Apart from producing quality content and gaining organic traffic, there are a lot more things to consider and work on for your website. The most important being indexed by Google. And, the most tricky part is that Google does not index every webpage that’s out there.
In fact, they are pretty picky when it comes to indexing pages and there is a very high possibility that most of your pages will not be indexed. We do not mean to sound pessimistic, but the truth is all you need to do for a successful website is to make sure that your primary pages are getting indexed.
That’s the most important part. And, if that is done, the rest is taken care of. Before you work on getting Google to crawl and index your website fully, you should be aware of the basic nitty-gritty of the process. Google takes anywhere from 4 days to up to 6 months to crawl your website and attribute authority to your domain.
Whenever you publish a website in general, a new blog post on your website, or a site map, there are a number of factors which determine the amount of time Google would take to index it.
Some of these factors include whether your content is actually crawlable, the popularity of your site, and the overall site structure. Although we cannot be 100 percent sure about why a particular website is not being indexed, there are several Help Center articles like the Google Basics which gives us some idea about how it actually works.
Given that, we do have some common yet awesome ways you can get Google to crawl and index your website or parts of it:
Ask Google for it
We are not even kidding. One of the most common reasons for Google to not crawl and index a site is simply because it is new. It could be when you just added a new page to your site, or simply made changes to an existing one. This is when you ask Google to actually index it. We cannot guarantee that Google webmasters will consider your page. But you can surely make an attempt. After all, trying and failing is far better than not trying and not getting indexed at all.
At least you have increased your chances of getting crawled by Google and bringing it into notice. However, this requires some amount of patience. Google can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to crawl a particular URL. We have already established that initially. This holds true for new and/or newly updated URLs as well.
Connection with Multiple Links
A successful business would require you to be adept with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That said, internal and external linking of websites forms an integral part of increasing your SEO. When you have included internal or external links within your page, make sure that they are not poorly linked. There are also times when these links are broken.
A page with a broken link has a very high chance of not getting indexed by Google. You can solve this problem through a broken link building, which would enable you to rebuild active links. This also increases your SEO ranking as well as improving your chances of getting crawled and indexed. Not only that, but it also establishes the authority of your site. So, make sure you do not have any loose ends when it comes to your page linking through multiple sites on the web. Take no chances.
The Website Design
Much like how the design of your website impacts your SEO—it affects whether your page would be crawled and indexed by Google. There are several factors pertaining to the design of your website which might act as an impediment against Google to index it. If you have private content that you would not Google to crawl, then you can password-protect it. Such web pages which contain explicit content, if left out in the open, might prevent Google from crawling or indexing your website altogether.
There are ways to password-protect your directory, one of them being, editing your .htaccess file. This would prevent your content from appearing in the Google search results. An integral part of website design is its size. You would want the size of your web-page to be in compliance with the updated Google algorithm for it to properly index it.
Fix Crawl Errors
Another reason why your webpage must have failed to get crawled and indexed by Google is due to temporary unavailability. If your site was temporarily unavailable when Google tried to crawl your page, then it might lead to failure. Further, if you did perform an SEO audit and found out that there is nothing wrong with your website then there might be crawl errors in the Google Search Console. Yes, this is not a rare phenomenon. It keeps happening time and again.
The good news is, you can fix this. But how do you know for sure that there are crawl errors? Just take a look at the“Crawl Errors” report in Google Search Control and everything would be right out there for you. You can then mark all the errors as fixed and keep reviewing the report every week. That way you are updated with it and also fix any errors the moment it appears. The faster the action is taken, the better the chances of your page to be crawled and indexed.
Compliance with Webmaster Guidelines
It is not only important for your website to be compliant with Google Webmaster guidelines for it to appear in the search results, but also for Google to actually index the pages in your site. Another related factor that might impact the indexing is if your website has been hacked or somehow modified by a third party.
Make sure that your website is secure. In order for Google to index your site, you must follow the quality guidelines with respect to the content you are posting. It should be good enough to attract organic traffic as well as organic backlinking by authorized websites.
There are certain things that would need to avoid in order for Google to crawl your website. One of them is to make your content original and stand out from the rest of the websites of a similar domain. Also, make sure that you place relevant keywords. Poor replacement of keywords also acts as an impediment towards having your site indexed.
Submit a Reconsideration Request
This one is a rare but possible phenomenon. The content which was previously hosted on a domain might be causing issues. In such a scenario, you might want to consider submitting a reconsideration request. While you are at it, make sure to lay out the content you need to reconsider and the change of ownership. Now, what exactly is a reconsideration request?
It is when you ask Google to review your site after you have made necessary changes that might be leading to crawling and indexing errors. It might be possible to identify these problems through security issues notification or in a manual action. Either way, you can fix these problems and ask Google to reconsider your page. So, make sure you have made all the changes that are required and make it flawless before submitting it for reconsideration.
Follow Guidelines Perfectly
In case you have moved your website to another address, make sure to do so according to Google guidelines. There are certain rules which you must abide by in order for Google to consider your site, recognize, and authorize it. Only then can you expect your site to be crawled and hence indexed. To do so, you have to set up the new hosting infrastructure. You will be provided a step by step guide by Google Help Center itself. Simply follow all them and you will be good to go.
The next thing you need to do is to start the site move. You will do this after you have checked to see whether the new site copy is working. You will then require to monitor the traffic of your site. Here, you can address any problem that you might be facing. Keep an eye out for any major or minor issue which might act as an impediment in crawling your site by Google. The final stage is to shut down your old hosting after the old provider’s traffic reaches to zero.
We have seen the most actionable ways to get Google to crawl and index your website fully. However, as indicated earlier, there still isn’t a guarantee that whatever we do will lead to a 100 percent chance for Google to index your site. But we did look at some general red flags you need to avoid. There are many more ways like producing quality content, attracting organic traffic, writing guest blogs on influential sites and linking it back yours, etc. to make things work in your favor.
Author’s Bio:
Harold is a marketing enthusiast and an influencer in Different verticals. She keeps special interest in the impact of visual branding on business growth. She has been writing for a long time now and has a interest in traveling as well.
