How do I do SEO on a GoDaddy website?

In Websites + Marketing, open your product page, choose Manage next to the site, expand Marketing and select SEO. GoDaddy's AI suggests keywords and adds them to your content and image alt text when you click Publish Changes. It covers up to five pages; the rest are edited under Settings > SEO Settings in the builder.

Can I edit robots.txt on a GoDaddy Website Builder site?

GoDaddy documents no way to. Its only robots.txt help article is for WordPress sites, where you use an SEO plugin. If you need custom crawler rules, a WordPress site on GoDaddy hosting gives you that control.

Where is my GoDaddy sitemap?

GoDaddy says the website builder comes with a ready sitemap to submit, but its help center does not state the URL. Try /sitemap.xml on your domain, or look for a Sitemap line in /robots.txt, then submit that URL in Google Search Console.

How long do GoDaddy SEO changes take to show up?

GoDaddy says setup takes minutes but changes can take up to eight weeks to affect rankings.

AI search readiness · Website builders and CMSs

GoDaddy Website Builder SEO: robots.txt, sitemap and AI search

GoDaddy's site builders handle SEO through guided tools rather than files. Websites + Marketing has an AI keyword tool under Marketing > SEO that optimizes up to five pages, and the newer Airo AI Builder adds titles, descriptions, business structured data and a sitemap when it creates the site. GoDaddy's help center documents no robots.txt editor, no llms.txt option and no AI crawler setting for either builder.

Edit robots.txt: NoNo robots.txt editor is documented for Websites + Marketing or Airo AI Builder. GoDaddy's robots.txt help covers WordPress sites only.
XML sitemap: YesGoDaddy says its website builder comes with a ready sitemap to submit; the URL is not published in its help center.
llms.txt: NoNot documented. GoDaddy describes no way to place a file at the site root, so a hand-written llms.txt has no documented home.
AI crawlers: No AI-specific setting documented. GoDaddy's Airo AI Builder says each publish is checked for structured data and AI readiness, but it documents no control over which AI crawlers may visit.
Structured data: Airo AI Builder adds structured data for business name, type, location, hours and contact details when it creates a site. Websites + Marketing schema output is not documented.

Two GoDaddy builders, two SEO setups

GoDaddy's help center and site describe two builders, and their SEO tools differ. Websites + Marketing is the long-running builder with an SEO tool in its dashboard. Airo AI Builder is the newer AI-first builder that writes the SEO basics while it generates your site. Neither exposes the files AI search depends on (robots.txt, llms.txt) for editing, so most of your influence is through page content and settings.

Websites + Marketing: the SEO tool

Go to your GoDaddy product page, expand Websites + Marketing and select Manage next to your site.
On the dashboard expand Marketing and select SEO.
On first use GoDaddy's AI analyzes the site and suggests keywords. Publish Changes adds them to your content and image alt tags; Not Yet postpones.
Select Publish Now to make changes live.

The tool optimizes up to five pages. For others, open the builder and go to Settings > SEO Settings to edit titles and descriptions page by page. GoDaddy says SEO is included in most Websites + Marketing plans and that ranking effects can take up to eight weeks. Its local SEO advice is to keep your business name, address and phone identical everywhere and to connect a Google Business Profile (Marketing > Social > Google). Consistent business facts also help AI engines match your site to the right entity.

Airo AI Builder: SEO set at creation

GoDaddy says Airo AI Builder adds page titles and descriptions, headings, social previews, image alt text, a sitemap and structured data for your business name, type, location, hours and contact details when it creates the site. Each publish is scored from 0 to 100 on structured data, AI readiness and classic SEO, with an alert and a Run SEO Scan button if the score drops by ten points or more. GoDaddy describes AEO as the same structured data and clear content, not a separate feature.

robots.txt, sitemap and llms.txt

robots.txt: GoDaddy's help center has no article on editing robots.txt for either builder. Its robots.txt guide is for WordPress, where Yoast's File editor does the job. Check what your site serves with the robots.txt checker, since you can't see the rules any other way.
Sitemap: GoDaddy says the builder "comes with a ready sitemap for you to submit" but doesn't publish its path. Look for a Sitemap: line in your live robots.txt, or try /sitemap.xml, then submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
llms.txt: Not documented, and GoDaddy describes no way to upload a file to the site root. If an llms.txt file or custom crawler rules matter to you, WordPress on GoDaddy hosting supports both through plugins.

What to focus on instead

On a builder that hides its files, the levers are content and consistency: a homepage that states plainly what you do and where, service pages that answer the questions buyers ask, and the same business details on your site, Google Business Profile and directories. Those plain facts are what an AI assistant has to work with when it decides whether to recommend a local business.

Check your GoDaddy Website Builder site

Paste your domain to see which AI crawlers your live robots.txt lets in.

robots.txt checker

Test your robots.txt against every AI crawler

robots.txt generator

Allow AI search, block trainingStay citable in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot answers while opting out of model training.Allow everythingEvery crawler may read every public page. The default when there is no robots.txt.Block all AI crawlersKeep Google and Bing search, block every AI crawler. AI answers will rarely cite or recommend the site.

Sitemap URLPrivate paths (one per line)

robots.txt

# robots.txt generated with https://www.getpicked.app/tools/robots-txt-checker
# Preset: Allow AI search, block training

User-agent: *
Allow: /

# Model training crawlers
User-agent: GPTBot
User-agent: ClaudeBot
User-agent: Google-Extended
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
User-agent: Meta-ExternalAgent
User-agent: Amazonbot
User-agent: CCBot
User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /

Questions

How do I do SEO on a GoDaddy website?: In Websites + Marketing, open your product page, choose Manage next to the site, expand Marketing and select SEO. GoDaddy's AI suggests keywords and adds them to your content and image alt text when you click Publish Changes. It covers up to five pages; the rest are edited under Settings > SEO Settings in the builder.
Can I edit robots.txt on a GoDaddy Website Builder site?: GoDaddy documents no way to. Its only robots.txt help article is for WordPress sites, where you use an SEO plugin. If you need custom crawler rules, a WordPress site on GoDaddy hosting gives you that control.
Where is my GoDaddy sitemap?: GoDaddy says the website builder comes with a ready sitemap to submit, but its help center does not state the URL. Try /sitemap.xml on your domain, or look for a Sitemap line in /robots.txt, then submit that URL in Google Search Console.
How long do GoDaddy SEO changes take to show up?: GoDaddy says setup takes minutes but changes can take up to eight weeks to affect rankings.

Other website builders and cmss

Sources

Checked against these pages on 2026-10-19. Operators change their crawlers; check the source before relying on a detail.