You’ve launched your new website. Now you’re hearing a flood of new terms: SEO, index, sitemap, crawlers. These are all important buzzwords in digital marketing, but they often boil down to one critical question:
How do you get your website indexed by Google so people can find it?
If you’re asking that question, you are in exactly the right place.
Getting your website to appear in search results on Google and Bing is called “indexing”. In simple terms, it’s how search engines discover your web pages and add them to their massive database, making them available to searchers.
While it’s true that search engines will eventually find your site on their own, passively waiting is a slow and uncertain process. By actively submitting your website and ensuring it’s properly prepared, you can dramatically speed up the process and improve your overall visibility from day one.
This guide will walk you through every step to officially introduce your site to the world’s largest search engines.
Let’s get started!
Phase 1: Preparing Your Site for Crawlers
Before you even think about submitting your site, you should first ensure it’s technically sound and “crawler-friendly”. Follow the steps below to make sure your site is ready to be indexed.
1. Set a Preferred URL with Canonical Tags
Canonicalization is selecting a single, “master” URL for a page that might be accessible through multiple addresses. For example, the following URLs could all show the exact same homepage:
- http://example.com
- https://example.com
- https://www.example.com
A canonical tag tells search engines to treat all pages as one page, which helps prevent duplicate content issues. To implement this, ensure every page on your site contains a canonical tag.
If you are coding your site, then you would need to do this on your own by adding the <link rel="canonical" href="URL-of-the-page-itself"> tag in the HTML head, but most modern content management systems (CMS) handle this automatically.
2. Create a robots.txt file
A robots.txt file is a simple text file in your website’s root directory (e.g., example.com/robots.txt). It provides instructions to search engine crawlers and tells them which sections of your site they should not visit. You can use this file to hide certain website sections, such as private admin pages or user shopping carts.
When you create this file, it is also recommended to include a line pointing to your XML sitemap, as this helps search engines efficiently discover all the important pages you want them to index.
User-agent: *
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Sitemap: https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml📖 Suggested read: How to Edit robots.txt in WordPress (With & Without Plugin)
3. Control AI Bot Access
With the rise of AI models trained on public web data, you may want to control whether companies can use your content for training. You can specify rules for these AI bots in your robots.txt file by adding directives that target their specific user-agents.
For example, to block Google’s AI models from using your content, you can add a rule for Google-Extended, and to block OpenAI’s models, you can use ChatGPT-User.
Add the following rules to your robots.txt file to disallow access for these common AI crawlers:
# Block Google's AI model training
User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /
# Block OpenAI's AI model training
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Disallow: /This instructs these specific bots not to crawl any part of your website, opting your content out of their data collection for model training.
To learn more about editing your robots.txt file, read our full-length article on How to Edit robots.txt in WordPress (With & Without Plugin).
4. Create XML Sitemap
A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the important pages, videos, and images on your site and when they were last updated. A good sitemap makes it easy for search engines to find and understand your content.
Most CMS platforms have plugins or built-in tools for this (e.g., Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or Squarespace’s native feature). Once your sitemap is ready, you can host it on your web server and ensure it is accessible via your robots.txt file.
5. Add Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Structured data, or Schema markup, is a standardized code format you add to your website to help search engines understand your content on a deeper level. While basic HTML elements like headings and lists give your page visual organization, structured data explicitly defines your content.
For example, telling Google that a string of numbers is a phone number or that a piece of text is the name of a product allows search engines to better interpret your pages and qualify your site for “rich snippets”, which are enhanced, more detailed listings in search results.
Depending on your site’s content, you can implement various Schema markup types. Some of the most common and beneficial types include:
- Organization: Defines your business name, logo, address, and contact information.
- Article: Specifies the headline, author, publication date, and featured image for blog posts or news stories.
- Product: This section provides a product’s name, image, brand, price, and availability, often including review ratings.
- FAQPage: Marks up a list of questions and answers, making them eligible to appear directly in search results.
After adding the markup to your pages, you should use a tool like Google’s Rich Results Test to validate the code and confirm that it has been implemented correctly.
6. Optimize On-Page Elements
Optimizing your content’s core on-page elements is an important step in preparing it for search engines. Crawlers analyze these elements first to understand a page’s topic and structure, and they directly influence how your content is displayed in search results.
To properly structure each page, you should focus on several key components. Each serves a distinct purpose in communicating what your page is about on search engine results pages and social media platforms.
