The importance of using Google Search Console’s request indexing feature for new and old websites
Our SEO partner Tom starts his work, with any client, by checking one specific thing.
He looks to see if the pages or posts on a website require us to “request indexing”,
Requesting this asks Google to index the page content on Google search.
A search engine such as Google must first index the page or post’s content, before the page or post can even be considered to rank highly in the search results for the page or posts content.
This is essential whether optimising for improved SEO on the website specifically or hoping to rank organically with the content not edited specifically to improve the SEO.
Thankfully, this is quite an easy task for anyone to complete, we will outline the steps on how to do this below.
Step 1: Login to Google Search Console
Go to: https://goo.gle/searchconsole
If your website already has a Google Search Console account created, please log in to this account.
Otherwise, log in to your personal or business Google account, for example, you may use Gmail and this account can be used for this purpose.
If you need to create a new Google account, click here for instructions on how to do this
Step 2: Add the website to Google Search Console
NOTE: If your website already has a Google Search Console account created, you can skip this step.
See the screenshot, you will be presented with a screen similar to this:
Our preferred method is the URL prefix method. Add the website URL and click continue. If using a Google account with Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager installed, this might verify the new Google Search Console account. If not, use methods like HTML Tag if you have access to the website CMS head area. Use an HTML file if you have FTP access to upload to the website. Use the domain name provider if you have access to the website’s domain name control panel. Your website designer or manager can assist if you are unsure. Once verified, it might say processing data. Log back in a few days to give Google time to compile the initial data.
For example, see the screenshot below:
Once Google processes the initial data, you can start the request indexing process.
Step 3: Add the first URL from your website to the “Inspect any URL” section.
You will find this section at the top of the page (as shown in the previous screenshot). After adding the URL, press return. You should then see a page similar to this:
Our SEO partner Tom works through pages and posts linked via the main navigation. Google limits new page indexing tasks in one session. If Google stops taking requests, come back in 3-7 days and repeat the process. Simple as that!
This task is straightforward. The time taken depends on the number of pages or posts. Search engines like Google and Bing index pages organically. They follow internal links from the main pages to find new content. However, this task is essential. Google often does not index all pages or posts organically. This task helps improve the amount of content featured in search results. If you have any questions about this, you can contact Tom via his SEO Consultant website.