Search engines

The pages live on your own domain, so the search traffic they earn is yours. This page covers what we do to help Google find them and what you can control.

What every page ships with

• A headline and a search description written for the search result, both editable (see Editing a page).
• Structured data that tells search engines who did the work, what kind of work it was, and where, in the format Google reads.
• A place in your sitemap. See Sitemap and robots.txt for adding it to your site’s own sitemap.
• The person you set under Settings → Business as the author, with an “About” box at the bottom of each page.

Repeat visits to the same property

A second job at the same address for the same kind of work gets its own live page, linked like any other. Search engines are asked to list your first page for that property instead, so your pages don’t compete with each other. The edit screen says so: Search engines will point to your first page for this property.

If the second write-up reads almost the same as the first, the page is held until it says what was different about that visit. See Why a page is held.

Hide a page from search engines

On any page, turn on Hide from search engines. We’ll ask Google not to list this page in search results. The page stays live for anyone with the web address.

Use it for routine recurring work, or photos you’d rather not have indexed. It’s not a way around the publish checks: a page that can’t publish is fixed, not hidden.

Turning it on asks Hide this page from search engines? and needs a Yes, hide it. Turning it off needs no confirmation.

Connect Google Search Console

Connect under Setup → Google Search Console, or from the How you’re showing up on Google card on your dashboard. Pick the Google account that owns your website in Search Console. You can disconnect any time in Settings.

What this lets us do:

• Check whether Google has found and indexed your project pages, so you know they’re showing up in search.
• Send Google the list of your project pages (your sitemap) so it finds and indexes new ones faster.

What we’ll never do:

• Touch any other site or property on your account.
• Change your site settings or who can access Search Console.
• Remove any pages or sitemaps you already have.

If your Google account owns more than one verified property, you’ll be asked to pick the one that matches your website. If it owns none, verify your domain in Search Console first, then come back.

Once connected, your dashboard shows Page Visits from Google, how often you’ve shown up in search results, and a line like 12 of 15 job pages are showing up on Google. We send Google your full page list and check each one until it’s listed. New pages usually show up within a few days. The first numbers appear within a day of connecting, including the months before you joined.