Publishing takes the changes from your draft and makes them live on the internet. Until you publish, your edits are only visible to you in the editor — visitors continue to see the last version you published.
This article explains how publishing works, how to do it, and what happens once your changes go live.
Draft version vs. published version
Your website always has two versions:
Draft version — the working version with all your recent changes. Only visible to you inside the editor.
Published version — the live version that visitors see when they visit your web address.
Auto-save and manual save only update the draft. Publishing is the step that pushes those draft changes to your live site.
When you should publish
Publish whenever you have meaningful changes you want visitors to see. Common moments to publish include:
After your AI-generated website is built and you're happy with it
After editing content, adding pages, or changing your design
After updating your business information, hours, or contact details
After adding or removing a section
You can publish as often as you'd like — there's no limit.
How to publish
Step 1: Review your site
Before publishing, switch to preview mode and check your site over:
Click through every page to make sure nothing is missing
Toggle between desktop and mobile views
Verify your contact information is accurate
Test any forms or booking widgets
Make sure all your images are loading correctly
Step 2: Click Publish
Click the Publish button in the preview toolbar at the top-right of the editor. The button shows "Publishing..." while the process runs.
Step 3: Wait for validation
The system runs a quick check to make sure your site is ready:
Every page has a unique URL slug
Exactly one page is set as your home page
No pages have duplicate URLs
If anything needs to be fixed, you'll see an error message explaining what to update. Once the issues are resolved, you can publish again.
Step 4: Confirm success
After publishing, a success dialog appears with the message "Congratulations — your site is published and live online." The dialog includes:
Your live website URL (clickable)
A View site button to open your live site in a new tab
What's next? suggestions, including the option to connect a custom domain or return to the editor to keep refining your site
What happens when you publish
Behind the scenes, publishing does several things:
Your current draft is marked as the new published version
A fresh draft is automatically created so you can keep editing
Your domain is updated to serve the new version
A deployment record is created so you have a history of when you published
Changes propagate through the global CDN within minutes
Your SSL certificate stays valid throughout the process
Previous published versions are retained in your history, so nothing is lost.
What gets published
When you publish, everything in your draft goes live:
All pages and their sections
Header and footer customizations
Design settings (colors, fonts, layout choices)
Business information (name, contact, hours, social links)
Images and media
Menu and navigation changes
After publishing
Once your site is live, take a few minutes to:
Click the View site button and check your live website
Test on a phone or tablet, not just your computer
Try the site in a different browser if you can
Share your new URL on social media, Google Business Profile, and Yelp to start getting traffic
If your site is on the default subdomain and you'd like to use your own domain instead, the success dialog includes a shortcut to start connecting one.
Troubleshooting
"Duplicate page slugs found"
Two or more pages have the same URL path. Go to Pages & Menu, open the page settings for each affected page, and give each page a unique slug.
"Website version must have a home page configured"
No page is currently set as your home page. Open Pages & Menu, edit one of your pages, and set it as the home page.
"Failed to publish website"
Usually a temporary network or server issue. Wait a moment and try again. If the problem continues, contact support.
My changes aren't showing on the live site
Your browser may be showing a cached version. Clear your browser cache, refresh the page, or try opening the site in a private/incognito window. CDN propagation usually completes within minutes.
Best practices
Preview before you publish. A few minutes of review catches problems your visitors would otherwise see.
Publish small changes often. Frequent small publishes are easier to manage than a single large one.
Always check the live site afterward. A quick visit confirms everything deployed correctly.
Test on mobile. Most visitors will see your site on a phone first.