# Recommendations

Once your store is live, a few optional steps dramatically improve how many customers find you and how well you understand them. None of these are required to run your store, but we strongly recommend all three — they are free, take only a few minutes each, and pay off for the entire life of your business.

## 1. Submit your store to Google Search Console

Google Search Console is Google's free tool for site owners. Adding your store to it is the single most important thing you can do for organic search traffic.

### Why it matters

- **Faster indexing.** Without Search Console, Google may take days or weeks to discover your product pages on its own. With Search Console — and a submitted sitemap — new products and pages are usually indexed within hours.
- **Visibility into search performance.** You can see exactly which keywords bring visitors to your store, which pages rank, and your average position. This is data you cannot get anywhere else.
- **Crawl and indexing alerts.** Google will email you if it cannot crawl your site, if a page drops out of the index, or if there is a mobile usability or security issue.
- **Rich results.** Structured data (products, ratings, prices) is only eligible for enhanced search results once Google can crawl and parse your store.

### How to set it up

1. Go to [search.google.com/search-console](https://search.google.com/search-console) and sign in with a Google account.
2. Click **Add property** and choose the **Domain** option. Enter your store's domain (e.g. `yourdomain.com`).
3. Google will ask you to verify ownership by adding a **TXT record** to your DNS. Since you already manage DNS for CapyShop, this is straightforward — see [DNS Configuration](/dns-configuration) for how to add records at your provider.
4. Once verified, go to **Sitemaps** in the left menu and submit your sitemap URL: `https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml`.
5. Come back in a few days to see indexing progress and, after a few weeks, your first search performance data.

> **Tip:** CapyShop generates your sitemap automatically and keeps it up to date as you add products, collections, and pages. You do not need to generate or upload it yourself.

## 2. Use the built-in analytics

CapyShop ships first-party analytics out of the box — you do **not** need to install Google Analytics or any third-party tracking snippet. Open **Analytics** in the admin sidebar to see visitors, sessions, conversion funnels, traffic sources, product performance, and abandoned carts. Data is fully GDPR-compliant (consent-gated on the client, no IPs or user agents stored) and refreshes hourly by default.

See the [Analytics](/features/analytics) page for a full walkthrough, and [Dashboard](/features/dashboard) for the operational counterpart.

## 3. Add Meta Pixel (Facebook / Instagram)

Meta Pixel is the tracking code that powers Facebook and Instagram advertising. If you plan to run any paid social ads — or think you might in the future — install the pixel on day one. Historical data is only collected from the moment the pixel is installed, so the earlier, the better.

### Why it matters

- **Retargeting.** Show ads on Facebook and Instagram to people who visited your store but did not buy. Retargeted visitors convert at a much higher rate than cold traffic.
- **Conversion tracking.** Know which ads actually produce sales, not just clicks, so you can kill losing campaigns and scale winning ones.
- **Lookalike audiences.** Meta can find new people who behave like your existing customers — but only if the pixel has enough data to learn from.
- **Lower cost per acquisition.** Well-trained pixels let Meta optimize ad delivery, which over time reduces how much you pay per sale.

### How to set it up

1. Go to [business.facebook.com/events_manager](https://business.facebook.com/events_manager) and create a new **Pixel** (also called a "Web" data source).
2. Meta will give you a base code snippet that starts with `<!-- Meta Pixel Code -->` and contains an inline script plus a `<noscript>` fallback image.
3. Copy the full snippet and add it as a custom script via the [Custom Scripts](/features/scripts) page. Use **Load Position: Head** and **Execution Type: Async**.
4. Save the script as **Active**. The pixel will only fire after a visitor accepts the cookie consent banner, the same way CapyShop gates every custom script.

> **Tip:** Meta Pixel sits alongside CapyShop's built-in analytics without conflict — keep the pixel script focused on Meta retargeting and let the native Analytics page handle your store metrics.

## 4. List your store on Google Merchant Center

Google Merchant Center is how you get your products into **Google Shopping**, the Shopping tab, image search, and the product listings that appear inside regular Google search results. It is free — you do not need to run paid Shopping ads to show up.

### Why it matters

- **Free exposure on Google Shopping.** Since Google opened up free product listings, qualifying stores can appear in Shopping results and the Shopping tab at no cost.
- **Intent-driven traffic.** People searching for a specific product on Google are much closer to buying than people browsing social feeds — Merchant Center puts you in front of them at the right moment.
- **Rich product cards.** Your product image, price, availability, and shipping info appear directly in search results, which tends to dramatically increase click-through rates.
- **Foundation for paid Shopping ads.** Even if you only want free listings today, Merchant Center is also the prerequisite for running Google Shopping and Performance Max campaigns later.

### How to set it up

1. Go to [merchants.google.com](https://merchants.google.com) and create a Merchant Center account for your business.
2. Add and verify your store's website. The easiest option is to reuse the same domain verification you already completed in Google Search Console (see step 1 above) — Merchant Center can pick it up automatically.
3. Configure your **shipping** and **tax** settings in Merchant Center so your listings show accurate totals to shoppers.
4. Submit your product data. Under **Products → Data sources** in Merchant Center, click **Add product source**, choose **"Add products from a file"**, then select **"Scheduled fetch"**. Paste your feed URL: `https://yourdomain.com/feed.xml`. Google will refresh the feed on its own schedule — typically daily.
5. Once Google approves your products, enable **free listings** (the "Surfaces across Google" / free listings program) to start appearing in Shopping results at no cost.

> **Tip:** CapyShop automatically generates a Google Merchant-compatible product feed at `/feed.xml`. Titles, descriptions, prices, sale prices, images, and stock status all stay in sync as you edit products in the admin — you do not need to maintain a spreadsheet or upload anything manually.

## Where to go from here

We recommend completing all four steps within the first week after launching your store. Google Search Console takes days to start returning data, the built-in analytics begin accumulating insights the moment your first visitor lands, Meta Pixel only tracks events from the moment it is installed, and Google Merchant Center needs time to review and approve your products — so the earlier you set these up, the sooner you will benefit from them.