Having a new website built is exciting. You probably can’t wait to share it with your customers and have it reach a wider audience. However, it takes time for Google to index new websites. This time frame can be anywhere between a few days and a few weeks. While there is no exact science as to when your new website will be indexed, you can expect that it will be no more than a month.
How Sites are Crawled by Google
Google’s search algorithm is in charge of crawling and indexing websites. Google’s bots run constantly so that all pages on the internet can be properly understood and categorized. When pages are indexed isn’t always clear, but generally speaking, the more content you add, the more Google will visit your site.
Here is a basic outline of what you can expect to be happening behind the scenes.
- Googlebot, Google’s web-crawling robot, is sent out to explore the internet and locate websites.
- Once a website is found, Googlebot reads the information that is provided in the site’s robots.txt file. Googlebot prefers reading text and will follow the information provided in the sitemap.
- As the bot discovers the content, it categorizes it based on what the content is about (which is why keywords are important). This information is sent to the servers and added to the database.
- All information is stored so that the bots know what websites should be crawled and how often. Websites that add content regularly are visited more often. The stored information is also used to rank the relevance and value of the content.
How to Get Google to Visit Your New Site Faster
To get Google to your site faster, you’ll have to send the signal that you have a new website. It all starts with building a site that can be easily indexed. This way, when the bots are sent to your site, it will be well-prepared.
Here are a few suggestions for building a new website that can be easily indexed.
- Create content that is easy to crawl and submit a sitemap.
- Include a navigation bar that links to your main content.
- Use URLs on web addresses and alt text on images to describe content.
- Minimize JavaScript since Google needs to read HTML first.
- Check robots.txt to make sure that Googlebot can crawl your website.
- Set up a Google Analytics account to keep tabs on traffic.
- Set up a Google Search Console account to see how you appear in the SERPs.
It can take a few days or weeks to index your website, so be patient. The more content you publish to your site, the more it will be indexed. If you’re still having trouble getting your site indexed, contact Magna Technology. We can take a look at your website and identify the problems standing in the way of proper indexing.
