SEO in the Bookipi website builder

Bookipi's website builder does the SEO work for you, so customers can find your business on search engines like Google and Bing. This article explains what SEO is, why it matters, and how to use Bookipi's advanced SEO tools to maximise your business's visibility.

SEO, short for search engine optimisation, is the work of making your website easier for search engines like Google to find, understand and show to people. When someone searches "plumber near me" or "best coffee in New York”, Google picks the pages it thinks will help most and ranks them. SEO improves your chances of being one of those pages.

Search engines look at what your pages say, how clearly they are described, how your site is organised and whether it looks trustworthy. Two of the most visible pieces are your page title and meta description: the blue link and the short summary that appear under it in search results.

When people need a product or service, many start with a search, and most clicks go to the first few results. If your business doesn't show up, those customers find someone else.

Good SEO helps you:

SEO isn't instant. Changes can take weeks or months to show up in search results, so the sooner you set up the basics, the sooner they start working.

Bookipi sets up the most important SEO parts for you, then shows you what else will help your site get found if you want to go further. You can edit anything yourself or use our built in AI agent. Everything lives in the SEO tab, under Website.

Bookipi's AI writes a title and description for each page of your site, so you never start from a blank box. Select Title & Description to see them. A preview shows how each page could look in search results. This is optimised with SEO best practice and tailored to your business.

To change one, type your own, or select the Rewrite icon next to the title or description and AI will write a new version. You can also add a featured image and a short image description (alt text) for each page.

Links to your social profiles show on your site and alongside it in search results. Bookipi checks whether any are missing and suggests adding them. Select Social profiles to add Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube or other links.

Bookipi suggests pages your site is missing that can help people find you. For example, a café site may be offered Menu, FAQ and Our Story pages. Each one is ready-made with starting content. Select Add page to add it in one click, then edit it to suit your business.

If you don't have one yet, we suggest adding a custom domain, such as yourbusiness.com.au, in place of the default Bookipi web address. A branded address is easier for customers to remember and trust, and it is a good foundation for your SEO. Select Set up next to Custom domain to get started.

Open Advanced options at the bottom of the SEO tab to see what Bookipi handles for you:

The score at the top of the SEO tab, out of 100, shows how well your site is set up for search. A label such as Needs work or Good sits beside it, along with how many steps are left. Each item shows Perfect once it's done, or a button to finish it. As you complete the steps, your score goes up.

Google can only find your site once it's published. Until then, you'll see a banner at the top of the SEO tab with a Publish your site button.

After you publish, select Check on Google to see whether Google has found your site. A new site can take days or weeks to appear, so if it isn't there yet, check back later.

Your site can only appear in Google search results once Google has found it and saved its pages, which is called being crawled and indexed. The quickest way to check is to search Google for your site's web address using the site: command. The Check on Google button does this for you.

You can also run this check yourself at any time. Type site: followed by your web address into Google, with no space, for example site:yourbusiness.com.

You'll see a list of results from your website. Each one shows a page title and description. The number of results depends on how many of your pages Google has found so far.

You'll see a message saying your search did not match any documents. This is normal for a new site. Google can take days or weeks to find it, and it doesn't mean anything is wrong. Google may also show a promotion for Search Console, which you can ignore for now.

While you wait, check that your site is published and that Hide from search engines is turned off in Advanced options. Bookipi sends Google your sitemap automatically each time you publish. Then try the check again in a few days.

This check shows whether Google has found your site. It doesn't show where your site ranks in search results.

A: No. Bookipi writes your titles and descriptions and tells you what to improve next. You only need to follow the steps in the SEO tab.

A: Yes. Edit any title or description yourself, or use the Rewrite icon to ask AI for a different version.

A: It can take weeks or months for search results to change, and no one can promise a particular ranking. Publishing your site and completing the steps in the SEO tab gives you the best start.

A: The score goes up as you complete the steps listed under it, such as adding social profiles or setting up a custom domain.

A: Yes. Open Advanced options in the SEO tab and turn on Hide from search engines.

A: Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help.

Explore our collection of Bookipi AI Website Builder guides to find more tutorials and learn more in our Bookipi AI Website Builder FAQs.

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