Publish and grow
SEO and sharing
Control how your app looks in search results, browser tabs and shared links, with a title, description, favicon and social image.
When someone finds your app on a search engine or sees its link in a chat, they see a title, a short description and often a picture. Buildliy lets you set all of these yourself, or have the AI write and draw them for you. It also adds the files search engines look for when you publish.
All of this works on every plan, including Free.
Set your site info
Your site's title, description, favicon (the small icon in the browser tab) and social image live on the Site Info tab of the Publish dialog.
Open Site Info
Click Publish at the top right of your project, then open the Site Info tab.
Write a title and description
Fill in Title (up to 70 characters) and Description (up to 200 characters). Changes save automatically when you click away from the field.
Add a favicon and social image
Upload a Favicon (PNG or ICO, up to 512 KB; a square image works best) and a Social image (PNG or JPG, up to 2 MB; 1200×630 works best). Use the upload button next to each, or the X to remove one.
Check the preview
On the right, Live preview shows how your link will look when it's shared, and how it will appear in search results.
Publish to apply it
Site info goes live the next time you publish. Go to the Free URL tab and click Publish or Re-publish. It applies to your free address and any custom domain.
Only the project's owner can change Site Info.
Let the AI write or draw it
Each field has a Generate button. The AI looks at your app and writes a title or description, or creates a favicon or social image to match it. Each generation uses 1 credit once it succeeds (nothing is charged if it fails), and you can edit or replace the result.
Keep the title short and specific, like "Crumbs Bakery — order fresh bread". Use the description to say what people can do on your site in one sentence. If no description is set, the preview reminds you: "Add a description so search + share cards aren't blank."
If you don't set a title
If your app still has a placeholder title like "Buildliy app", publishing uses your project's name instead, unless the project still has its automatic name. Setting your own title on the Site Info tab is still the best way to choose exactly what people see.
What Buildliy adds when you publish
Buildliy adds a few standard files to your live site, only when your app doesn't already have its own:
- A sitemap and robots.txt. These tell search engines which pages exist and what they may visit. They're added only when your app has neither file. The sitemap lists only the pages that look public. Pages that look like they need signing in (like a dashboard, orders, bookings or settings), admin pages and pages whose address changes are left out. The Launch tab shows the exact list before you publish.
- "Add to home screen" support. A web app file and icons, so visitors can add your app to their phone's home screen. If you set a PNG favicon, it's used as the icon.
These go on your live site only. They don't change your app's code, your preview or what you send to GitHub.
SEO items on the launch checklist
The Launch checklist includes a few search and sharing checks. None of them block publishing.
| Check | What to do |
|---|---|
| Missing page title + description | Ask the AI to add them, or set them on the Site Info tab. |
| Site title is still a placeholder | Publishing uses your project's name instead (unless it still has its automatic name). To choose your own, set it on Site Info or ask the AI to change it. |
| Sitemap added when you publish | Nothing. This is a passed check telling you which pages the sitemap will list. |
| sitemap missing or robots.txt missing | Your app has one of these files but not the other, so Buildliy doesn't add either. Ask the AI to add the missing one. |
| Images missing alt text | Ask the AI to describe your images. Search engines and screen readers use these descriptions. |
These checks read your app's code. A title and description you set on Site Info are added to your live site when you publish, but the check keeps showing until the AI adds them to the app itself.
Password-protected sites
If you protect your site with a password, search engines won't list it, and shared links won't show a picture or title. See Password protection.
Tips for better search results
Search engines reward pages that clearly say what they're about. A few prompts that help:
Give every page its own title and description that says what's on it, and make sure each page has one clear main heading.
Add descriptive alt text to every image that matters, and leave purely decorative images empty.
Make the home page explain in the first two sentences who this is for and what they can do here.
After you publish, it can take days or weeks for search engines to find and list a new site. A custom domain can make your site easier to remember and share. See Custom domains.
Related
Still stuck? Read the FAQ or contact us.
