Why Your Content Needs to Be Indexed
Imagine spending countless hours crafting an article, believing it’s the best out there. You hit publish, expecting a surge in traffic, but days turn into months, and you realize there’s barely any traffic. You search for your targeted keywords, but your article is nowhere to be found. Eventually, you discover that it’s not even indexed by Google. This can be incredibly frustrating for any content creator.
In this guide, I, Cris Bean, will walk you through practical steps to get Google to index your site faster using Rank Math. We’ll also explore how to check if a page on your website is indexed, the factors that might prevent indexing, and some bonus tips to improve your chances of getting indexed.
Understanding Google Indexing
Before diving into the how-tos, let’s understand what indexing means. Google indexing involves two key phases: discovery (crawling) and indexing.
During the discovery phase, Google uses robots known as Googlebots to crawl the web. These bots find new pages either by following links from known pages or through sitemaps submitted by site owners. Once a page is found, Google analyzes its content and visual layout to decide if it should be indexed.
In the indexing phase, Google processes the crawled page to understand its purpose, meaning, and context. This includes analyzing title tags, text content, images, videos, and more. The goal is to determine how to rank the page for various search terms.
Submitting Your Sitemap
One of the most effective ways to get noticed by Google is by submitting your sitemap. Think of a sitemap as a roadmap that guides search engines through your site’s structure.
You can manually submit your sitemap using Google Search Console or automate this process using the Rank Math plugin. On your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins and ensure Rank Math is installed and activated. Connect your Rank Math account with Google services like Search Console and Analytics during setup. This will streamline the process of submitting your sitemap.
Verifying Index Status
Once you’ve submitted your sitemap, it’s essential to verify if your pages are indexed. You can do this using the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console. Simply paste your page URL into the tool and hit Enter.
If the page isn’t indexed, you’ll have the option to request indexing. This action adds your page to Google’s crawling queue. Give it a few days before checking back.
Using Instant Indexing
For time-sensitive content like news articles or job postings, Instant Indexing can be a game-changer. Install and activate the “Instant Indexing for Google” plugin by Rank Math. You can add URLs of new or updated articles directly through Rank Math’s console and send them to Google’s API for quick indexing.
This method ensures that search engines promptly notice new or updated content on your site.
Avoiding Duplicate Content
Duplicate content is one of the main reasons why Google might not index your pages frequently. Think of it this way: If you constantly offer uninteresting or repetitive information to someone visiting you daily, they’ll eventually stop coming. The same goes for search engines.
If you have duplicate content on your site, consolidate it into a single page and use 301 redirects for removed pages. If removing them isn’t an option due to business needs (like different currency pages), use canonical URLs to point duplicate pages to one main page.
Tweaking Site Settings
Sometimes, settings on your site might inadvertently signal search engines not to index your pages. On your WordPress dashboard under Settings > Reading, ensure that the “Discourage search engines” option is unchecked.
If you’re using Rank Math, go to Titles and Meta > Global Meta and ensure Robots Meta is set to Index. This setting ensures all new posts and pages are indexed by default.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
If you’ve followed all steps but still face issues with indexing, check for errors in Google Search Console under Coverage. Errors might include blocked pages by robots.txt or meta tags instructing Google not to index specific pages.
Fix these errors based on their specific causes. For instance, if a page is blocked by a meta tag, ensure it’s set correctly in Rank Math under Advanced settings for individual posts or pages.
The Role of Internal Links
Internal links play an essential role in helping search engines discover new content on your site. If you have existing pages already indexed and ranked well, add internal links from those pages pointing to new ones that need indexing.
This method not only helps with discovery but also distributes link equity across your site.
Producing High-Quality Content
The quality of your content significantly impacts how often it gets crawled and indexed by search engines. Focus on creating unique, valuable content that addresses specific queries thoroughly.
Avoid going off-topic and ensure every sentence contributes to answering the main question or topic of the article.
Avoiding Crawler Traps
Ecommerce sites often face issues with too many filtered URLs due to various product attributes like size or color. These “crawler traps” confuse search engines about which pages are important for indexing.
Add rules in robots.txt files to prevent crawling of filtered URLs that don’t offer significant value compared to main product pages.
Conclusion
Getting your site indexed by Google may seem challenging at first, but with these methods and tools at hand, it becomes much easier. From submitting sitemaps via Rank Math to avoiding duplicate content and leveraging internal links—each step plays a vital role in improving your site’s visibility on search engines.
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