SEO & Search Visibility

How Exposure helps your stories and site get discovered by search engines, social media, and AI assistants.

---

Overview

Every Exposure site is built with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. When you publish a story, Exposure automatically generates the meta tags, structured data, sitemaps, and social sharing previews that help Google, Bing, and other platforms find and display your content.

This guide explains what Exposure does for you behind the scenes, what you can customize, and how to get the most visibility for your work.

---

What Exposure Does Automatically

You don’t need to install plugins or write code. The moment you publish a story, Exposure handles:

Instant Search Engine Notification

When you hit “Publish,” Exposure immediately notifies search engines that your new story exists. We use the IndexNow protocol to ping Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Naver, and Amazon the moment you publish. Instead of waiting days or weeks for crawlers to discover your content, these search engines typically index your story within minutes.

This happens automatically for every published story. You don’t need to do anything.

Search Engine Meta Tags

Every page on your site includes:

• A page title formatted as “Story Title – Your Site Title” (your site title is your name, unless you set a custom one)

• A meta description pulled from your story’s first text block

• A canonical URL so search engines know the definitive version of each page

• An XML sitemap listing all your published stories for search engine crawlers. For exposure.co addresses, Exposure submits it to Google for you

• Its own address and title for each page of your story list (for example, “Your Site Title – Page 2”), so search engines can find your older stories

Social Sharing Previews

When someone shares your story on Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or WhatsApp, they’ll see a rich preview card with:

• Your story’s cover photo (cropped to 1200x630 for optimal display)

• The title and subtitle

• Your name as the author

• The category tags applied to the story

This is powered by Open Graph and Twitter Card meta tags that Exposure generates for every published story.

Structured Data

Exposure embeds structured data (JSON-LD) on every page so search engines understand your content:

• Article schema for stories (including publish date, last updated date, author, word count, and reading time). The last updated date changes only when you edit the story, not when it gets views or likes

• Person or Organization schema for your profile (including your bio and social links)

• Breadcrumb navigation so Google can show your site hierarchy in search results

• Video schema for stories containing video embeds (enables Google’s video carousel)

• Image gallery schema for gallery-format stories

AI & LLM Visibility

Your Exposure site is optimized for AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews:

• A llms.txt file provides a machine-readable index of your site

• Every story has a markdown version (.md) that AI systems can easily read

• AI search and answer crawlers are allowed in your robots.txt, so your stories can appear in answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Apple, with a link to your site

• AI training crawlers are blocked in your robots.txt, so AI companies are told not to use your stories to train their models. This does not change how your site appears in Google Search, AI Overviews, or AI answers

---

What You Can Customize

Custom Meta Title

By default, your site title is your name. You can change this to anything you want.

How to set it:

1. Go to Settings > Site

2. Find Meta Title

3. Enter your preferred site title (e.g., “Jane Doe Photography”)

This title appears in browser tabs, search results, and when your homepage is shared on social media. It also appears after each story title, for example “Exploring the Streets of Tokyo at Night – Jane Doe Photography.”

Custom Meta Description

Your site’s meta description appears in Google search results below the title. By default, Exposure uses your bio.

How to set it:

1. Go to Settings > Site

2. Find Meta Description

3. Write a concise description of your site (recommended: 150-160 characters)

Tip: Think of this as your elevator pitch in search results. Include what you photograph and where you’re based.

Per-Story Meta Description

Each story can have its own meta description that overrides the default.

How to set it:

1. Open a story in the editor

2. Click the gear icon to open Story Options

3. Find Meta Description

4. Write a description specific to this story

If you don’t set one, Exposure uses the first text block in your story.

Custom Meta Keywords

You can set keywords for your site and individual stories to help search engines understand your content.

How to set it:

1. Go to Settings > Site (for site-wide keywords)

2. Or open a story’s Story Options (for per-story keywords)

Tip: Use relevant, specific terms like “wedding photography Atlanta” rather than generic words like “photos.”

---

Your Sitemap

Your sitemap tells search engines about every page on your site. Exposure generates and maintains it automatically.

Your sitemap URL: https://yourname.exposure.co/sitemap.xml (or https://yourcustomdomain.com/sitemap.xml if you use a custom domain)

What’s Included

• Your homepage

• All published stories (with cover image data)

• Your categories page and individual category pages

• Your Story Map page (if enabled)

• Your accessibility statement

What’s Excluded

• Draft (unpublished) stories

• Stories marked as “hidden from site”

• Password-protected stories

Submitting Your Sitemap

Exposure submits your sitemap to Google for you. If your site uses an exposure.co address, Exposure submits https://yourname.exposure.co/sitemap.xml to Google Search Console. You don’t need to do anything.

