Getting your app found in search

Base44 provides a solid technical SEO and GEO foundation for your app so you can focus on content, trust, and visibility.

Base44 manages your app’s core technical SEO and GEO foundation so search engines and AI-powered platforms can discover, crawl, and index your content. The same elements that search engines reward, like high-quality content, structured data, and a strong backlink profile, are also the signals that AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity use when deciding what to recommend. Strong SEO and strong GEO go hand in hand, and both start with the same fundamentals.

Want to check your app’s SEO & GEO? Base44 has a built-in tool that scores your app and surfaces fixes directly in your dashboard. Check your app’s SEO and GEO score.

When an AI assistant generates a list of recommended businesses, the site name and favicon are often the only brand assets someone sees. This makes them very important for brand recognition and credibility in an AI-first search landscape. They are not only browser assets, they are key parts of your app’s digital identity.

When you publish your app on a custom domain, Base44 creates and maintains essential files and settings for you in the background. These include clean HTML, structured headings, XML sitemaps, robots.txt, canonical tags, and performance-focused hosting.

You do not need to upload or manage technical SEO or GEO files yourself. Your main focus is to publish on a custom domain and provide clear, trustworthy content that supports search engine optimization (SEO) across major search engines such as Google and Bing, and generative engine optimization (GEO) across AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

Base44’s SEO setup is designed and supported for apps that are published on a custom domain. Free Base44 URLs can still be crawled by search engines, but they are not intended for long-term, production SEO.

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How your app’s SEO and GEO works

Base44 sets up and maintains the main technical elements that search engines and AI platforms expect. This covers how your pages are discovered, how they are crawled, and how your app is represented across the web and in AI-generated answers. These technical signals support both search engine optimization (SEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO).

Base44 apps are client-side rendered (CSR) for user interactions, but the platform automatically injects server-rendered content for crawlers, including meta tags, structured data, and an HTML snapshot of your app’s page structure. This means AI crawlers and search engines can read your app’s content without executing JavaScript. Optimizing your app for search engines also improves its visibility to AI assistants that rely on those search indexes.

Core SEO and GEO features handled automatically:

For apps published on a custom domain, Base44 automatically manages:

• Meta titles: Each page has a unique meta title based on its URL (for pages without URL parameters). This helps search engines distinguish between pages and show clear titles in results.
• Heading structure and semantic HTML: Base44 injects a semantic HTML snapshot for search engine and AI crawlers that includes your app’s title as an H1 and a structured list of your pages. This helps crawlers understand your app’s content and structure without executing JavaScript.
• Canonical tags: Base44 adds self-referencing canonical tags to every page. For URLs that include query parameters, Base44 intelligently filters out tracking parameters (such as utm_* and fbclid) while preserving content-affecting parameters (such as ?id=123). Parameters are also sorted consistently so that the same page always produces the same canonical URL regardless of parameter order.
• Sitemap (sitemap.xml): Base44 automatically generates and serves a sitemap at /sitemap.xml. Public, indexable pages are included, while private or internal pages are excluded. You can submit this sitemap directly in Google Search Console and other webmaster tools.
• robots.txt: Base44 creates and serves a robots.txt file for both free and paid apps. It allows search engines and AI crawlers to access your public content while protecting non-public or technical routes from indexing.
• AI crawler access (llms.txt): You can enable llms.txt generation from the SEO & GEO page in your dashboard. When enabled, Base44 generates a lightweight file that gives AI crawlers like GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot a clear, structured summary of what your app does. This supports GEO by helping AI-powered search tools understand and recommend your app. It is off by default.
• Clean URLs and routing: Your app uses clean, readable URLs rather than duplicate or unnecessary paths. This supports better crawl behavior and improves clarity for visitors.
• Internal linking: Navigation and internal links use proper anchor tags and clean URLs so search engines can follow and understand your app structure.
• Social sharing tags and previews (Open Graph and Twitter): Base44 sets social metadata so links to your app show a sensible title, description, and image when shared on social platforms. Social card images are automatically resized to 1200 × 630 and include the correct URL metadata, which reduces Open Graph and card size warnings and helps previews display consistently across major platforms such as Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and WhatsApp. These previews use the title, description, and logo you configure in your app’s settings.
• Mobile-friendly layout: Apps generated with Base44 are responsive and adapt to different screen sizes. This supports mobile-first indexing and improves your visitors’ experience on phones and tablets.
• Image optimization and performance: Images and assets are served in optimized ways where possible, and the hosting environment is tuned for good performance. Strong performance helps with Core Web Vitals and overall search quality signals.
• Other site metadata: Base44 manages technical files such as the web app manifest and favicon for custom domains. These help browsers and devices display your app correctly in tabs, shortcuts, and installable views.

