How to Index a Website to Google

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 How to Index a Website to Google

Google Index is like a giant database that stores information from websites on the internet that has been collected by Google. So, when you search on Google, the results that appear are taken from this database.

So that your website or blog can appear in search results (aka rank on Google), the first step that must be done is to enter the Google index first. But sometimes the process is not that easy, right?

Well, in this article I will share some ways to get your website indexed by Google faster.

Oh yeah, I'm going to discuss this assuming your website uses WordPress CMS on hosting, okay! 

How to Index a Website to Google

How to Get Your Blog Indexed Quickly by Google: Here's How!


Want your blog to quickly appear on Google? It's easy! There are a few things you need to do to make your website readable by Google.

1. Make sure the website settings can be indexed

✅ Check SEO plugin settings → Make sure important pages are set to index, not noindex. If you want to noindex, just create a page like a category or tag.

✅ Check robots.txt → Open domainlo.com/robots.txt, make sure nothing is blocking Google from crawling your website. You can check using Google's robots.txt validator.

The first and most important step: make sure your blog or website doesn't block search engines from indexing your content.

It seems trivial, but many people miss this. Sometimes because of plugins, themes, or even hosting settings, your blog can't be indexed. Check these things first:

✅ Check WordPress settings → Go to Settings > Reading menu, make sure the "Search engine visibility" option is not checked.

To check whether the website or article settings can be indexed or not, you can use the  SEO minion extension . Install it in your browser, open the website or web article, click the SEO minion extension, then click the menu 

1. Cek On-Page SEO

Look at the Meta Robots section . If it says index, follow , then it's safe, it's correct.

2. Make sure the website doesn't have any errors

If the website often has errors or can't be opened, it could be difficult for Google to index it. For example, when the Google bot stops by, the website is down.

The problems can vary, from website settings, plugins, themes, to hosting that is often slow. If hosting is often down, it will also affect SEO.

To be able to monitor the website is always up, you can use uptimerobot . If there is a down, you will get an email notification.

3. Create a Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of links that will be given to Google so that it can be indexed more easily. Usually, SEO plugins will automatically create a sitemap for your website.

The format is usually .xml , for example:

  • domainanda.com/sitemap.xml
  • domainanda.com/sitemap_index.xml
  • domainanda.com/wp-sitemap.xml(WordPress default)

In addition to XML sitemaps, you can also create an HTML sitemap — a page containing a list of article links on a website. You can use a plugin like HTML Sitemap or a feature from an SEO plugin like Seopress .

4. Register with Google Search Console (GSC)

Don't forget to register your website to Google Search Console ! This is very important so that Google can find our website more easily.

After registering, enter the XML sitemap URL in the Sitemaps menu (not the HTML sitemap).

If you are still confused, you can look for a tutorial on how to use Google Search Console.

5. Enter the Sitemap URL into Robots.txt

Add the sitemap URL to the robots.txt file . You can check it at domainanda.com/robots.txt.

Usually the robots.txt setting is in the SEO plugin menu used. Fill it with the default WordPress settings.

User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Then, at the bottom add the sitemap URL with a format like this:

Sitemap: https://domainanda.com/url-sitemaps.xml

Make sure the URL matches the sitemap of each website, okay! 

User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
Sitemap: https/domainanda.com/url-sitemaps.xml

If there is no menu on the website to set robots.txt , just create it manually! Open Notepad on your computer, then fill it with the code above. After that, save it in UTF-8 format with the name robots.txt . Finally, upload it to the root directory of your website via cPanel or the menu on hosting. Easy, right?

6. Use the Inspect URL Menu in Google Search Console

To get your website or URL indexed faster in Google, you can also enter it manually.

It's easy:

1. Buka Google Search Console

2. At the top, there is an Inspect any URL menu.

3. Enter the URL you want to index, it can be the main page or a specific article.

4. Press Enter and wait for the process to complete.

5. Click TEST LIVE URL first to check whether there is an error or not. If there is, fix it first

6. After that, click REQUEST INDEXING to ask Google to crawl your URL.

Your URL will be queued for indexing on Google. It could appear in an hour, a day, or sometimes longer—depending on many factors.  

If you want to try another way, you can directly submit your URL on this page.

7. Maximize Internal Links Between Articles

Use internal links between articles on the website so that everything is easy to crawl by Google bots. If there are internal links, usually our website will be indexed by Google faster.

