It may take a few days or even a few months to get a webpage indexed by Google.

Basically, the more popular or traffic generating the page, the more quickly it gets indexed.

What is indexing?

To grasp the significance of Google indexing, it’s crucial to comprehend the concept and mechanics of indexing.
When a new webpage is generated or introduced, Google dispatches its crawler or indexer to discover and assess the type of content it hosts. Subsequently, utilizing its algorithms and tools, Google identifies keywords and key phrases relevant to that page, effectively marking and cataloging it within its index.

Indexing helps in optimizing search results, that means when a keyword is searched on Google, it finds and returns pages marked or indexed with keywords.

How to Get Indexing by Google Quickly?

Although there is no hard and fast rule or pre-defined path to achieve such a thing, certain things when done may improve your visibility and traffic on your webpage thereby allowing Google to quickly recognize and index the new page.

There haven’t been many changes since last year but still, the following indexing options in 2019 will help you get the webpage indexed in no time.

(a) Utilize Google’s Webmaster Tool, which offers comprehensive insights into all indexed web pages, including indexing frequency and associated keywords or key phrases.

By leveraging the Webmaster Tool, you can identify the most relevant keywords or key phrases and incorporate them into your webpage.

(b) Implement an XML sitemap to facilitate Google’s indexing of your webpage. While Google automatically generates sitemaps, creating a custom XML sitemap using available tools and submitting it expedites the indexing process.

(c) Engage in link-building activities for your webpage. Inbound links enhance the visibility of your webpage to Google’s crawler bot, speeding up the indexing process. Google’s bot follows links to discover new web pages, so accumulating inbound links is crucial for rapid indexing.

(d) Leverage social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to promote your webpage. By creating social media accounts and sharing links to your webpage, you can attract potential visitors and expedite Google’s notice of your webpage.

(e) Prioritize fast-loading webpages, as Google places great emphasis on user experience. Slow-loading pages may deter Google’s crawler bot from indexing your content or delay the process. Ensure your webpage loads quickly for prompt indexing.

(f) Regularly update and post fresh content on your webpage. Consistent content publication, following a schedule, signals to Google’s crawler bot that your webpage is actively maintained. This can encourage frequent bot visits and indexing.

(g) Publish posts or blogs on high-ranking bookmarking sites, including inbound links to your webpage. This practice can help crawler bots discover your webpage more swiftly.

(h) Establish proper interlinking between your new webpage and existing web pages. Interconnecting your web content streamlines Google’s access to new webpages. For instance, if you introduce new service pages, ensure they are interconnected with your homepage and other existing pages on your website.

(i) Utilize the “ping” option to notify Google of your new webpage’s existence, expediting its notice and indexing.

(j) If you have SEO tools for Excel and a Google account, consider using Google’s indexing API. You can enable indexing through the Google API console, ensuring your new webpage gets indexed promptly.

What if it Doesn’t Work?

Once you’ve implemented these strategies and find that your webpage isn’t getting indexed, there are additional steps worth exploring:

• Check Server Response Codes: Ensure your server response codes are in order.

• Examine Index Coverage Status in the Search Console: Review the index coverage status within your search console.

• Adjust Crawl Rate: Consider temporarily increasing the crawl rate within your search console.

• Analyze Main Crawler Log Files: Thoroughly inspect the log files of the primary crawler.

• Review Robots.txt File: Carefully examine your robots.txt file for potential issues.

• Conduct On-Page SEO Audit: Undertake a comprehensive SEO audit to identify and address optimization opportunities.

With these measures in place and your proactive efforts, your new webpage should be indexed quickly.

These expedited indexing techniques mentioned above not only achieve prompt indexing but can also improve your webpage’s ranking.

If you encounter any challenges in indexing your webpage, feel free to share your query in the comments below. We’re here to assist you in every way possible. Additionally, we welcome you to share your experiences and any tools or methods you’ve employed to achieve rapid webpage indexing.

What is Rel Canonical?

As per Google’s official documentation:

“A canonical URL is the URL of the page that Google thinks is most representative from a set of duplicate pages on your site. For example, if you have URLs for the same page (example.com?dress=1234 and example.com/dresses/1234), Google chooses one as canonical. The pages don’t need to be absolutely identical; minor changes in sorting or filtering of list pages don’t make the page unique (for example, sorting by price or filtering by item color).

The canonical URL can be in a different domain than a duplicate URL.”

In more current terms, as of 2023, let’s break it down: Rel Canonical isn’t precisely a directive but a suggestion indicating to Google which URL should be prioritized for display in search results. However, it’s important to note that this isn’t a strict command, and Google might still decide to display other URLs. Nevertheless, Rel Canonical proves highly valuable, especially for e-commerce websites with multiple pages dedicated to the same product, differing only slightly in content or presenting nearly identical content.

What is Noindex Directive?

