Search Engines
Built So Google Understands Every Page
Mercayo handles the technical side of search engines for you: one clean address for each page, the details Google reads, a sitemap and the right pages kept out. You write the words shoppers will see in the results.
- In every plan
- Free for 14 days
Kosha is a demo store on Mercayo. Its products, orders and customers are sample data.
In short
What It Does
Done for every store, with nothing to set:
- Clean, readable addresses: /products/<name>, /collections/<name>, /categories/<name>, /pages/<name>, /blog/<name>.
- One address per page. Each page names its own main address (its canonical address) on your primary domain, whichever of your store's addresses it was opened from and whatever ad tags the link carried.
- Titles that name your store: "Product name | Your store", and a description cut cleanly at a word.
- Product details Google can read: each product page describes the product with its photos, its price range in rupees, whether it is in stock, and its star rating when it has reviews, plus the path from your home page through its category. Your FAQ page is marked as questions and answers, and blog posts as articles.
- A sitemap at /sitemap.xml with your home page, the all-products page, and every live product, collection and category with the day it last changed, and a robots.txt that points to it.
- The right pages kept out. The bag, checkout, thank-you and search pages are closed to search engines; account, wishlist, tracking and similar personal pages say "noindex". A list with filters chosen is not offered as its own page, so filter combinations never compete with the list itself.
- Link previews for WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and X: the page's title, description and its own picture (a product's first photo), or your store's sharing picture.
- Languages: pages in another language carry their language and point to the same page in each language you offer.
Yours to write: a page title and description for search engines on every product, collection, category, content page, blog post and your home page, each with a preview of how it may look in search results. Left empty, the product's own title and description are used.
More structured data: your home page tells Google your store's name, logo and profiles (Organization) and that it can search your store (WebSite with a search box); every list page (all products, the sale page, categories, collections) carries its breadcrumbs and the products on it in order (ItemList); and blog, post, content, policy and reviews pages carry their breadcrumbs. Filtered lists, which are kept out of search engines, carry none.
For your store
Why It Matters
For a new brand, Google is one of the few ways to be found without paying for every visit. A shopper searching "jhumka earrings under 1000" or "iPhone 15 cover with stand" should land on your product, not a marketplace's.
Most of what search engines need is technical, and easy to get wrong: duplicate addresses for the same product, filter pages competing with each other, checkout pages listed in results, missing prices in the result snippet. Mercayo does this the same careful way on every store, so you can spend your time on what only you can write: product names shoppers really search for, honest descriptions, and useful guides on your blog.
Link previews matter as much in India. Most of your links travel on WhatsApp, and a preview with the product's photo and price-worthy title gets tapped; a bare address does not.
Step by step
How It Works
Write a Product's Listing
In Products, open a product and find Search Engine Listing. Type a Page Title and a Meta Description: a count shows how many characters you have used, against about what search engines show. The preview shows how the result may look, with its address (/products/<name>). Left empty, the product's title and description are used.
Name Your Collections, Categories and Pages
Collections and categories have their own Search Engines card with a Page Title and Meta Description. Content pages have theirs in Online Store → Pages → Title, Address and Search, with a preview. Blog posts have Address and Search Engines. For the home page, open it in the Editor: with no section selected, the side panel shows its Search Engine Listing.
Describe Your Photos
Each product photo can have a description of what it shows. It is read aloud to shoppers who cannot see the picture, and it tells search engines what the photo is. Blog covers and pictures in your pages have the same Picture Description field. A short, plain description works best: what the item is, its colour, and what that photo shows that the others do not.
Choose Your Sharing Picture
In the Theme editor, Social Sharing holds the picture people see when a link to your store is shared on WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook. It is used for the home page and any page without a picture of its own; products use their own photos. It works best at 1200 × 630 px.
Launch, and Search Engines Are Let In
Before you launch, your store is hidden from search engines whatever else you choose: every page says so, robots.txt closes the whole store and there is no sitemap. When you press LAUNCH MY STORE, that is lifted in the same moment, and your sitemap appears. See Opening-Soon Page. Then submit your sitemap's address in Google Search Console to help Google find your pages sooner.
