To ensure your website is indexed by Google, it’s essential to make sure that you follow the best practices and guidelines for SEO.
If you want the search engine crawlers to index your website on Google, all pages must be linked and indexed. To do this, you can go through each page of your site manually, following a set structure (or hire a professional SEO consultant).
A website must be indexed by Google before it can get its pages ranking. However, this is just the first step in a long process of optimization for search engines to find your site and rank it appropriately.
This article will cover what you need to know about the best methods for getting your website indexed on all the major search engines, especially Google.
How Long Does It Take for Google to index a Site?
Google needs time to index a new site, which is why you will not see it on the first few pages of search results. Google uses algorithms and bots like Googlebot that run constantly to convert endless amounts of digital data into over 100 million gigabytes of information that is indexed by Google’s search engine.
Google crawls the internet constantly to index new sites. It takes anywhere between 4 days and 4 weeks before your site will be indexed, depending on how big it is. If you have any errors or other problems with programming that stopped Google’s bots from crawling through all the pages, it may take longer.
Steps to Get Google to Index Your Website
The main way that Google indexes website pages for its search results is by following common links. If you have one or more notable, reliable sources that link back to your website from theirs, your site will most likely be indexed faster. But even without backlinks, there are several methods you have at your disposal to smooth out the indexing process and improve your changes of ranking in search results.
For web pages on your site to become ranked on search engine result pages (SERP), you have two options. You can wait until they are found organically through improved SEO efforts, or you can pay an outside company.
Yet, there are a few steps you can take to get your website indexed by Google to improve rankings. Here are the five best methods to get indexed.
1. Enter URL in Google’s Submission Page
When you create a new website or add a new page to your site, visit Google’s URL submission page. You can submit as many pages as possible in one go, and it is just about typing the URL into the field on their homepage.
It only takes a few minutes with just a simple process of typing in the site address of the webpage. However, take note that there are also two more advanced methods below which can be used to submit pages to Google:
- HTML Site Map
- XML Sitemap
2. Link New Blog Content
Google does indeed tend to crawl blog content more often than it crawls regular websites. This is because, as you know, blogs are updated much more regularly and frequently than other types of sites.
Take advantage of this by creating simple blog posts on the site for new announcements to get your pages indexed faster.
3. Make Content Shareable
Social media icons get your users to share and promote your site. This is an easy way for you to create backlinks with the click of a button, which can help generate traffic on social networks like Twitter or Facebook through hashtags.
4. Verify Site on Google Search Console
Log in to Google Search Console (formerly called Webmaster Tools) with your Google account and take the necessary steps to verify that you are its owner. Google search engine offers many free tools for webmasters, including access to their site’s crawl reports and data.
5. Use Webmaster Tools to Track Website
Logging in to Google Search Console every month can help you spot any surprise errors or declines in your site traffic. It is also worth checking out the indexing-related tools on this site, and not only because they are designed by a giant search engine company.
CadenceSEO Can Help You with Your Google Search Index
At CadenceSEO, we know how to leave the breadcrumbs in SEO your site needs to place to ensure that users and crawlers can navigate to your site.
When you need help with your Google search index, you need a team you can trust. Our knowledgeable professionals will show your marketing team the best methods for gaining rank in SERPs.
If you are ready to ensure that Google indexes pages from your website, contact us at CadenceSEO. We’re here to help your website be seen by users and crawlers alike.