As per Google’s official documentation:

“You can prevent a page or other resource from appearing in Google Search by including a noindex meta tag or header in the HTTP response. When Googlebot next crawls that page and sees the tag or header, Googlebot will drop that page entirely from Google Search results, regardless of whether other sites link to it.”

In simple terms, and as the name suggests, Noindex is a directive, which means Google MUST not index that particular webpage and naturally, drop it from appearing in the search results.

Rel Canonical or Noindex Directive, which one to choose?

The viewer who asked the question wanted to know which one is the best way to go about it given that the website in question is an ecommerce website.

“We have a website… an ecommerce store with a lot of product variations that have thin content or duplicate content even sometimes. So …I made a list of all the URLs we want to keep or we want to have indexed… and then I made a list of all the URLs that we don’t want to have indexed.

The more I worked on it the more I asked this question to myself, canonicalization or noindexing? I don’t know what the better of those would be.”

To which John said:

“…I think the general question of should I use noindex or rel canonical for another page is something where there probably isn’t an absolute answer. So that’s kind of just offhand. It’s like if you’re struggling with that you’re not the only person who’s like, oh which one should I use?

That also usually means that both of these options can be okay. So usually what I would look at there is what your really strong preference there is. And if the strong preference is you really don’t want this content to be shown at all in search, then I would use noindex.

If your preference is, I really want everything combined in one page and if individual ones show up, like whatever, but most of them should be combined, then I would use a rel canonical. And ultimately the effect is similar in that, well, it’s likely the page that you’re looking at won’t be shown in search.

But with a noindex it’s definitely not shown. And with a rel canonical it’s more likely not shown.”

How about combining Rel Canonical and Noindex?

While it is not discussed as a possible solution, John said one could use both at the same time in order to negate the doings of duplicate or thin content. John added:

“…you can also do both of them. And it’s something… if external links, for example, are pointing at this page then having both of them there kind of helps us to figure out well, you don’t want this page indexed but you also specified another one.

So maybe some of the signals we can just forward along.”

Ultimately, the decision boils down to the preferences of the content publisher. It hinges on whether the goal is to completely exclude a page from appearing in search results or to prioritize streamlined and consolidated search outcomes. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of this concept, it’s worth checking out John Mueller’s response to the question starting at the 16:49-minute mark. Furthermore, staying engaged with the entirety of the discussion might unveil additional valuable insights.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Is it really a possibility we should consider?

In 2023, the concise response is affirmative! During a recent Google SEO Office-hours Hangout, a participant raised a compelling query. They highlighted a scenario where a customer had recently revamped their website while retaining the same CMS and content. Curiously, they observed that all their FAQ schema results ceased to appear in search results after the redesign. Even after three months and successful outcomes on the rich results test, the problem persisted. Seeking clarity, the participant inquired about the initial cause of this issue and whether the FAQs would ever be reinstated. John Mueller, the Google representative, shared illuminating insights that shed light on the matter.
“There could be two factors at play here… It takes more work to determine instantly. One possibility is that around the same time as your changes, we have reassessed the overall quality of your website. This could be coincidental. However, we may have needed more convincing about the credibility of your website. When our confidence in a website diminishes, we typically withhold displaying rich results, including FAQs.”
Mueller indicated that the loss of rich results might not necessarily be attributed to the website redesign itself but could instead stem from a decline in its overall quality. He recommended a comprehensive reevaluation of the website’s quality. This insight underscores a valuable lesson—a redesign might inadvertently trigger quality issues, potentially leading to the forfeiture of rich results or overall search result performance.How to perform a Quality Check for Rich Results?

“One way to kind of double-check that is if you do a site query for these individual pages, do the rich results show up there or not? If they do show up there then that means technically we can recognize them but we don’t want to show them. So that’s kind of a hint that maybe from a quality point of view you need to improve things. If they don’t show up with a site query then that means more that there’s still something technical which is broken with regards to that.”

He further added, unless there is a technical issue, there is usually no fixed delay o disruptions on Google’s part to crawl the website. “So it’s not that there is a fixed delay, after restructuring of a website, for us to start showing them again. It’s more like… maybe there was coincidentally weird timing or maybe there’s a technical issue.”

Does the Site Query Test help?

“Yeah, it’s not flawless, but it proves effective in many of these scenarios related to rich results,” remarked John. Based on his comprehensive insights, it’s reasonable to infer that site quality significantly influences the loss of Rich Results on Google. If you suspect that this could apply to your website or if you simply desire an evaluation of your website’s design to assess its compatibility with Google’s standards,
Feel free to reach out to us. We can provide insights into your website’s performance and alignment with Google’s requirements, and how can you improve its rankings, you can opt for one of our Monthly SEO Packages or just drop us a mail and we’ll be more than happy to guide you through it.

Lastly, if you have time to spare, do watch John Mueller answer the question at the 52:26 minute mark and then again at the 55:19 minute mark, and may be also stick around for the rest of the discussion for some other valuable insights.