In addition, internal links also help improve the overall ranking of the website. So, don't forget to link to other relevant articles!

8. Regularly Update Content

To make your website rank higher on Google, diligently update your content. Ideally, there will always be new articles. The more topics discussed, the greater the chance of ranking in various keywords.

Google also visits websites that are actively updated more often, so the indexing process can be faster. The point is, don't let the website look "dead"!

9. Build Backlinks from Other Websites

Backlinks are not only for SEO, but also serve as a "path" for Google bots to come to our website. The more backlinks, the more paths for Google to find our website.

But try to get backlinks from websites that have big traffic. Because, the more crowded the backlink source website is, the faster the effect is for our website index.

How to Check Whether a Website Has Been Indexed by Google or Not

How to check whether our website has been indexed by Google or not? Easy! Follow these steps:

1. Go to Google.com

2. Type in the search bar: site:yourdomain.com

3. See the results! Google will display the number of URLs that have been indexed.

If the number is less than the total articles that have been created, it could be that there are still some that have not been processed by Google. Just wait or submit manually to make it faster.

If the number is more? It could be that not only articles are indexed, but also tag, category, or pagination pages. Check the SEO settings in the plugin you are using!

Well, if the website index suddenly gets stuck at only 4 even though there are already a lot of articles, try checking again using other search operators!

site:domainanda.com/url-artikel-lain-di-website/

How to Check & Fix Website URLs That Don't Appear on Google

Have you ever checked the URL of an article on your own website using a search operator site:domainanda.comon Google, but some of them don't appear? Well, this could be a sign that your website has been given a soft penalty by Google.

Try checking again in the same way for other URLs. If your website has a total of 4 indexes, but when you check a certain URL it doesn't appear, there could be a problem. Some of the causes are:

  • The content is considered to be of low quality (a bit ambiguous though)
  • Copy-paste article
  • Automatically generated articles with nonsense content
  • Translated articles but not manually edited
  • The website is very heavy when opened (e.g., the images are too big, the hosting is very slow, etc.)
  • Former domain of spam, gambling website, or has too many spam backlinks

The solution? Try fixing and resubmitting in Google Search Console. You can also check deeper in the Coverage menu .

I have experienced something like this myself. Sometimes it can go back to normal (index increases), but there are also those who remain stuck. Well, I'll let it go... wkwk 

Why Can Websites Be Deindexed on Google?

For example, your website was initially normal, suddenly all URLs disappear from Google. That's called deindexing . The causes could be:

  1. Technical issues

    • Website down for too long
    • Accidentally installed noindexin plugin/setting
    • Blocked onrobots.txt
    • Website hacked and malicious script inserted

  2. SEOs that Google has banned

    • Detected using PBN (Private Blog Network)
    • Off-page SEO is too spammy

  3. Content is considered spam or low quality

If you have problems no. 2 and 3, there is usually a warning in Google Search Console . So check it often, okay!

How to Index URLs on Other Websites?

If the URL is on your own website, it's easy, just enter it into Inspect URL in Google Search Console. But what about the URL on another website ? For example:

  • Facebook Page
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter Profile

There's a trick you can try:

  1. Create a redirect URL from your website to the target URL. You can use a 301 or 302 redirect . For example:
    https://www.domainanda.com/nama-ngasal/➝ redirect 301 to Instagram profile .
  2. Enter the redirect URL into Inspect URL in Google Search Console
  3. Test the live URL first, make sure it redirects to the target URL
  4. If it's correct, just click Request Indexing

This trick works quite often, but there are also times when it fails. Make sure the target URL can actually be indexed by Google (if it can noindex, it still can't 🤣).

Quick Way to Reindex Frequently Updated Content

If you have a page that is frequently updated (e.g. gold prices, currency rates, etc.), you want Google to re-index the content quickly, right?

Well, just take advantage of WordPress's default feed . Try checking by adding it /feed/behind the URL:

https://domainanda.com/update-crypto-harian/feed/

If it can be opened, it means the feed is normal. You can submit this feed URL to the sitemap in Google Search Console so that it can be re-indexed faster.

Cover

That's all the tricks for checking and re-indexing websites on Google. If I find a new way later, I'll update it here.

Hope it is useful!