In addition, you can use the Code tab in your dashboard to edit the generated index.html file for your app. This lets you add trusted <meta> tags and <script> tags that need to appear directly in the HTML source, such as analytics, advertising, verification, or other third-party scripts.

If you recently published or switched to a custom domain, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for new or updated apps to be indexed by Google and other search engines, depending on their crawl schedule.

What Base44 does not generate automatically:

There are some SEO and GEO elements that Base44 does not create by default.

• Per-page meta descriptions: Base44 does not set a custom meta description for each page by default. You can set these manually from the SEO & GEO page in your dashboard, or search engines will generate their own snippets from the visible content on your page.
• Custom structured data for rich results: BreadcrumbList structured data is automatically synthesized for every page. WebSite, Organization, and FAQPage schemas are injected once generated, which you can do from the SEO & GEO scan using Fix with AI. For additional schema types such as Article, Product, LocalBusiness, or Event, you can ask the AI to add JSON-LD structured data into your app or add it in code, then validate the markup using tools such as Google’s Rich Results Test and the schema.org validator.
• Advanced prerendering or proxy-based optimizations: External prerendering services and similar proxy-based setups are not included by default. In very complex or highly competitive SEO cases, your team can add these on top of Base44 at the hosting or proxy layer as an advanced configuration.

Off-page signals, such as backlinks, external reviews, and PR coverage, are always managed outside of Base44 and are part of your broader marketing efforts.

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Strengthening trust and authority

Search engines and AI systems both look for signs that your app represents a real, trustworthy organization. Trust signals like business details, named team members, and policy pages help search engines confirm you are legitimate, and help AI platforms decide whether to recommend you.

Add clear business details

Make it obvious that there is a real business behind the app.

Prompt example:

Add a clear business details section in the footer with the registered business name, full physical address, phone number, and a professional contact email.

This type of information helps search engines confirm that your app belongs to a legitimate organization and reduces the risk of being treated as low quality or automatically generated. You can also create or update a Google Business Profile using the same name, address, and phone number that appear in your app.

Introduce the people behind the content

Show who is responsible for the product and the information on the site.

Prompt example:

Create a Team section on the About page that includes each team member's name, role, a short bio, and a link to their professional profile.

Named team members and authors help demonstrate experience and expertise, especially in areas where trust is important.

Add social proof and testimonials

Social proof can improve visitor confidence and engagement.

Prompt example:

Add a Testimonials section with short quotes from real customers, including their name, role, company, and a small photo where possible.

Prompt example:

Add a Trusted by section near the top of the homepage that displays logos of well-known clients or partners.

Visible testimonials and recognizable logos show that real people and organizations rely on your product or service.

Include legal and policy pages

Policy pages are a basic expectation for a professional site.

Prompt example:

Create links in the footer to Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and an Accessibility statement, and generate clear, plain language content for each page that matches our business.

Apps that clearly show their policies are more likely to be treated as reliable resources by visitors, search quality systems, and AI platforms.

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Creating content for search and AI discoverability

On top of a strong technical foundation, your content should match the language and questions your audience actually uses. The same content principles that help you rank in search results also make your app more likely to be cited or recommended in AI-generated answers.

Use your audience's language

Guide the AI to write with the same words and phrases that your audience uses, not internal jargon.

Prompt example:

For this page, our main topic is "[insert topic]". Rewrite the headings and body copy using the natural language our customers use for this topic, avoiding internal jargon. Use a clear H1, and H2 or H3 headings based on real questions they ask.

You can refine your wording by:

• Asking non-experts how they would describe what you do.
• Looking at Google’s autocomplete suggestions when you type your main topic.
• Checking “Related searches” and “People also ask” sections for your main query.