- SEO Title (<title> tag): This is your page’s main, clickable headline that appears in search results and at the top of a browser tab.
- Meta Description: The short summary appears under the title in search results. It doesn’t directly impact ranking, but it is an advertisement to convince users to click on your link.
- Headings (H1, H2, H3): These tags structure your content for readers and signal the information hierarchy to crawlers. An H1 tag is typically used for the page’s main title, with H2s and H3s for subtopics.
- Open Graph (OG) Tags: These tags control how your content’s title, description, and preview image appear when shared on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or X (formerly Twitter).
Phase 2: Notifying Search Engines
After preparing your website, it is time to announce its presence to the search engines. This step lets you communicate directly with search engines to ensure they can efficiently find, crawl, and index your content.
1. Register with Webmaster Tools
Registering your site with Webmaster Tools is the most important step in this phase. These tools provide direct communication with the major search engines, invaluable data on how search engines see your site, alerts you to critical errors, and tools to manage your site’s appearance in search results.
- Google Search Console: This is arguably the most important tool for monitoring and managing your site’s presence in Google Search. It offers detailed performance reports, indexing status, and mobile usability feedback.
- Bing Webmaster Tools: This is the equivalent platform for the Microsoft Bing search engine. It’s important to note that Bing also powers search results for other popular engines like DuckDuckGo and Yahoo, so registering here expands your reach beyond just the Bing ecosystem.
2. Verify Site Ownership
Before you can access any of this sensitive data, search engines need to confirm that you are the website’s legitimate owner or authorized manager. During the setup process, each tool will guide you through a verification procedure.
There are several common methods to accomplish this, and you only need to choose one: you might be asked to upload a special HTML file to your server, add a unique meta tag to the code of your homepage, or verify your ownership directly through your domain name provider’s settings.
3. Submit Your Sitemap
After verifying ownership, your next step is to submit your sitemap. The process is straightforward in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- You must locate the “Sitemaps” section within the tool’s interface.
- Once there, you simply paste the full URL of your sitemap file into the submission field and click the “Submit” button.
After receiving your sitemap, the search engine adds your URLs to its crawling queue. This doesn’t mean your site will be indexed instantly, but it ensures that the search engine’s crawlers, or bots, are aware of your pages and will schedule a visit to discover and evaluate your content for inclusion in their search results.
Phase 3: Monitoring & Ongoing Updates
While you only need to submit your website to search engines once, achieving and maintaining visibility in the search engines is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and updating.
The process of crawling and indexing is not instantaneous. After you submit your site, it can take a few days to several weeks for search engines to fully process your pages and begin showing them in search results.
Additionally, submitting a sitemap or requesting indexing does not guarantee inclusion. Search engine systems are designed to prioritize high-quality, relevant, and useful content, and they will ultimately make the final decision on what to index.
After indexing the site, you can check your site’s progress using the tools available.
- The URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console is your best friend for examining individual pages. You can enter any URL from your site to receive a detailed report on its current indexing status, see if it is mobile-friendly, and identify any specific issues preventing it from being shown on Google.
- Use the Index Coverage Report in Google Search Console for a high-level overview. This report gives you a complete picture of your site, showing which pages are successfully indexed, which have warnings that may affect their performance, and which have been excluded from the index entirely, along with the specific reasons for each status.
Phase 4: Advanced & Real-Time Indexing
In addition to the standard sitemap submission, there are more advanced, real-time methods for notifying search engines of changes on your site. These protocols are designed for speed, allowing you to alert search engines the moment content is published, updated, or removed.
IndexNow Protocol
The IndexNow protocol is a simple, open-source initiative that allows website owners to instantly notify multiple search engines whenever site content is created, updated, or deleted.
Instead of waiting for search engine crawlers to discover a change, you can proactively “ping” them, dramatically speeding up the discovery process.
This protocol is supported by a growing list of major search engines, including Microsoft Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep. While Google does not natively participate in IndexNow, it has confirmed that it is monitoring these signals to assess the protocol’s utility. The primary benefit of using IndexNow is the acceleration of content discovery on supporting search engines. Your latest updates appear in search results much faster, resulting in more relevant traffic and fresher content for users.
Implementation is often straightforward, as many modern Content Management Systems (CMS) and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) have integrated IndexNow via plugins or built-in features. It can also be implemented directly via a simple API key for more custom setups. You can find more details and resources at the official IndexNow website and Bing’s IndexNow portal.
