In this story
Where: Settings → Site & brand → Site visibility
Open this page: admin.<your-site>/settings/visibility (replace <your-site> with your site address)
Before you start
- You need permission to manage the site. Other members see the page read-only with the note "Only the site owner can change this."
- A demo site is always public and hidden from search engines. That can't be changed.
Steps
- Open Settings → Site & brand → Site visibility.
- Under Right now, read the current state.
- Under Who can see your site, choose one:
- Public: everyone can see your site and search engines can list it.
- Coming soon: visitors see a "coming soon" page with your logo, message, an email sign-up and your social links.
- Private: only signed-in team members can open the site. Everyone else is asked to sign in.
- Maintenance: a short "back soon" page for everyone else. Pick How long: 15 or 30 minutes, or 1, 2, 4, 8, 24 or 48 hours. The site opens again by itself.
- For anything except Public, write a Message for visitors (optional). Up to 280 characters.
- Press Save.
- Read what will change and confirm.
Good to know
- To go public quickly, press Make public under Right now. The box asks you to check that your logo, pages and first stories are ready.
- Hiding the site means visitors no longer see your stories. Sitemaps, feeds and the public API stay closed. Long periods can lower your search ranking.
- Readers see a change within a minute.
- Use View your site to open the real site yourself. See How do I preview my hidden site?.
Common problems
- "Use 280 characters or fewer."
- "Couldn't load your site's visibility. Check your connection and try again." Press Try again.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can my team still see the site when it is hidden?
Yes. Your team sees the real site.
Does a hidden site hurt my Google ranking?
The confirm box warns that long periods can lower your search ranking. Keep it hidden only as long as you need.