Turn common questions into FAQ content

Frequently asked questions help both visitors, search engines, and AI platforms understand your app.

Prompt example:

Add an FAQ section at the bottom of this page that answers the most common questions about this topic in a direct, factual style. Format it with clear Question and Answer labels.

Structured question-and-answer content is easier for search engines and AI systems to reuse when responding to related queries.

Improve headings and internal links

Headings and internal links help search engines understand how your content is organized and which pages are most important.

Prompt example:

Rewrite the H2 and H3 headings on this page so that each one describes a specific subtopic related to "[insert topic]". Add internal links from relevant pages to this page using descriptive anchor text rather than generic "click here" wording.

Clear headings and useful internal links support better crawling and help visitors find what they need.

Add specific numbers and data to your content

AI platforms are more likely to cite and recommend apps whose descriptions include specific, verifiable information.

Prompt example:

Update the app description and homepage copy to include at least 2 specific numbers or statistics that describe what the app does, for example the number of features, data types it handles, or measurable outcomes it delivers.

Concrete details like “manages 5 data types” or “tracks 50+ metrics” give AI systems more to work with when deciding whether to recommend your app.

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Adding structured data for rich results

Structured data (schema.org) is a way to describe your content in a machine-readable format. When implemented correctly, it can enable rich results, such as FAQ drop-downs or star ratings, in search results.

Base44 automatically synthesizes BreadcrumbList structured data for every page. You can generate WebSite, Organization, and FAQPage schemas from the SEO & GEO scan using Fix with AI, after which the platform injects them automatically. For additional schema types such as Article, Product, or LocalBusiness, you can ask the AI to inject JSON-LD code into the appropriate parts of your app.

Well-structured content and valid schema also help AI assistants understand what your app does when they generate answers that include links or references to external sites. This is an important part of generative engine optimization (GEO).

Always validate your structured data using Google’s Rich Results Test before relying on it for SEO. Only add schema that accurately reflects the visible content on the page and follows Google’s structured data guidelines.

Organization or brand schema

Use Organization schema to help search engines and AI platforms connect your app with your brand.

Prompt example:

Add valid JSON-LD Organization schema to the homepage that includes our organization name, logo URL, main website URL, and links to our main social media profiles, using the schema.org "Organization" type.

FAQ schema

If you already have an FAQ section on a page, you can mark it up so that some questions may appear directly in search results.

Prompt example:

Wrap the existing FAQ section on this page in valid JSON-LD "FAQPage" schema markup so that each question-and-answer pair follows Google's structured data guidelines.

Local business schema (optional)

If you operate from a physical location or serve a specific local area, LocalBusiness schema can support local visibility.

Prompt example:

Generate JSON-LD "LocalBusiness" schema for our business and add it to the Contact page, including our name, address, phone number, opening hours, and geo-coordinates.

These additions do not guarantee rich results, but they help search engines and AI platforms understand your content and eligibility for supported result types.

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Connecting Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that shows how your app appears in search results. It lets you:

• Confirm that Google can access and index your app.
• See which queries bring visitors to your pages.
• Monitor indexing coverage and resolve technical issues.

Base44 generates your sitemap and robots.txt, but setting up GSC is still a separate step that you complete in your Google account. You can also use tools such as Bing Webmaster Tools to see how Bing indexes your app. Because many AI assistants rely on both Google and Bing, keeping these views healthy supports GEO as well.

You can also connect Google Search Console directly from the AI chat or from your app’s dashboard using the Google Search Console connector. This lets you query your search data and surface SEO insights without leaving Base44. Learn more about the Google Search Console connector.

You can connect both custom domains and free Base44 URLs to Google Search Console.

Step 1 | Open Google Search Console

1. Go to Google Search Console.
2. Sign in with your Google account.
3. Click Start now or Add property if you already have other sites or apps connected.

Step 2 | Add your app as a URL prefix property

1. In the property setup dialog, select the URL prefix option.
2. Enter your full app URL, including protocol (for example, https://www.yourdomain.com or https://project-name-abc123.base44.app/).
3. Click Continue.

Make sure you are verifying the full URL, including https:// and any www or subdomain.

