So you it’s been a while since you launched your new website but it is not getting any visitors. You’re confused because you thought “if you build it they will come”. Well, now you know that is not true for websites.
What if we told you that, in the realm of the Internet, there are certain demigods who send people to websites online? These demigods are the world’s most popular ‘Search Engines’ namely Google, Bing, and Yahoo, helping billions of people find information online everyday.
In your situation it’s likely that you have not acquainted your new website with these demigods cum search engines. But what does it take to get them to know your website, you ask.
Rest assured it doesn’t require a ritualistic sacrifice of any sort. What it does take, however, is a bit of work and that’s what you’re going to learn here in a few simple steps.
How to submit your website to Google
Step 1 – Add Your Website to Google Search Console
Google has a nifty tool called Google Search Console with which you can submit your website to Google by using the “Add Property” option. Google will then ask you to prove that you own your website by adding a small code snippet to your domain name or website hosting server. As soon as you verify ownership you will get access to powerful tools and insights to manage and improve your website’s appearance and performance in Google search results.
Step 2 – Get Google to Index Your Website
Now that your website has been added, you need to get Google to index pages from your website.
What is Indexing? Indexing websites is similar to how libraries indexed books to easily categorise, organize, and locate them. Search Engines index websites in the same way by analysing information from websites in order to present it to their users. This process of analysing and categorising information is called indexing.
To start indexing your pages, hit the “URL Inspection” option, enter your website address and hit Go. Google will then explore the website address and let you know if it is already known to it. As your website is new the chances are Google will say it’s not known to Google in which case it will present the “Request Indexing” option.
Simply hit “Request Indexing” option, and Google will start crawling the URL to index it. On the same page Google may also display problems discovered on your website that you should fix. It’s advisable to follow advice given by Google to ensure your website appears in its search results. Run all other website URLs through the “URL Inspection” tool so that your entire website can get indexed.
PRO TIP: If you’d like Google to automatically index all new pages and information from your website in future, simply create and add your “Sitemaps” to the Search Console. For WordPress websites you can use a plugin to auto-generate your Sitemaps. Sitemaps are simply links to a list of all pages and posts on your website for search engines to find and index. Rocket Domains web hosting customers get a premium RocketSEO plugin which, among other features, has the ability to auto-generate Sitemaps and link them up with Google.
That is all you need to do to add your website to Google’s Index. Google Search Console has many other useful options to keep tabs on your website. For instance, check out the “Performance” and “Usability” tools in the Search Console.
These were the basics of adding your website to Google Search Console. If, however, you wish to learn more about getting your website indexed visit Google Search Central.
Step 3: Create Your Business Profile on Google
If your business has a physical location such as an office, store, or a shop, we recommend you also create a profile for your business on Google My Business portal. That will allow you to easily connect with customers across Google Search and Maps. What’s more you will be able to add photos, updates and promotional offers to your business profile to stand out from your competition while allowing your customers to leave reviews and interact with you online.
Sign into the Google My Business portal, and hit “add business” option. You’ll then be asked to search for your business name to check if it already exists on Google Maps. In case it does exist you can claim ownership of the business. Otherwise proceed with adding your business name, address, phone number, website and hours of operation.
Follow the relevant options to add your business and then hit “Verify.” Once your business has been verified you should improve its listing by adding business logos, photos, videos, and your products and services. Make sure to periodically review your business listing for accuracy and to post updates about your business which will help you gain more exposure in Google search results.
Once you’ve gotten your website on Google, be sure to get on the other major search engines as well.
How to submit your website to Bing
Bing is the second most popular search engine in the world which is why it can be a great source of traffic for your website. Having already added your website to Google it is easier to add it to Bing as it can pull your website data directly from Google Search Console.
Step 1 – Sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools
Sign into Bing Webmaster Tools, and hit “Get Started.” Bing will then present two options to add your website as shown in the screenshot below.
To save time you may choose the first option to automatically import your website data from Google Search Console. Once your website is shown as “verified”, simply go to “Configure My Site” section and select “Submit URLs.”
There you can enter your website page/post URLs (one per line) and hit “Submit.” Bing will then be ready to crawl and index your website. After a few days log into Webmaster Tools to check the status of your website. Pay special attention to any crawling errors and follow the advice displayed to fix them.
Step 2: Add Your Business to Bing Places for Business
Just as you created a profile for your business on Google, you should do the same on Bing Places for Business in order for it to appear on Bing local business search results as well as Maps.
Sign into Bing Places for Business and it will present two options to add your business as can be seen in the screenshot below. To save time choose the option to import your business from Google My Business.
After your business has been added and verified you should improve your listing by adding logos, photos, videos, opening hours, and a detailed description of your products and services. The listing will make it easy for customers to interact with you and to leave reviews encouraging new customers to buy your products or services.
How to submit your website to Yahoo!
Although Yahoo! has seen better days it still is the third most popular search engine in the world with about 1% market share under its control. Yahoo!’s web portal is the 11th most visited website on the Internet as per Alexa.
Yahoo! search is powered by Microsoft Bing which means you will need to submit your website once via Bing Webmaster tools in order for it to appear in both Yahoo! and Bing search results.
How to submit your website to DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo has made its name as a search engine that provides web search without tracking and privacy related tradeoffs. While DuckDuckGo doesn’t offer a website submission tool, it discovers and indexes websites from more than 400 sources, including Bing. To show up in DuckDuckGo Search all you have to do is submit your website to Bing via its Webmaster Tools.
How to submit your website to Baidu
Baidu is the largest search engine in China with over 75% of the market share. It’s also widely used by the Mandarin speaking communities in other countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. If your website targets Mandarin speaking customers you should submit your website to Baidu for sure via Baidu Webmaster tools.
Website submission to Baidu, however, are only possible in Mandarin and that too with a mainland China mobile phone number. If you get past these hurdles you can simply submit your main website URL and Baidu will crawl and index the rest of the website itself.
How to submit your website to Yandex
If you wish to reach the Russian speaking communities in and outside Russia you should consider submitting your website to Yandex via its Webmaster Tools. The submission process is very similar to Google’s and Bing’s and all you have to do is sign up for Yandex, submit your website links and sitemaps and verify your website ownership by following step by step instructions.
Conclusion
Getting indexed and staying indexed by search engines are very different things. Make sure your website content is reliable, unique and of high quality otherwise it can be marked as spam which can get you de-indexed.