If you use a custom domain, Google only accepts a sitemap from someone who has proven they own the domain, so Exposure can’t submit it for you. Submit it yourself:

1. Google Search Console – Add your domain as a property, then go to Sitemaps > Add a new sitemap > Enter your sitemap URL

2. Bing Webmaster Tools – Go to Sitemaps > Submit a sitemap

Search engines also find your sitemap through your robots.txt file.

---

How Fast Will My Story Appear in Search?

Exposure uses a combination of techniques to get your content indexed as quickly as possible:

Method	Search Engines	Speed
IndexNow (automatic on publish)	Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Naver, Amazon	Minutes
Sitemap (updated automatically, submitted to Google by Exposure)	Google, Bing, all major engines	Hours to days
Direct crawling	Google, all engines	Days to weeks

Google doesn’t use IndexNow, so it finds your content through your sitemap. Exposure submits the sitemap of every exposure.co site to Google Search Console, so Google can find your site even if no one has linked to it yet.

Expected Timelines

Action	Timeframe
New story indexed by Bing/DuckDuckGo	Minutes (via IndexNow)
New story indexed by Google	1-7 days (if your site is already indexed)
New site first indexed by Google	1-4 weeks
Meta tag changes reflected	1-2 weeks
Ranking improvements	4-8 weeks
Custom domain authority building	3-6 months

---

Custom Domains & SEO

If you use a custom domain (e.g., stories.yourbrand.com), your SEO benefits include:

• Your own domain authority – Links to your stories build authority for your domain, not exposure.co

• Professional appearance – Search results show your domain name

• Canonical URLs – All canonical URLs use your custom domain automatically

• Automatic redirects – Visitors to your exposure.co subdomain are redirected to your custom domain with a proper 301 redirect, preserving SEO value

Your sitemap, robots.txt, and all meta tags work identically on custom domains. IndexNow notifications use your custom domain URL when configured.

If your domain stops pointing to Exposure (for example, it expires or you move it to another host), Exposure stops using it. Your canonical URLs, links, and sitemap go back to your exposure.co address, and visitors to that address are no longer redirected. This keeps visitors and search engines away from a domain that no longer shows your site. When your domain points to Exposure again, set it up again (see Using your own custom domain) or contact us.

---

Categories & SEO

Organizing your stories into categories improves your SEO in several ways:

• Each category page gets its own URL, sitemap entry, and structured data

• Stories in categories get article:tag meta tags for richer social sharing

• Google can show your categories as breadcrumbs in search results (e.g., “Your Name > Travel > Story Title”)

How to add categories:

1. Open a story in the editor

2. Click the gear icon for Story Options

3. Select or create categories

---

Hiding Content from Search Engines

Hide Your Entire Site

If you want your site to be completely private from search engines:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy

2. Enable “Hide from search engines”

This tells all search engines and AI crawlers not to index your site. Your sitemap will return empty, and your robots.txt will block all crawlers. IndexNow notifications will also be skipped.

Note: This is a request to search engines, not a guarantee. For true privacy, use a profile password instead.

Hide Individual Stories

You can keep specific stories out of search results while leaving the rest of your site visible:

1. Open the story in the editor

2. Click the gear icon for Story Options

3. Enable “Hide from site”

Hidden stories are:

• Removed from your sitemap

• Excluded from your profile feed

• Marked “noindex,” so search engines leave them out of search results

• Hidden from RSS feeds and category listings

• Excluded from IndexNow notifications

They’re still accessible via direct URL – they just won’t be discovered through search or your site navigation.

Password-Protected Profiles

If you set a password on your profile (Settings > Privacy), your entire site is excluded from the main Exposure sitemap index and search engines will encounter your password page instead of content.

---

Alt Text for Images

Alt text helps search engines understand your photos and is essential for accessibility. Exposure handles alt text in several ways:

• AI-generated alt text (paid plans) – Exposure can write alt text for your photos with AI: short descriptions on Pro and Pro Plus, detailed descriptions on Business. See Add alt text descriptions to story photos

• Alt text from your photo files – Exposure imports the IPTC Alt Text (Accessibility) field from JPEG files when you upload

• Manual alt text – Click any photo in the editor and add custom alt text

• Caption fallback – If no alt text is set, Exposure uses the photo’s caption

• Title fallback – If no caption exists, the story title is used

Tip: Custom alt text that describes what’s in the photo will always perform better for SEO than generic fallbacks.

---

RSS Feeds

Your RSS feed helps people subscribe to your stories and enables syndication to other platforms.

