We all know the goal of creating new content on a website is to gain visitors. For that to happen, your content has to be indexed by Google so when someone makes a related search Google can pull up your URL and lead them to your website. You may be wondering now, “How do I get Google to index my site?” Well, there’s actually a few different ways, so read on to find out which one works for your site.
What is Google Indexing?
If you want your website to appear on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), Google has to index your pages. The technical SEO process of indexing begins when Googlebots find your site. We’ll discuss ways to bring Google to your site in the next section. Once Google has found your site, Googlebots crawl your information and send it back to Google’s servers to be indexed. Finally, Google processes your information and stores it until a search is made that fits your content. We recommend that before you invite Google to your website, you double check that your content follows Google’s Webmaster Guidelines so it makes its way to SERPs once indexed.
How Do I Get Google to Index My Site?
One of the best parts of Google’s system is that it gives you plenty of options for how to get your site indexed. If you’re looking for a timely index or are willing to wait a bit for your content to appear, Google has an index style for you.
Passive Approach
The passive style is all about letting Google do its thing. Simply create your content and wait for Google to come find it. Typically, the passive approach is best for sites that have minimal content and a simple design that makes it easy for Google to crawl. If your goal is to get your content on SERPs and seen quickly, this approach might not be for you. With no clear indication of when new content is produced on your site, there’s no telling how long it’ll take for Google to index your site.
Manage Your URLs
For someone wanting to speed up the indexing process, managing your URLs is the way to go. Your first step here is to obtain backlinks that lead to your site or create a sitemap that serves as a request for Google to begin indexing your page. The best practice on how to get Google to index your site is to place this sitemap on a domain where Googlebots can easily find it. Using a sitemap creates an outline for Google to understand your content and find it fast. With quick speeds, Google can start listing your content on SERPs in no time.
Submit New & Updated URLs
The final practice for getting Google to index your site is to continuously submit new or updated URLs. Even though it’s a bit more work, submitting a sitemap with new or updated URLs alerts Google to index your content in a timely manner. You can be assured that with these changes, your content will appear on SERPs much faster than if you wait for Google to come find your new changes.
It’s always important to make sure your website is following basic technical SEO practices, and one of the best ways is to notify Google when to recrawl your website. There’s no wrong way to have Google come recrawl your site, so choose your style and watch for the results to come in.
How Long Does Indexing Take?
Time Frame
You’ve created your pages and are ready for the world to see your content as soon as possible. How long will it take for Google to index sites? The honest answer is there’s no definitive timeline.
Google estimates roughly a month for a website, but it really depends on how well you manage your sitemap and the size of your website. A larger site with constantly changing content may take closer to four or more months while a smaller website will probably be indexed in the month range. Updates or new page URLs commonly take a bit less time since Google has already indexed most of your site and is just adding the new or changed content.
Frequency
So you’ve been posting new content and want to know how often Google will recrawl your page. Again, this relies on how frequently you alert Google to new changes. If you decide to go the passive route, it can roughly six months before your new page or site is indexed. With a larger site that has more frequent updates and stays on top of their sitemap, they may see their content indexed weekly or even daily. Keeping Google informed about what is happening on your site can increase how often Google indexes your changes.
Now that you know how indexing works, it’s time to start requesting Google to index your page. Lucky for you, Markitors can help with that! Markitors offers a wide variety of technical SEO services that can help Google find your page and have your content appearing on SERPs in no time.
