Follow These Steps to Make Sure Your Business Website Is Indexed on Google

By Lance Ulin

In today's digital era, with 93% of all internet traffic coming from search results, ranking your website higher in search has undoubtedly become somewhat of a prerequisite for marketers to reach users and drive conversion. Despite its importance, not every website makes it into Google's page rankings. In fact, before you can even begin to worry about your ranking, you have to ensure that Google knows that your website even exists. This is why it is important to ensure that your website is discovered, crawled, and indexed by Google.

Let's take a closer look at what Google indexing is all about and the role it plays in the success of your business.

What is Google indexing?

Google's search index can be best explained as its inventory of websites from which it draws search results for its users. While many assume that Google can take you to any website on the internet, this isn't entirely true. Only indexed websites can appear in Google search results.

Perhaps this is why thousands of websites are now actively working on being indexed on Google's search engine. To do this, they use little snippets of codes, called bots or spiders, which crawl through the pages of your website and collect bits and pieces of information. This information helps in understanding what your website is all about and then adds it to the Google inventory.

How can I get my business website indexed on Google?

You need to go through three different stages to get your business website indexed and appear on Google's search engine results.

1. Crawling

This is unarguably the first interaction Google has with your website. Google crawlers can end up discovering your website by following a link from another website, or you may submit your sitemap directly to Google.

Once a Google crawler finds your website, it scans it thoroughly to discover and understand what's on it. This involves reading texts, images, and videos, and understanding the website's layout.

2. Indexing

Indexing is one of the most critical stages of the process. If your website fails to meet the desired requirements, Google won't index it, leaving your website without even the bleakest shot at being ranked.

To avoid sending Google any red flags, you must ensure that:

• Your website content has substance. Google will not index a page with content that most likely has no value for its users.
• Your website does not have a "noindex" tag in its HTML.
• Your website does not contain duplicate content already present on another indexed website.
• Your website has a sitemap, which should ideally be submitted to Google in order to make it more likely to crawl your website.
• You've marked any duplicate pages on your website as non-canonical.

If nothing sends out any red flags to Google, the crawler will use the information it found on your website and add it to its search index.

3. Ranking

Once your website clears the first two steps, it enters the ranking phase. This is where your website finally starts appearing in search results and generating traffic. Google sweeps through its search index to find the most relevant pages for that query whenever a user starts a search.

Of course, the journey doesn't end at simply getting your website indexed and ranked—as a business, you must aim to optimize your website to get higher rankings and make it to the first page of the search results. Nonetheless, getting your website indexed is a stepping stone towards landing on the first page of Google.

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Why your business website needs to be indexed on Google

Gone are the days when marketing your products and services through traditional means was enough to get the message across to your target audience. Today, when it comes to the search engine market, it is no secret that Google is a powerhouse, surpassing giants like Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, etc.

Since Google is the most visited website globally, especially in the United States, a clear majority of the world with access to the internet visits Google at least once a day to get the information they need. Thus, ensuring your business site is indexed, ranked, and optimized is critical to your company's success.

Utilizing Google Search Console to get discovered faster

Submitting a site map can help Google discover your website much faster, and you can do this through Google Search Console. Simply log in with your Google account and follow the steps to sync your website with Google Search Console. This will also allow you to submit individual pages from your website for indexing as you grow your website.

Google Search Console also provides valuable insights on your website’s search visibility, including analytics on currently indexed pages, non-indexed pages, and broken links.

The success of your website contributes to the success of your business

Making sure your business website is indexed on Google is undoubtedly one of the most important and the most cost-effective means of reaching your target audience.

If your business website hasn't been indexed yet, it's time to make it a priority; after all, a product or a service is of no use if it cannot surpass the competition and reach its target audience promptly.

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