As a WordPress expert with over 15 years of experience, I know first-hand how crucial getting indexed by search engines is for any website. Let me walk you through the entire process step-by-step.
With over 3.5 billion searches per day worldwide, search engines like Google drive massive amounts of free traffic. Here are some key statistics that highlight why you need to submit your site:
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Google processes over 63,000 search queries every second. That‘s over 5.6 billion searches per day!
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81% of traffic comes from organic search results rather than paid ads.
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The top 5 results on Google‘s first page generate about 67% of all clicks.
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Websites indexed on the first Google results page get over 90% of search traffic.
Clearly, if you want to grow your online presence and drive targeted traffic to your website, then getting indexed by search engines should be your top priority.
While it may seem daunting as a beginner, submitting your site is straightforward by following some best practices that I‘ll explain step-by-step in this guide.
Google dominates the search engine market with over 92% share globally. So getting indexed on Google is absolutely essential.
Here is the fool-proof way to submit your site to Google:
Contents
Sign Up for Google Search Console
Google Search Console, previously known as Google Webmaster Tools, is free to use and provides valuable insights about your website.
It is the official way to verify your site with Google and monitor key metrics like impressions, clicks, traffic.
Go to search.google.com/search-console and click on ‘Start now‘. Sign in using your Google account or register for a new one.
On the next page, click on ‘Add property‘ and enter your website‘s URL starting with http:// or https://.
Verify Website Ownership
Before indexing your pages, Google needs to confirm that you own the website.
On the verification page, choose ‘HTML file upload‘ which is the simplest method.
Download the HTML verification file from Search Console. Using FTP or your hosting control panel, upload it into the root folder of your website.
Go back to Search Console and click ‘Verify‘. It will now verify your website ownership.
Submit Sitemap to Google
A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the pages on your website. It helps search engines efficiently crawl your content.
The best way to generate a sitemap is by using a WordPress SEO plugin. I recommend All in One SEO (AIOSEO) which creates an auto-updating sitemap whenever you publish new content.
In Search Console, go to ‘Sitemaps‘ on the left sidebar and click ‘Add/Test sitemap’. Enter your sitemap URL, usually yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml.
Submitting your sitemap signals Google to index all the pages listed there.
Monitor Indexing in Search Console
Google can take days or weeks to start indexing your submitted pages. You can check the progress in Search Console.
Under ‘Index‘ choose ‘Index coverage‘ to see what percentage of pages are indexed.
Aim for at least 90% index coverage. Keep adding new content to your sitemap so Google can discover and crawl fresh pages.
While Google is the dominant player, Bing still enjoys a solid 33% market share in the US. So make sure to submit your website to Bing as well.
Even better, submitting to Bing also covers Yahoo and DuckDuckGo! Here‘s a step-by-step guide:
Sign Up for Bing Webmaster Tools
Like Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools provides analytics about your site‘s search performance.
Visit www.bing.com/webmasters and click ‘Add site‘. Sign up using your Microsoft, Facebook, or Google account.
Enter your website URL starting with http:// or https:// and click ‘Add site‘.
Verify Your Site Ownership
To confirm you own the website, Bing will ask you to verify.
In the ‘Verify your site‘ section, select ‘Upload an HTML file‘ which is the easiest method.
Download the HTML file from Bing and upload it to your root website folder via FTP or file manager.
Go back to Bing Webmaster Tools and click ‘Validate‘ to complete the verification.
Submit Your Sitemap to Bing
As I covered earlier, use a plugin like AIOSEO to auto-generate your XML sitemap.
In Bing Webmaster Tools, under ‘Configure my site‘, choose ‘Sitemaps‘.
Click ‘Add sitemap‘ and submit your sitemap URL – www.yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml
Bing will now start crawling all the pages listed in your sitemap.
DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine that‘s been gaining popularity.
Here‘s the good news – you don‘t have to submit your site separately to DuckDuckGo. That‘s because DuckDuckGo sources search results from Bing.
So when your website gets indexed on Bing, it will automatically show up on DuckDuckGo as well. No further action needed.
As I mentioned earlier, the best way to generate an XML sitemap is by using a WordPress SEO plugin.
The two most popular free plugins are Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack (AIOSEO). But which one should you use?
Here is a comparison of their key features to help you choose:
Yoast SEO
- Super easy to use, great for beginners
- Creates XML sitemap with basic configurations
- Automatically submits sitemap to Google
- Limited control over sitemap content
All in One SEO
- More advanced features and customizations
- Automatic image XML sitemap generation
- Video sitemap and News sitemap capabilities
- Granular control over sitemap content
- Easier sitemap compression
Both are great plugins. Yoast SEO is simpler to use while AIOSEO offers more advanced XML sitemap customization and options.
My recommendation would be to start with Yoast SEO. But if you need more sitemap flexibility, then All in One SEO is the better choice.
Creating an XML sitemap is only the first step. You also need to optimize your actual webpage content for search engines.
Here are some tips:
- Include target keywords naturally in headings and content
- Break up text with subheadings (H2, H3 tags)
- Make sure page loading speed is fast
- Add meta title and meta description for every page
- Include lots of images and videos in posts
- Interlink relevant pages on your site
- Write long-form, in-depth content (2,000+ words)
Optimized content results in higher click-through-rates (CTR) from search engines. This signals search engines that your pages are top-quality and valuable.
Sometimes your website may not get indexed properly even after submitting it. Here are some possible reasons and fixes:
Problem: Homepage not indexed but inner pages are indexed.
Solution: Check for crawling errors in Search Console. Enable AMP if on WordPress.com. Resubmit homepage URL in sitemap.
Problem: Very few or no pages indexed after long time.
Solution: Verify site is public and indexed in WordPress settings. Check for technical SEO issues. Submit fresh content regularly.
Problem: Images and videos not indexed.
Solution: Use an SEO plugin that generates image XML sitemap. Fix broken media links. Optimize alt text and file names.
Problem: Important pages dropped from index.
Solution: Look for 4xx errors and fix them. Submit dropped URLs directly in Search Console for reindexing.
Problem: Mostly thin or low-quality pages indexed.
Solution: Update or remove thin pages. Publish more in-depth content of 2,000+ words targeting keywords.
Hopefully these additional troubleshooting tips will help you diagnose and fix any indexing issues. Feel free to reach out if you need any help!
As you can see, it is straightforward to submit your website to search engines, even if you‘re a complete beginner.
The key steps are:
- Sign up for Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
- Verify site ownership
- Submit XML sitemap
- Monitor indexing progress
- Optimize website content
Focus on creating high-quality content that targets relevant keyword terms. Be patient as indexing does take some time.
I hope this guide was useful for learning how to properly submit your website to search engines. Let me know if you have any other questions!