Step 3 | Get the HTML tag verification code

1. On the Verify ownership page, scroll to the HTML tag method.
2. Expand the HTML tag option.
3. Copy the meta tag code snippet that looks like:

<meta name="google-site-verification" content="...">

Do not edit the content value.

Step 4 | Add the verification tag in index.html

You now need to place this meta tag inside the <head> of your app so Google can see it.

To add the verification tag:

1. In your Base44 app editor, click Dashboard.
2. Click the Code tab.
3. In the file list, click index.html to open it.
4. Paste the verification meta tag anywhere inside the <head> section, without changing the content value.
5. Click Save, then click Publish so the change is live at the URL you entered in Google Search Console.

Do not remove the verification meta tag from index.html, or your property may lose its verified status.

Step 5 | Verify ownership in Google Search Console

1. Return to Google Search Console.
2. Under the HTML tag method, click Verify.
3. If Google finds the meta tag on your homepage, you see a success message confirming that ownership is verified.

If verification fails, check that:

• The meta tag appears in the <head> of the live site (not just in preview).
• The tag matches exactly what GSC provided.
• The URL in GSC matches the URL of your published app, including protocol, subdomain, and path.

Step 6 | Submit your sitemap

Base44 serves your sitemap at /sitemap.xml on your custom domain.

1. In Google Search Console, select your verified property.
2. From the left menu, click Sitemaps.
3. In the Add a new sitemap field, enter:

sitemap.xml

The full path is usually https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.

4. Click Submit.

Google then uses this sitemap to discover and process your app’s pages more efficiently.

Optional | Ask Google to recrawl a key page

You can also ask Google to recrawl an important page sooner:

• In Google Search Console, open URL inspection in the left menu.
• Enter the full URL of the page you want Google to check.
• Click Request indexing if it is available.

This is optional, but can help new or recently updated key pages get processed faster.

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SEO and GEO best practices checklist

Use the checklist below to make sure you are getting the most from Base44’s SEO and GEO foundation.

SEO and GEO checklist for your app

Use a custom domain: Automatic SEO and GEO features such as sitemap.xml, robots.txt, llms.txt, and social previews are designed for apps on custom domains.

Publish your app: Search engines and AI platforms can only index your app if it is published and publicly accessible.

Add clear, unique content to each key page: Give every important page a descriptive H1, supporting H2 headings, and focused body text that matches the questions your audience asks.

Include specific numbers and details: AI platforms are more likely to recommend apps with concrete, verifiable information in their descriptions and content.

Show business details and trust signals: Include your business name, address, contact details, team information, testimonials, and policy pages where relevant.

Structure common questions as FAQs: Add question-and-answer sections for frequent queries and consider wrapping them in FAQPage schema when appropriate.

Use descriptive internal links: Link between related pages using meaningful anchor text so search engines understand how your content is connected.

Connect search console tools: Verify your app in Google Search Console and, if relevant, Bing Webmaster Tools. Submit your sitemap so you can monitor indexing, search queries, and technical issues, and understand how your app appears in search results and AI-generated answers.

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FAQs

Click a question below to learn more about your app’s SEO and GEO.

Why doesn't my app show up in search yet?

New or updated apps do not appear in search results immediately. Search engines need time to discover and crawl your content. Make sure your app is:

• Published on a custom domain
• Public and accessible (not restricted behind authentication)
• Connected to your correct URL in Google Search Console (optional but recommended) or similar tools such as Bing Webmaster Tools.

Indexing can still take from a few days to a few weeks, depending on each search engine’s crawl schedule. Once your app appears reliably in search results, it is more likely to be included in AI-generated answers that rely on those indexes.

Can Base44 guarantee good rankings in search or AI answers?

No platform can guarantee rankings in search results or placement in AI-generated answers. Base44 gives you a strong technical foundation (sitemap, robots.txt, llms.txt, clean URLs, performance) and tools to add high-quality content, trust signals, and structured data. Your actual visibility depends on your content, competition, backlinks, and broader marketing efforts.

How do I make my app appear in search results?

