Publishing is not only about making pages visible. It also includes how search engines interpret the site, how preview reviewers access in-progress work, and wha...
Publishing is not only about making pages visible. It also includes how search engines interpret the site, how preview reviewers access in-progress work, and wha...
Publishing is not only about making pages visible. It also includes how search engines interpret the site, how preview reviewers access in-progress work, and what readers encounter when content is not yet published.
In Doxbrix, these decisions are managed in Publishing Controls.
This guide explains how to configure those settings in a deliberate way for staging, pre-launch review, and production launch.
Who this is for
- teams preparing to launch a new documentation site
- teams managing staging and production docs environments
- teams that want tighter control over indexing and unpublished content behavior
What you will configure
In Project settings → Publishing Controls, review:
- Canonical URL
- Robots rule
- Sitemap generation
- Indexing policy
- Preview URL
- Unpublished page handling
These settings should be reviewed together. A strong launch posture comes from the combination, not from any one field in isolation.
Why publishing controls matter
Without a clear publishing policy, teams often run into issues such as:
- staging sites being indexed too early
- incorrect canonical signals
- unpublished pages surfacing awkwardly
- reviewers using the wrong environment
- search engines seeing a site that is not actually ready
Publishing controls reduce those risks by defining how the site behaves before, during, and after launch.
Step 1 — Set the Canonical URL correctly
Start with Canonical URL.
This should reflect the preferred public root URL of the documentation site. It helps Doxbrix generate the correct canonical behavior and share context for the published site.
Use the final production domain when the site is live or about to go live. If you are still in staging, be careful not to treat a temporary review hostname as the long-term canonical destination unless that is truly your intended public address.
Step 2 — Choose the right Robots rule
Next, review Robots rule.
Available options are:
- Index everything
- Noindex drafts
- Noindex entire site
Use them like this:
- Index everything when the site is ready for normal public discovery
- Noindex drafts when published content can be discovered but draft content should stay out of search
- Noindex entire site when the whole site is still in staging, review, or private preparation
For most pre-launch projects, Noindex entire site is the safest starting point.
Step 3 — Set the Indexing policy to match the environment
Review Indexing policy next.
The available options are:
- Workspace default
- Allow indexing
- Discourage indexing
Think of this as the site’s broader indexing posture.
Recommended pattern:
- use Discourage indexing for staging or soft-launch review
- use Allow indexing when the site is ready for active discovery
- use Workspace default only when your workspace already has a clearly managed indexing standard
Step 4 — Decide whether to generate a sitemap
Review Sitemap generation based on site maturity.
Turn it on when:
- the public site is ready for discovery
- navigation and page coverage are reasonably stable
- you want published pages included in the generated sitemap
Leave it off only when the site is not ready for discovery or when the publishing posture is intentionally limited.
For most production launches, Sitemap generation should be on.
Step 5 — Understand the Preview URL workflow
Preview URL gives reviewers a read-only preview surface for the project.
Use it for:
- stakeholder review
- release signoff
- content QA before launch
This field is display-oriented in the product. Treat it as the review surface your team should use when checking the docs before publication.
Step 6 — Choose how unpublished pages should behave
Review Unpublished page handling carefully.
Available options are:
- Hide from navigation
- Show teaser
- Redirect to home
Use:
- Hide from navigation when unpublished work should remain invisible to readers
- Show teaser when you want to signal that content exists but is not yet available
- Redirect to home when the best fallback is to move readers back into the main published experience
For most production docs teams, Hide from navigation is the cleanest default.
Recommended environment patterns
Staging or pre-launch review
- Canonical URL: planned carefully, but aligned with launch timing
- Robots rule: Noindex entire site
- Indexing policy: Discourage indexing
- Sitemap generation: off or aligned with review posture
- Unpublished page handling: Hide from navigation
Public production launch
- Canonical URL: final production documentation domain
- Robots rule: Index everything or Noindex drafts
- Indexing policy: Allow indexing
- Sitemap generation: on
- Unpublished page handling: usually Hide from navigation
Step 7 — Run a launch-readiness check
Before launch, review the full settings combination and ask:
- is the site allowed to be indexed yet?
- will the correct domain appear in canonical behavior?
- are preview reviewers using the right surface?
- will unpublished pages behave cleanly for readers?
- is the sitemap ready to represent the project publicly?
If any answer is uncertain, hold the launch until the publishing posture is coherent.