---
title: SEO overview
description: Start an SEO analysis, move between search and AI-visibility views, and understand publication requirements.
---

SEO helps you inspect how a public storefront can be discovered in search results and AI-generated answers.

## Entry path

Open a store project, then select **SEO** in the project navigation.

## Before you start

- Publish the storefront unless Runner offers an eligible custom target in your workspace.
- Confirm the public page loads before starting analysis.
- Allow time for search and AI providers to have data about a newly published site.
- Treat analysis as a snapshot of available sources, not a guarantee of ranking or mentions.

## Main controls and click results

| Control | What happens after you select it |
| --- | --- |
| **AI Visibility** / **SEO** | Switches between AI-answer visibility tools and the traditional search-analysis workspace. |
| **Search Performance** | Opens organic traffic, keyword, rank, top-keyword, and top-page estimates. |
| **Backlinks** | Opens links, referring domains, link history, and link-quality views. |
| **Site audit** | Opens technical crawl and issue results. |
| AI visibility sections | Opens the dashboard, prompts, keywords, citations, or mentions when available. |
| **Analyze** | Starts analysis for the eligible target. It does not edit or publish the storefront. |
| **Analyze again** | Requests a refreshed analysis and replaces stale results when the refresh completes. |
| **Publish** | Starts the separate publication-readiness path when the store is still a draft. |
| Google Search Console → **Connect** | Opens **Apps** filtered for Google Search Console when that connection is available. |

## Start an SEO review

1. Open **SEO**.
2. If you see the publication gate, use the publication path and return only after the live URL works.
3. Select **Analyze** when it becomes available.
4. Wait for the analysis state to finish; do not repeatedly start the same analysis.
5. Read **Search Performance**, then **Backlinks**, then **Site audit**.
6. Select **AI Visibility** to switch modes, then open its Dashboard, Prompts, Keywords, Citations, or Mentions tab when available.
7. Re-run with **Analyze again** after meaningful public changes or when Runner marks the result stale.

## Troubleshooting

| State | Meaning and next step |
| --- | --- |
| Publish gate | The current storefront is not eligible for public analysis. Publish and verify the live URL first. |
| Analyzing | Runner is collecting available data. Wait for completion. |
| Updated | The displayed snapshot completed successfully. |
| Stale | Public data may have changed; use **Analyze again** when a refresh is useful. |
| Partial result | Some providers returned data and others did not. Use the available sections and retry later. |
| Target unreachable | Open the public URL directly, fix access or publication, then analyze again. |

## Related guides

- [Search performance](./search-performance)
- [Backlinks and site audit](./backlinks-and-site-audit)
- [AI visibility](./ai-visibility)
- [Troubleshoot data and publication](./troubleshoot-data-and-publication)