Google Discovery & SEO

Every Subblog on Nibgate is fully optimized for search engine discovery. Structured data, XML sitemaps, robots.txt files, and Open Graph meta tags are generated automatically.

SEO features are built into every Subblog. No additional configuration is needed to get indexed by Google and other search engines.

Sitemaps

Subblog sitemap

Every Subblog at *.nibgate.xyz has its own /sitemap.xml:


https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/sitemap.xml

This sitemap lists all public posts on the Subblog with their last-modified dates, helping search engines discover and re-index content efficiently.

Subblog robots.txt

Each Subblog also has a /robots.txt:


https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/robots.txt

The default allows all well-behaved crawlers, blocks the admin area, and points to the sitemap:


User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin
Sitemap: https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/sitemap.xml

Hub aggregate sitemap

The main Nibgate hub at nibgate.xyz serves https://nibgate.xyz/all-content-sitemap.xml, which aggregates content from every verified Subblog (/api/hub/sitemap/content). The hub’s robots.txt advertises it. Each Subblog also handles its own discovery via its own robots.txt + sitemap.xml, exactly like Substack:


https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/robots.txt
https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/sitemap.xml

Google reaches each Subblog through links from the hub (the Explore index) and from cross-links between posts. No per-Subblog sitemap submission is needed once the Search Console domain property covers *.nibgate.xyz.

JSON-LD structured data

Every post page on a Subblog includes JSON-LD structured data for rich search results:


{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Post Title",
  "description": "Post excerpt or summary",
  "image": "https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/cover-image.jpg",
  "datePublished": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "dateModified": "2025-01-15T00:00:00Z",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Creator Name"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Subblog Name"
  }
}

The post page always emits @type: "Article" for every content type (subblogs/frontend/src/app/[type]/[slug]/page.tsx:28), regardless of whether the post is an article, photo, music, or video:

Content type	Schema.org type
Article	`Article`
Photo	`Article`
Music	`Article`
Video	`Article`

Open Graph meta tags

Every page includes standard OG meta tags for rich social sharing previews:


<meta property="og:title" content="Post Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Post excerpt" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/cover.jpg" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/writing/slug" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />

Hub indexing

Subblogs are automatically registered with the Nibgate hub for Explore indexing. This means content published on a Subblog appears in:

Explore search results and category pages
Creator profiles on the hub
Leaderboards (content, creator, and site rankings)
The hub’s aggregate sitemap for search engine discovery

No additional registration or verification is needed — Subblogs are connected to the hub by default.

Google Search Console setup

To monitor your Subblog’s search performance in Google Search Console:

Add property

Add your Subblog URL (https://yourname.nibgate.xyz) as a property in Google Search Console.

Verify ownership

Use the URL prefix property type. You can verify ownership using:

HTML tag method: Add the Google verification meta tag to your Subblog. Contact us to add it.
DNS record method: Add a TXT record to the domain. Only available for custom domains.

Submit sitemap

Submit your Subblog sitemap URL (https://yourname.nibgate.xyz/sitemap.xml) in Google Search Console.

Monitor performance

Track impressions, clicks, and average position for your Subblog’s pages in the Search Console dashboard.

For standard *.nibgate.xyz Subblogs, we handle verification setup. If you are using a custom domain with your Subblog, you will need to verify via DNS record or HTML tag yourself.

Registering a custom domain

If your Subblog uses a custom domain (e.g. blog.yourname.com):

Point the domain’s CNAME or A record to Nibgate’s servers.
Verify domain ownership in Google Search Console.
Set up the custom domain in your Subblog admin settings.

Next reads

Create a Subblog Revenue and Leaderboards Image Optimization