Google’s Indexing API
Google offers its proprietary system for real-time notifications called the Indexing API. However, you should note that this API has a very strict and narrow use case, and using it for other purposes is against Google’s guidelines. The Indexing API is designed exclusively for two specific types of time-sensitive content:
- JobPosting: Pages containing structured data for job listings.
- BroadcastEvent: Pages with structured data for livestream videos.
Using the Indexing API is essential for websites that feature this kind of short-lived content. It lets you directly notify Google when a job has been filled or a livestream has ended, ensuring the information remains fresh and accurate in search results.
Implementing Google’s Indexing API is a more technical process intended for developers. It requires setting up a Google Cloud project, creating a specific service account, and managing access tokens to make API calls. The complete technical documentation and instructions are in Google’s official developer guide.
TL;DR: How to Index Websites Instantly
| Feature | Sitemap Submission | URL Inspection Tool | IndexNow Protocol | Google Indexing API |
| Use Case | Initial site submission; bulk updates | Requesting re-index for 1-2 important URLs | Instantly notify multiple engines of any change | Instantly notify Google of job/livestream changes |
| Supported By | All major search engines | Bing, Yandex, etc. | Google only | |
| Content Type | All content types | All content types | All content types | Jobs & Livestreams ONLY |
| Speed | Slow (Days to weeks) | Medium (Hours to days) | Instant | Instant |
Final Thoughts
This post explains how to actively notify search engines of your site’s existence using standard and advanced methods. Following these steps gives your site the best possible start to being discovered by Google, Bing, and the audiences they serve.
However, getting indexed is only part of running a successful website.
Your server’s ongoing performance, speed, and security are critical in search engine rankings and user experience.
Managing these technical elements can be a constant hassle, pulling your focus away from what you do best: creating great content and growing your business.
To speed things up and eliminate the burden of complex server administration, consider using RunCloud. You shouldn’t have to be a server expert to run a fast, secure website. RunCloud simplifies the entire process, providing you with a powerful and intuitive dashboard to deploy, manage, and monitor your cloud servers without ever needing to touch the command line.
Ready to take the complexity out of server management? Sign up for RunCloud today.
Frequently Asked Questions about Website Indexing
Why isn’t my website showing up on Google after I submitted my sitemap?
Submitting a sitemap informs Google that your site exists, but doesn’t guarantee immediate indexing. Indexing can be delayed if Google’s systems determine your site’s quality is low or technical issues prevent its crawlers from accessing your content. Use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console to check for specific page errors.
How long does it take for a new website to be indexed?
The timeline for indexing a new website can vary widely, from a few days to several weeks. Factors like your site’s authority, technical health, and content quality all affect how quickly search engines crawl and index your pages.
What does “Discovered – currently not indexed” mean in Google Search Console?
This status means Google knows your page exists but has chosen not to crawl and index it yet. This often happens when Google’s systems feel that crawling the URL might overload your server or that the content is not of high enough quality to warrant indexing at this time. Improving your overall site quality and internal linking can help resolve this over time.
What’s the difference between blocking a page in robots.txt and using a noindex tag?
Blocking a page in robots.txt prevents search engine crawlers from visiting or seeing the page’s content. A noindex meta tag allows crawlers to visit the page but explicitly instructs them not to include it in their search results index. Use noindex for pages you want Google to know about but keep private, and robots.txt for sections you want crawlers to ignore completely.
Do I need to resubmit my sitemap whenever I add a new page?
No, you do not need to manually resubmit your sitemap for every change. Modern sitemap tools automatically update a “last modified” date, and search engines will re-check your sitemap periodically to find new and updated URLs. Manually submitting is generally only necessary for the initial setup or after a major site overhaul.
Is it worth using IndexNow if Google doesn’t officially support it?
Yes, it is still highly recommended that most sites use the IndexNow protocol. It provides instant indexing benefits on major search engines like Bing and Yandex, which can drive significant traffic. Since implementation is often as simple as a plugin, the small effort provides a large benefit across the web, even if Google is not yet a direct participant.
Can I use the Google Indexing API for my blog posts or e-commerce products?
You should not use the Google Indexing API for standard content like blog posts or product pages. The API is strictly for time-sensitive JobPosting and BroadcastEvent (livestream) content. Misusing the API for other content types is against Google’s guidelines and can result in your access being revoked.
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