When you open a new online store, it is tempting to expect visitors from Google straight away. In reality, search takes time. Google has to discover your pages, understand them, and decide when they are the best answer for someone's search. That usually happens over weeks and months, not days.
The good news is that the work you do in the first 90 days sets you up for everything after. This guide breaks it into three stages, plus a section on the newer world of AI answers from tools like ChatGPT and Gemini.
First, the honest bit
Nobody can promise you a top position on Google, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What you can do is make your store easy to find and understand, and genuinely useful to the people searching. That is what search engines are trying to reward.
Days 1 to 30: get the foundations right
Make sure Google can see your store
- Remove any password or "coming soon" page once you are ready to sell. Search engines cannot index a locked store.
- Connect your own domain early, so that links and search history build up on the address you will keep. See choosing and connecting a domain.
- Set up Google Search Console. It is free and shows which searches bring people to your store, which pages Google has indexed, and any problems it finds.
- Submit your sitemap in Search Console. A sitemap is a list of all your pages that helps search engines find them.
UpMinutes generates your sitemap, page titles, structured data and other technical SEO settings automatically, so you can spend your time on the parts only you can do: your products and your words.
Write proper titles and descriptions
Each page has a title (shown as the blue link in search results) and a meta description (the short summary below it). Make them specific:
- Weak: "Home | My Store"
- Better: "Handwoven Chettinad cotton sarees | Lakshmi Silks, Madurai"
Describe what the page offers in the words a customer would use. Do not cram in every keyword you can think of.
Set up Google Business Profile if you have a physical shop
If customers can visit you, or you deliver locally, a Google Business Profile helps you appear in local results and on Google Maps. Add your store website, opening hours, photos and the area you serve.
Days 31 to 60: make your product pages the best answer
For a store, product and collection pages do most of the work in search. Focus on them.
Unique product descriptions
If you copy the manufacturer's description, the same text appears on many other websites. Google has little reason to show yours. Write your own: what it is, who it suits, what it is made of, size, care, and what makes it different. Our guide to writing product descriptions goes into detail.
Clear product names
Name products the way customers search. "Mysore silk saree, bottle green with gold zari border" is far more useful than "Design No. 4471".
Helpful collection pages
Collections such as "Cotton sarees under ₹2,000" or "Homemade pickles from Andhra" match real searches. Add a short introduction at the top of each collection explaining what is in it and who it is for.
Good photos with descriptive alt text
Alt text is a short written description of an image. It helps people using screen readers, and it helps search engines understand your photos. "Green Mysore silk saree with gold border, draped" is better than "IMG_2041".
Reviews
Genuine customer reviews give shoppers confidence and add real, fresh words to your product pages. Ask happy customers to leave one after delivery. Never write fake reviews.
Speed and mobile
Most of your visitors will be on phones. A store that loads quickly and is easy to use on a small screen keeps the visitors that search sends you. See why speed matters.
Days 61 to 90: build signals and keep improving
Look at Search Console
By now you should see some data. Check:
- Which searches show your store. You may find people searching for things you sell but have not described well. Improve those pages.
- Pages with many impressions but few clicks. Their titles or descriptions may not be appealing. Rewrite them.
- Indexing problems. Fix any pages Google says it cannot index.
Earn genuine links and mentions
Links from other websites still help search engines judge how trustworthy you are. Good ways to earn them:
- Get listed in local business directories and your trade association's member list.
- Work with local bloggers or creators who genuinely like your products.
- Get featured in local news for something interesting, such as a craft you keep alive or a community initiative.
Avoid buying links or joining link schemes. They can do more harm than good.
Write a few genuinely useful pages
Think about the questions customers ask you on WhatsApp. "How do I wash a silk saree?" "How long does homemade pickle last?" "What size should I order?" A clear page answering each one helps customers and can bring in searches you would not otherwise appear for. Write a few good ones rather than many thin ones.
Use free shopping listings
Google lets stores show products in its Shopping tab through Google Merchant Center, including free listings. Meta lets you connect a catalogue for Facebook and Instagram. UpMinutes produces Google Shopping and Facebook/Instagram catalogue feeds, so your products, prices and stock can stay in sync once you connect the feed.
Showing up in AI answers
More people now ask AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and others for recommendations, or see AI-written summaries at the top of Google results. Nobody outside these companies knows exactly how they pick sources, and it changes often. But some sensible principles apply:
- Be clear about what you sell and where. Plain statements such as "We make cold-pressed groundnut oil in Erode and deliver across Tamil Nadu" are easy for any system to understand.
- Use structured data. This is behind-the-scenes code that labels prices, availability, reviews and business details in a standard format that search engines and other tools can read.
- Answer real questions well. AI tools tend to draw on pages that explain things clearly.
- Be consistent everywhere. Your name, address, phone number and description should match across your store, Google Business Profile and social profiles.
UpMinutes adds structured data and a sitemap automatically, and also publishes an llms.txt file for your store. llms.txt is a proposed convention that gives AI tools a plain summary of a site. Not every AI tool uses it yet, so treat it as a helpful extra rather than a guarantee.
What not to worry about
- Your ranking for one keyword on one day. Positions move constantly.
- Exact keyword density. Write naturally for people.
- Paying for "guaranteed first page" services. They cannot guarantee it.
Your 90-day checklist
- Store unlocked, own domain connected, Search Console set up, sitemap submitted.
- Specific page titles and descriptions on home, collections and top products.
- Original descriptions and clear names for your bestsellers.
- Alt text on product photos.
- Google Business Profile if you serve customers locally.
- Reviews switched on, and happy customers invited to leave one.
- A few helpful pages answering common customer questions.
- Shopping feeds connected.
- Monthly look at Search Console to find and improve weak pages.
Search rewards patience and steady work. If you would like the technical side handled for you, start your free UpMinutes trial and focus on the products and pages that only you can write. Our free tools can help with some of the writing too.