How to Submit URL to Google Index with Google Search Console

Last Updated April 22, 2024

How to Submit URL to Google Index with Google Search Console

Having your website indexed by Google is essential for visibility and attracting organic traffic. One effective method to ensure your website’s presence on Google is by submitting a URL to the Google index using Google Search Console. In this post, we will guide you through the process step-by-step, ensuring that your website gets crawled and indexed efficiently.

Google Search Console is a powerful tool that enables website owners to monitor their site’s performance, identify issues, and interact with Google.

By submitting your URLs to the Google index, you can prompt Google’s bots to crawl and index your pages, making them visible in search results. This process is crucial for gaining visibility and driving organic traffic to your website.

Of course before getting started you’ll need to add your site to Google Search Console.

Submitting Individual URLs

To submit a specific URL for indexing, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Google Search Console: Visit the Google Search Console website and sign in with your Google account.

2. Select your website: If you have multiple websites added to your Search Console account, choose the one that you want to submit a URL for. This is done on the top left of the sidebar.

3. Enter the URL: Type or paste the URL you want to submit into the inspection bar and press Enter. This is located at the top of Google Search Console.

4. Inspect the URL: Google Search Console will now inspect the URL and provide you with information about its indexing status.

5. Request indexing: If the URL is not indexed, you’ll see a message indicating that it’s not currently in the Google index. To submit it for indexing, click on the “Request Indexing” button.

Request Indexing button in Google Search Console

Please note that Google has a quota for submitting individual URLs, and submitting the same URL multiple times won’t expedite the crawling process. Be patient and monitor the progress using either the Index Status report or the URL Inspection tool.

Submitting a Sitemap

If you have a large number of URLs to submit or want to ensure that Google discovers all the pages on your website efficiently, submitting a sitemap is recommended.

Here’s how you can do it:

Create a sitemap: Before submitting a sitemap, you need to create one. A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the URLs on your website. WordPress will do this automatically and can be found via the example.com/wp-sitemap.xml URL.
Verify your website: If you haven’t already done so, verify your website ownership in Google Search Console.
Access the Sitemaps report: In the left-hand sidebar of Google Search Console, click on “Sitemaps” under the “Index” section.
Add your sitemap: Click on the “Add/Test Sitemap” button and enter the URL of your sitemap.
Submit the sitemap: After adding your sitemap, click on the “Submit” button to inform Google about its existence.
Monitor sitemap indexing: Google Search Console will now process your sitemap and provide valuable information about the indexed URLs.

Submitting a sitemap is especially useful when you’ve just launched your website or made significant updates to its structure. Additionally, sitemaps can include metadata about alternate language versions, video, image, or news-specific pages, enhancing the overall indexing process.

Conclusion

Submitting a URL to the Google index with Google Search Console is a crucial step in ensuring your website’s visibility and organic traffic. By following the steps outlined in this post, you can proactively prompt Google to crawl and index your website’s pages. If you have a WordPress website there are plenty of other tips you can do to improve SEO in WordPress.

Remember to be patient during the indexing process and monitor your site’s progress using the available tools in Google Search Console.

How long does it take for my URL to get indexed after I request indexing in Google Search Console?

Google can index a URL in a few hours, a few days, or sometimes longer. Requesting indexing in Google Search Console tells Google to check the page, but it does not guarantee instant results.

New sites, very low traffic sites, or pages with weak content can take longer. It helps if your site has a clean structure, internal links, and a working sitemap.

To speed things up, make sure your page has clear titles, useful content, and is easy to crawl. Tools like the RightBlogger SEO Reports guide you on simple improvements that can make your URL more index worthy.

After you click “Request Indexing,” wait at least a few days before checking again in the URL Inspection tool. Avoid submitting the same URL over and over, since that does not make Google go faster.

Why is my URL still not indexed even after I submitted it in Google Search Console?

If your URL is still not indexed, it usually means Google has decided to wait or skip it for now. This can happen if the content is thin, duplicated, or very similar to other pages.

Check for technical issues first. Make sure the page is not blocked by robots.txt and does not have a noindex tag that tells Google to stay out.

Next, improve the page itself. Add helpful text, clear headings, and unique answers to real questions that users have.

You can also update the page, request indexing again, and then build a few internal links from other pages on your site. This shows Google that the page matters inside your site structure.

Do I still need a sitemap if I am manually submitting URLs to Google Search Console?

Yes, you should still use a sitemap even if you manually submit some URLs. A sitemap helps Google discover many pages at once without you having to add each one.

With a sitemap, Google can find new and updated content more easily. This is very useful for larger sites, blogs, or stores with many product pages.

If you use WordPress, it usually creates a sitemap for you at a URL like /wp-sitemap.xml. You can learn more about how sitemaps work in this simple sitemap guide from RightBlogger.

Manual URL submission is great for new or important pages. Your sitemap handles everything else in the background so you save time and reduce the chance of missing pages.

How can I optimize a page before submitting its URL so Google is more likely to index and rank it?

Before you submit a URL, make sure the page is useful, readable, and focused on one main topic. A clear title, short intro, and simple headings help both users and Google understand the page.

Researching your keywords also helps. The RightBlogger Keyword Tool can help you find easy keywords to target so your page has a better chance to rank.

You can then use the RightBlogger AI Article Writer to quickly draft or improve the content, making it more complete and easier to read. This saves you time while still giving visitors strong value.

After the page looks good, preview how it will appear in search results, fix your meta title and description, and then submit the URL in Google Search Console. Higher quality pages tend to get indexed faster and can bring in more organic traffic over time.