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docs: restructure & enhance documentation for Actor publication #1280

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docs: restructure and enhance documentation for Actor publication
TC-MO Nov 11, 2024
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fix typo & add links to Apify Store
TC-MO Nov 11, 2024
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further restructuring
TC-MO Nov 12, 2024
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52 changes: 26 additions & 26 deletions sources/platform/actors/publishing/publish.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -9,50 +9,50 @@ sidebar_position: 1

---

Before you make your Actor public, it is important to make sure your Actor has good **Description** and **README** sections so that users can understand what your Actor does, how to configure its inputs, and what kind of output it returns. In this lesson, we will briefly review each field you must fill in before publishing your Actor. For more detailed information about [SEO and promotion](/academy/get-most-of-actors/seo-and-promotion) and [how to write a comprehensive README](/academy/get-most-of-actors/actor-readme), check our guides at Apify Developer Academy.
Before making your Actor public, it's important to ensure your Actor has a clear **Description** and comprehensive **README** section. This will help users understand your Actor's purpose, how to configure its inputs, and the type of output it generates. This guide we'll review the essential fields you must complete before publishing your Actor. For more detaileted information on [SEO, promotion](/academy/get-most-of-actors/seo-and-promotion) and [how to write a comprehensive README](/academy/get-most-of-actors/actor-readme),refer to guited available at the [Apify Academy](https://docs.apify.com/academy).

You can find the Title and description configurations by going to **Apify Console** → **Actors** → **My Actors** → **your-actor** → **Settings → Publication**
## Make your Actor public

![Actor publication settings](./images/actor-publication-settings.webp)
Once you've finished coding and testing your Actor, it's time to publish it. Follow these steps:

## Description {#description}
1. From your Actor's page in the Apify Console, go to **Publication** > **Display information**
2. Fill in all the relevaent fields for your Actor (e.g., **Icon**, **Actor name**, **Description**, **Categories**)
3. Save your changes

The Actor's description is a short paragraph describing the Actor's purpose. It will be displayed on the Actor's page right below its title.

![Actor title and description](./images/actor-title-description.webp)

While writing your Actor's description, you also have the option to write an SEO title and description. The SEO title and description are used in place of the Actor name and description on search engine results pages. Good SEO titles and descriptions utilize popular keywords, summarize the Actor functionality, and are between 40–50 and 140–156 characters long respectively.
![Actor settings](./images/actor-display-information.webp)

![SEO title and description](./images/actor-SEO.webp)
After filling in all the required fields, the **Publish to Store** button will turn green. Click on it to make your Actor available to the public on the Apify Store.

## README {#readme}
![Publish your Actor](./images/publish-actor-to-store.webp)

The next step is to include a **README** detailing the Actor's features, reasons to scrape the target website, and an explanation of how to use the Actor.
To verity that your Actor has been published successfully, go to the [Apify Store](https://apify.com/store), search for your Actor's name. Click on your Actor's card, to view its dedicated page. This is the page where users will likely have their first interaction with your ACtor, so carefully review it and ensure everything is set up correctly.

Keep in mind that the Actor's README is generated from your README.md file, and you can apply the same [SEO principles](/academy/get-most-of-actors/seo-and-promotion) described in the previous lesson to your README.
![Apify Store](./images/Apify-Store.webp)

To save some time when writing an Actor's README, you can use the template below as a starting point:
![Actor page](./images/actor-page.webp)

https://github.com/zpelechova/readme-template
### Description

Note that the complexity of the README should match the Actor's complexity. This means that the template above is not immutable and that you can adapt it to fit the particularities of your Actor.
The Actor's description is a short paragraph that explains its purpose. It will be displayed on the Actor's page, right below its title.

## Make your Actor Public {#make-your-actor-public}
![Actor title and description](./images/actor-title-description.webp)

Once you have finished coding and testing your Actor, it's time to publish it.
When writing your Actor's description, you also have the option to provide an SEO title & description. These will be used in search engine result pages instead of Actor's name & description. Effective SEO titles & descriptions should:

From your Actor's page in Apify Console, go to **Publication → Display information**, fill in all the relevant fields for your Actor (e.g., "Icons","Actor name", "Description", "Categories") and save it.
- Utilize popular keywords related to your Actor's functionality
- Summarize the Actor's purpose concisely
- Be between _40_ to _50_ characters for the title and _140_ to _156_ characters for description

![Actor settings](./images/actor-display-information.webp)
![SEO title and description](./images/actor-SEO.webp)

Once all the fields are filled in, you will notice that the button **Publish to Store** will turn green. Just click on it and your Actor should now be available to the public on Apify Store.
### README

![Publish your Actor](./images/publish-actor-to-store.webp)
The next step is to include a comprehensive **README** detailing your Actor's features, reasons for scraping the target website, and instructions on how to use the Actor effectively.

To check if everything went smoothly, you can go to [Apify Store](https://apify.com/store) and search for your Actor's name.
Remember that the Actor's README is generated from your `README.md` file, and you can apply the same [SEO principles](/academy/get-most-of-actors/seo-and-promotion) mentioned earlier to optimize you README for search engines.

![Apify Store](./images/Apify-Store.webp)
To save time when writing your Actor's README, you can use the following template as a starting point:

Then, click on your Actor's card to see your dedicated Actor's page. This is the page where users will most likely have their first contact with your Actor, so make sure to carefully review it and check if everything is set up correctly.
https://github.com/zpelechova/readme-template

![Actor page](./images/actor-page.webp)
Note that the complexity of your README should match the complexity of your Actor. Feel free to adapt the template to fit your Actor's specific requirements.