Brainerce HelpGet found on Google
What Brainerce does automatically for search ranking (sitemap, structured data, instant indexing) and the three things only you can do, homepage description, Search Console, and product SEO.
Most of the technical work of appearing on Google is built into your storefront and runs without you. This page separates what happens automatically from the short list only you can do.
What your storefront does automatically
A storefront built with Brainerce's template (or by an AI builder following the integration guide) ships with:
| Piece | What it does |
|---|---|
Sitemap (/sitemap.xml) | Lists every product, category, blog post and page for Google to crawl. Updates itself, so you never edit or submit it manually. |
| Structured data (schema.org) | Machine-readable product info (price, availability, reviews) that makes your products eligible for rich results (price and star ratings directly in Google). |
| Instant indexing (IndexNow) | The moment you publish a blog post, Brainerce pings search engines so it's crawled within minutes instead of weeks. Activates automatically; nothing to set up. |
| Automatic redirects on renamed slugs | If you rename a product or blog post slug, the old address automatically redirects (301) to the new one, so you don't lose the ranking it earned. |
One caveat that applies to this whole page: these pieces live in the storefront itself. A storefront built with the current Brainerce template has all of them; a storefront built before these features shipped, or built by hand without following the integration guide, may be missing some. If you're unsure, ask whoever built your storefront to update it against the current guide.
What Brainerce does not do
Being clear about the limits saves you buying things you don't need, and stops you expecting things that won't happen:
- Everything on this page is organic (unpaid) search: sitemap, structured data, indexing, and the three things you do yourself below. None of it costs you anything beyond your Brainerce plan. Brainerce does run ads, separately: connect Google Ads under Apps → Google to create and manage paid Shopping campaigns, with your own Google Ads budget billed by Google. See Run paid Google Ads campaigns below.
- Brainerce does not guarantee a ranking. Nobody can, because ranking depends on competition, content quality, and time. The same is true of paid campaigns: connecting Google Ads does not guarantee clicks or sales, only that your ads are eligible to be shown.
- Brainerce does not submit your site to Google for you. Verifying your domain in Search Console (below) is a step only the site owner can do.
The three things only you can do
1. Write your homepage meta description
In Settings, the Homepage SEO card holds the one or two sentences Google shows under your store's name in results. Without it, Google picks random text from your page. Fifty to 160 characters; say what you sell and for whom. There's a Create with AI button if you'd rather not write it yourself.
2. Verify your domain in Google Search Console
Google Search Console is Google's free dashboard showing how your store appears in search: which queries, how many clicks, any problems. To use it, Google needs proof you own the domain:
- In Search Console, add your storefront's domain and choose the HTML tag verification method. Copy the tag it shows you.
- In Brainerce, go to Apps → Google, pick your sales channel, open the Merchant Center tab, and paste the tag into Google site verification. You can paste the whole tag or just the code, and both work. It is not in your sales-channel settings.
- Your storefront renders the tag automatically within a few minutes. Back in Search Console, click Verify.
The same verification is what lets you claim your website in Google Merchant Center, which is why the field sits in that app: if the app's setup wizard tells you the claim is "not ready", the same box appears right there on that step so you can paste the tag without leaving it.
3. Give every product a slug and a meta description
Each product's slug (the address, like /products/cotton-t-shirt) and meta description are edited on the product itself. The SEO column on the Products page scores every product and offers one-click fixes, including AI-written descriptions and image alt text. Renaming a slug is normally safe, but the redirect that makes it safe is performed by your website rather than by Brainerce. See Will my old product links keep working after I rename a slug? below before you rename anything that already ranks.
Will my old product links keep working after I rename a slug?
Usually yes, but that depends on your website, not on Brainerce. When you rename a product or blog post slug, Brainerce remembers the old address and offers your storefront a permanent redirect (a 301) to the new one, so a bookmarked link and the address Google already indexed keep working, and the page keeps the ranking it earned.
The redirect is performed by your storefront, not by us. This is the caveat that catches people out, and it applies to this section however sure the rest of the page sounds. Brainerce records the old address, but your website's code has to look it up and send the redirect to the visitor. A storefront built with the current Brainerce template, or built by an AI builder following the current integration guide, already does this. A storefront built before the feature shipped, or built by hand without it, shows "page not found" on the old address no matter what Brainerce recorded, and the ranking goes with it.
Nothing warns you if your storefront is missing it. There is no check on the Brainerce side, no badge on the product, and no error message. Test it yourself: rename the slug of one quiet product, then open the old address in a browser. If it lands on the product, you are covered. If it 404s, ask whoever built your storefront to update it against the current integration guide before you rename anything else. See a feature you turned on is not showing on your website.
Nothing rewrites links you pasted elsewhere. The redirect covers the address on your own storefront. Links in printed material, in an ad, or in someone else's article still point at the old address and rely on that same redirect working.
Want paid placement too?
Everything above is free (organic) search: your products can show in Google Shopping results without paying Google anything. Paid placement is a separate, optional step. Once you've connected Google Merchant Center (above), open Apps → Google → Google Ads to create and manage paid Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, with an AI copy generator that writes headlines and descriptions from your real store and product data. Google bills your own Google Ads account directly for ad spend; Brainerce only spends AI credits when you use the copy generator. See Run Google Ads campaigns for the full walkthrough.
Where your blog fits
Articles are how a store ranks for questions people search before they know your product exists. Published posts go into the sitemap and get pinged to search engines automatically; each post has its own SEO title, description and social image. See Content pages and blog.
What's next?
- Run Google Ads campaigns covers paid Shopping placement, once organic is set up.
- Your store in ChatGPT and AI search is the AI-assistant half of being found.
- Google Analytics and the Meta pixel covers measuring the traffic once it arrives.
Gift card liability and refunds
The outstanding liability figure your accountant asks for at month end, what "held right now" means, and what happens when you refund an order that was paid with a gift voucher.
Run Google Ads campaigns
Connect a Google Ads account and create, fund, and manage paid Shopping and Performance Max campaigns from your dashboard, including AI-written ad copy.