Your RSS URL: https://yourname.exposure.co/feed.rss

RSS feeds include:

• Story titles

• Cover images with media tags

• Story excerpts

• Publication dates

RSS feeds are available when enabled in your settings and can be used with feed readers (Feedly, Inoreader), automation tools (Zapier), and newsletter services.

---

Story Embeds & SEO

When your stories are embedded on other websites using Exposure’s embed feature, the embedded version includes a noindex tag so it doesn’t compete with your original story in search results. Links in the embed code point back to your original story, passing link equity to your site.

---

Tips for Better Search Visibility

Write Descriptive Titles

Your story title is the most important SEO element. Use clear, descriptive titles that include relevant keywords.

• Good: “Exploring the Streets of Tokyo at Night”

• Less effective: “Tokyo Trip”

Add Subtitles

Subtitles appear in search results and social shares below your title. Use them to provide additional context.

Write Text Content

Stories with text blocks rank better than photo-only stories because search engines can read and index the text. Even a paragraph or two of context helps search engines understand your story.

Use Categories

Categories create additional indexed pages and add structured data tags to your stories.

Set a Custom Meta Description

The auto-generated description from your first text block might not be the best summary. A custom meta description lets you control exactly what appears in search results.

Keep Publishing

Search engines favor sites that publish regularly. Even one new story per month signals that your site is active and worth crawling frequently. Plus, each new publish triggers an IndexNow notification for instant indexing on Bing and DuckDuckGo.

Share Your Stories

Links from social media, other websites, and email newsletters all help search engines discover and rank your content. Every share is a potential backlink.

---

Checking Your SEO

Google Search Console (Free)

The best way to monitor your search presence:

1. Go to search.google.com/search-console

2. Add your Exposure URL (or custom domain)

3. Submit your sitemap (for an exposure.co address, Exposure has already submitted it to Google, but you can add it to your own property too)

4. Monitor indexed pages, search queries, and any issues

Quick Checks

• Search for your site: Google site:yourname.exposure.co to see what’s indexed

• Test social sharing: Use Facebook’s Sharing Debugger to preview how your stories appear when shared

• Test structured data: Use Google’s Rich Results Test to verify your schema markup

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to do anything for SEO to work?

No. Exposure handles all technical SEO automatically, including instant IndexNow notifications when you publish. The customization options above are optional ways to improve your results further.

How does IndexNow work?

When you publish a story, Exposure automatically sends a notification to major search engines (Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Naver, Amazon) telling them your new content exists. They typically crawl and index it within minutes. This is completely automatic – you don’t need to configure anything.

Does IndexNow work with Google?

Google does not currently support the IndexNow protocol. For Google, your content is discovered through your sitemap, which is updated automatically. For exposure.co addresses, Exposure also submits your sitemap to Google Search Console for you.

Will my stories appear in Google Image Search?

Yes. Your story photos are included in your sitemap with image metadata, and each photo has alt text. Google can index them for Image Search results.

Can I add Google Analytics?

Yes. Go to Settings > Site and add your Google Analytics tracking ID. This lets you track traffic in your own GA dashboard alongside Exposure’s built-in stats.

Does Exposure support Google Search Console verification?

Yes. You can verify your site with Google Search Console using the HTML meta tag method. Add the verification tag via Settings > Site > Custom Code (Head).

What happens if I switch from a subdomain to a custom domain?

Once your domain points to Exposure, Exposure automatically sets up 301 redirects from your old subdomain URLs to your new custom domain URLs. This preserves your existing search rankings and link equity.

Are my stories visible to AI like ChatGPT and Perplexity?

Yes. Exposure allows the crawlers that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Apple use to search and answer questions, and provides machine-readable versions of your content. Your stories can appear in AI-generated answers and summaries, with a link to your site.

Can AI companies train their models on my stories?

Exposure tells them not to. Your robots.txt blocks the crawlers that collect content for AI training: GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot (Common Crawl), and Meta’s crawler. This does not change how your site appears in Google Search, AI Overviews, or AI answers. Like all robots.txt rules, this is a request that reputable crawlers follow.

---

Related Articles

• Setting a Custom Link Share Image – How to override the default OG image for a story

• Add Alt Text Descriptions to Story Photos – Detailed guide on writing effective alt text

• Search Engine and LLM Optimizations – Technical details on structured data and AI crawler support

• RSS Feed for Your Stories – Setting up and using your RSS feed

• Setting Up Search Engine and Social Appearance – Setting your site-level share image

• Request Your Stories Not Be Indexed – How to hide your site from search engines

---

Have more questions? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.