fix social link previews (the title and image people see when your link is shared). See Social Link Previews.
Be specific

The clearer your request, the better the result. Instead of "improve my SEO," try "Set the meta description on my Home page to: Handmade candles poured in small batches in Portland."

A quick word on timing​

Search engines don't see your changes instantly. After you publish, Google has to crawl (visit) and index your site before updates show up in search results — this can take days or weeks. So if you make an SEO change today, don't expect it to appear in Google tomorrow. See SEO Basics for more on what to expect.

Articles in this section​