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You’ve written an amazing blog post and hit the publish button. Now, you wait for Google to index it….or do you?
You can take easy steps to get Google to index your blog post fast.
Of course, you don’t have to do anything. But that means it may take days (or even weeks) for Google to find your content and index it to get found on search.
If your goal is to get Google to find and index your blog content, you’ve come to the right place.
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What is indexing?
Indexing is when Google (or any search engine) finds and analyzes online content and stores it in its directory. That content is what is shown in the search results for users on their platform.
If your content is not indexed, it will not show in search results.
How long does it take to get a new blog post indexed?
Google is a huge search engine. It crawls billions of pages daily to find content to add to the directory.
Each website receives a crawl budget, meaning the amount of time Google will spend looking at each site. The more authoritative a site is, the higher the budget.
The average time it takes for a new article to be found and indexed is between 4 and 30 days. If the site has more authority, it will be closer to the short end of that time, whereas new sites may take longer.
Get Google to Index Your Blog Posts Fast
Once you have your content, you want to take every step to get Google to find and index your newest article as quickly as possible.
1. Set up Search Console
The first thing you need to do is ensure you’ve set up Search Console. Search Console is where you will get details about indexing and ranking. It is also how you can alert Google that you have a site and content.
Setting up your account includes connecting it to your website and submitting a site index. Your site index shares all the content on your site in the proper format for Google bots to read and index it.
Read more: How to Set up Google Search Console
2. Submit the post to Google
You can wait for Google to find your post on its time schedule when you hit publish. Or, you can tell Google it exists and want them to find and index it.
Log into Google Search Console and paste your full URL in the top browser bar where it says, “Inspect any URL in site name.”
You should see that the blog post says it is not indexed. Click Request Indexing.
It will take a couple of minutes for your post to be submitted to Google.
Don’t attempt to submit it multiple times to make it indexed more quickly (as that will not help). But doing this gives them a “heads up” that there is an article to look at, which can reduce the time to index and rank the article.
3. Post Consistently
If your site is consistently updated, Google will crawl and index your site more frequently.
When looking for routine updates, Google does not care if it is new articles or updating existing content. It wants to see that you are working on the site to ensure it is current.
Creating a content calendar to write new or updating articles on your site can help new articles (and those changes you make) to get found and indexed more quickly.
4. Optimize your posts for SEO
Every article you write needs to be done with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind. Of course, make sure you don’t write only for the search engine but rather for your user.
Spend time researching and adding keyword(s) and phrases you want to include to your article and the meta description. However, don’t stuff the post with the keywords either (or you’ll end up hiring your chances of ranking).
Invest time in learning proper SEO and keyword usage to ensure what you write works for Google and improves the chances of indexing.
5. Share on social media
When an article gets traffic, Google sees that. That can signal that you’ve got a new article it needs to look at.
Share it on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to get those shares and traffic.
6. Use internal links
When you write your post, ensure the article includes links to other indexed pages. Doing so can help Google better crawl your site.
Of course, don’t overly link or add links to irrelevant content. Ensure the posts you link to are helpful and relevant.
And then, once you’ve added your new post, find an indexed post and link to the recent article. That will also help Google find the post and index it.
7. Get backlinks
Backlinks are a hidden gem when it comes to SEO. A backlink is when another site links to your article. The more authority the other site has, the better the chances it will get your content indexed.
You can get those links from people within your blogging community by sending an email letting them know you’ve got a new article and asking them for a link. You can use sites such as Medium to get that link.
8. Email your subscribers
You need traffic to your post. After all, the more Google sees that the better the chances they will find and index it.
But don’t send an email saying, “here’s my latest post.” Engage with your reader to get them to want to click over to read more.
How do I know if my blog post was indexed?
As mentioned above, getting Google to index your post can take time. And, even when that happens, it takes longer for it to rank.
The fastest way to see if your post was indexed is to check it in Search Console. Log in and paste the full URL in the top box.
Look inside the Page Indexing box to see if it was indexed.
It can take up to a month for your article to be indexed, so if you see it is not, continue to check until you see Google has found it.
What if your blog post isn’t indexed?
There are reasons why Google can’t find and index your blog post. Some are fixable, and others require patience.
1. Crawl budget reached
Each site has a crawl budget. That is how much time Google will allocate to your site to read and index content.
Newer sites have a lower budget, and those with more authority receive more. Your site may not have as much time spent analyzing it.
Continue writing content, getting links, and working on improving your authority to increase your crawl budget.
2. Sitemap not submitted
You may have search console set up, but the sitemap may not be submitted (or is not working). Log in to Search Console and navigate to index> Sitemaps.
Look at the sitemap for the last date it was called and if it was successful or not.
If it is not successful or it has been a while since it was read, it might be a good idea to resubmit your sitemap to get Google to look at your site again (or submit one if you have never done so).
Without a sitemap, finding and adding your content to their directory can be more difficult.
3. Post blocked from Google
You need to ensure your blog post is not blocked from being crawled or indexed. To check, log in to search console and pull up your URL. Check the boxes to see if any issues might inhibit the post’s ability to rank and make adjustments or changes as needed.
4. Inconsistent posting
You need to update your post regularly for Google to crawl your site. When you don’t, the time allocated is reduced, meaning your new post might not be indexed (or it can take longer than usual).
5. Post is no-indexed
You may be able to disable indexing on the article you right (even if my mistake). Open your blog post and review the settings to ensure you did not inadvertently add the code to your post.
6. Blocked by robots.txt
Your article could be blocked by the robots.txt file (which can help search engines know which URLs to inspect). When the content is blocked, Google can’t find it, which may prevent it from being indexed. You can correct this issue yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
Conclusion
You don’t have to do anything to get search engines to find your article, as they will. However, if you want Google to index your blog post fast, you’ll want to try these strategies.
But, even then, keep in mind that Google moves at the speed of Google. It can happen quickly, or it can still take time.
Hello Tracie,
Very Informative post. Bloggers need to submit their site in the Search Console and also submit the sitemap to it. Make sure that posts do not have noindex tag and aren’t blocked by robots.txt. Hope your post will help newbie bloggers.
Regards,
Vishwajeet Kumar
One trick I have found for instant crawling and quick indexing is to embed a YouTube video and submit a video sitemap. Google is really interested in finding YouTube video embeds.