So. It is new rules then? Because, like, 10 years ago is not like this. Once I press publish, the product automatically visible on this site.
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it is visible on the site, it just doesn't show up in search results until it has been indexed.
That being said, it's generally recommended that you advertise your projects through your own social media (Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and provide a link directly to your project on itchio if you're trying to get more downloads. There's a lot of projects on itch.io, and relying on people stumbling upon your work through search results alone is not the best strategy for finding your audience.
So, what I'm saying is, showing up in search results on itch.io isn't as important as finding readers through social media and linking them directly to your project page on itch.io