Your app can appear in search results on major search engines such as Google and Bing when it is public, published, and available on a custom domain. Base44 manages the technical SEO and GEO foundation, such as the sitemap, robots.txt, and llms.txt. For better monitoring and control, you can also connect your app to Google Search Console and similar tools like Bing Webmaster Tools, then submit your sitemap. Improving these fundamentals supports both search engine rankings and your chances of appearing in AI-generated answers.

Can I customize meta tags or the page description?

Yes. You can set a custom title and meta description for each public page in your app from the SEO & GEO page in your dashboard. Base44 also sets core meta tags such as canonical tags automatically.

Do I need to submit my sitemap or manage SEO files manually?

Base44 automatically generates and serves your sitemap at /sitemap.xml and manages robots.txt, llms.txt, and other core files for you on custom domains. You do not need to upload these files yourself. Submitting your sitemap directly in Google Search Console or other webmaster tools is still recommended so search engines can process your URLs more efficiently.

Can I control which pages are indexed or hidden?

Yes. You can control indexing per page from the Advanced Settings tab on the SEO & GEO page. Turning off a page’s toggle removes it from your sitemap and llms.txt file, and adds a noindex tag to it so search engines skip it. Pages that require a login are always excluded automatically regardless of these settings. Learn more about per-page indexing.

Can I use structured data to get rich results (FAQ, local, stars)?

Yes. Base44 automatically synthesizes BreadcrumbList structured data for every page, and you can generate WebSite, Organization, and FAQPage schemas from the SEO & GEO scan using Fix with AI. For additional types such as LocalBusiness or Article, you can add JSON-LD using prompts or code. Always validate your structured data with Google’s Rich Results Test, and remember that rich results are never guaranteed, even when your schema is valid.

How do I add or edit a manifest.json for my app?

Base44 creates and manages the manifest.json file for you automatically on custom domains. There is no need to manually upload or edit this file. Your app’s metadata is updated by the system in the background.

Can I customize or replace the auto-generated sitemap.xml with my own?

Excluding specific pages from the sitemap

The simplest way to control what appears in your sitemap is per-page indexing toggles. From the Advanced Settings tab on the SEO & GEO page, turn off the toggle for any page you want to exclude. Base44 removes it from /sitemap.xml immediately — no custom sitemap needed.

Replacing the auto-generated sitemap with your own

To use a fully custom sitemap at /sitemap.xml:

1. Disable Base44’s sitemap generation from the Setup checklist tab on the SEO & GEO page using the Generate sitemap.xml toggle.
2. Deploy your own sitemap file as public/sitemap.xml in your app’s code. Base44 serves this file at /sitemap.xml automatically.

When the toggle is off and no public/sitemap.xml is deployed, /sitemap.xml returns a 404.

Note on backend functions and Google Search Console

Google Search Console only accepts sitemaps at a valid root-level path such as /sitemap.xml. A sitemap served from a backend function path (for example /functions/serveSitemapXml) cannot be submitted to Google Search Console directly. If you need a dynamic or fully custom sitemap, the recommended approach is to use per-page toggles to exclude private pages from the auto-generated sitemap, or to deploy a static public/sitemap.xml file in your app’s code.

How do I set the language of my app for browsers and search engines?

Your app’s HTML includes a lang attribute that tells browsers and search engines what language the page is written in. Setting this correctly helps tools detect your language, improves accessibility, and can reduce incorrect auto-translation prompts.

To change the language declaration, edit the <html> tag in your app’s index.html file in the Code tab and update the lang value, for example from lang="en" to lang="fr" or lang="es".

Use standard language codes (such as en, fr, de, or pt-BR) and only set a language code that matches the main content of the app.

What's the best prompt to improve my app's SEO and GEO?

You can ask the AI chat to improve your app’s SEO and GEO without changing any visible design or layout. The following prompt covers the most impactful changes:

Improve my app's SEO and GEO without changing any UI, layout, or visible content. Specifically: update the page titles and meta descriptions for each page, add Open Graph tags for social sharing, ensure all images have descriptive alt text, add JSON-LD structured data where relevant, check that heading tags follow a logical hierarchy, update the app description to include specific numbers and details about what the app does, and make sure the sitemap is up to date. Do not change any colors, fonts, spacing, or visible components.

After making the changes, publish your app for them to take effect.