Keep Old Links Working
When you change the address of a product or a content page, its old address is sent to the new one automatically, so search results and shared links keep working. Moving from another platform, import its old addresses in URL Redirects. See URL Redirects. Connecting your own domain works the same way: your free address then sends visitors to it with a permanent redirect.
Your shoppers
What Your Shoppers See
Shoppers who search on Google can find your products and pages under the titles and descriptions you wrote, and land on the exact page, at your primary address. When Google chooses to, the result can show the product's price, whether it is in stock and its star rating. A link to your store shared on WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook shows a preview with the product's photo or your sharing picture, its name and a line about it, which makes it far easier to tap than a bare address. Pages that should never appear in search, such as their bag, checkout or account, never do.
Settings
Settings You Control
Each one is in your admin. A new store starts with the value shown.
Nothing to set up: it works the same way in every store.
Mercayo
Mercayo's Controls
There are no search engine settings to lock: the technical parts are the same for every store, and the words are yours. Mercayo does not write your titles, descriptions or addresses for you. Before launch, Mercayo keeps every new store out of search engines, and a launched store's sitemap and canonical addresses always point to its primary domain, so search engines learn one address for it. Mercayo makes no promise about rankings: they depend on Google, your products and your words.
Limits today
Good to Know Before You Start
- The sitemap lists your home page, products, collections, categories, content pages, blog posts and policies, in each language your store offers; you cannot add your own entries to it.
- There is no screen for editing robots.txt or adding your own structured data or code to the page head.
- Search engines decide what they show and when; Mercayo cannot make a page rank.
- Addresses use Latin letters, also for pages in Hindi.
Questions
About Search Engines
Do I need an SEO app or plugin?
No. Canonical addresses, the sitemap, robots.txt, product details for Google, link previews and the noindex rules are built into every store. What you add is the words: product names, descriptions and, if you like, your own search titles and descriptions.
Can I submit my sitemap to Google Search Console?
Yes. Once your store is launched, your sitemap is at /sitemap.xml on your store's address, and robots.txt points to it. Add your store to Google Search Console and submit that address. The sitemap always lists your primary address, so connect your own domain first if you plan to.
Will my product's price show in Google?
Each product page tells Google its price range in rupees, whether it is in stock and, when it has reviews, its star rating. Google decides whether to show them in a result. The price and stock come from the product page itself, so they are always your current ones.
What happens to my search ranking when I connect my own domain?
Once your own domain is connected and primary, every page names it as the main address, the sitemap lists it, and your free Mercayo address sends visitors and search engines to it with a permanent redirect, so search engines learn the one address.
Why is my store not on Google yet?
Before launch, every store is hidden from search engines. After launch, Google needs time to find and read your pages; submitting your sitemap in Google Search Console helps. Mercayo cannot speed up Google's own schedule. Writing a clear title and description for your most important products and pages also helps Google understand them.
Are filtered lists bad for my ranking?
No. A list with filters chosen tells search engines not to list it on its own and points to the plain list, so the many filter combinations never compete with your collection page. Each page of a long list has its own address, and the plain list stays the one search engines are pointed to.
Related
Related Features
- URL RedirectsSend old addresses to new ones by hand or from a Shopify-style CSV, and get automatic redirects whenever a product or page changes its address.
- Custom DomainsConnect a domain you own, like yourbrand.in, with a guided DNS check and an automatic secure certificate; your free Mercayo address always keeps working.
- Content Pages and BlogWrite your About page, FAQ, contact page, guides and blog posts in the admin, from ready sections that match your store's look.
- Languages and CurrenciesOffer your store in Hindi beside English, translate your products, pages and menus, and show prices in other currencies as a guide.
- Opening-Soon PageUntil you launch, your store is hidden from search engines and, if you like, behind a password, while your team sees everything and tests real orders.
- Product FeedsFeeds for Google Merchant Center and the Meta catalogue at fixed addresses on your domain, rebuilt when products change, with a list of what to fix.
More in Online Store: Product Pages · Product Stories and Details · Collections and Filters · Store Search · Shop by Fit · Wishlist · Customer Accounts · After the Order · Content Pages and Blog · Personalisation · Shoppable Videos · Languages and Currencies · Installable Store · Page Speed · URL Redirects · Opening-Soon Page · Custom Domains
Try It on Your Own Store
Every feature is in every plan, free for 14 days.
