Understanding how a site is indexed at Google

Have you ever published quality content on your site, But can't find it on Google? Caused by bad indexing of a website, this problem is more common than you think. However, it often takes just a few adjustments to unblock the situation.

Being correctly indexed by Google is indeed essential to exist on the leading search engine. Without indexing, unable to appear in search results, even for your best keywords. In other words, your visibility is reduced to nothing...

Fortunately, by following best practices, you can optimize and speed up the indexing of your website by Google. By applying these recommendations, you will maximize the indexing of your site and significantly boost your visibility on Google. Follow the guide!

What is website indexing?

Website indexing is the process by which search engines, such as Google, analyze and store pages on a website in their database, also called an index. When a search engine indexes a website, it crawls and analyzes the content of each page, including text, images, meta tags and other elements. Indexing allows search engines to understand the content of a website and rank it in their search results. This means that when users search for relevant topics, the indexed pages that best match their query may appear in search results.

Indexing is a crucial step to ensure the visibility of a website in search engines. Without proper indexing, a website will not be listed and cannot be found by users when they search.

It is important to note that indexing is not guaranteed for all websites. Certain factors such as content quality, technical optimization, inbound links and other relevance criteria can influence how a search engine indexes a website. Therefore, it is essential to have a solid SEO strategy in place to maximize the chances of effective indexing and better online visibility.

How does the Google indexing process work?

Indexing follows a 4-step process orchestrated by Googlebot:

🎯 Discovery of new pages

The discovery of new pages on a website consists of implementing techniques to give visibility to new content and encourage Internet users to consult it. The objective is to give maximum exposure to new content so that it is quickly discovered by visitors already present on the site and also to attract new readers thanks to these quality pages.

This is an important issue for any site that seeks to keep its audience engaged by regularly publishing new products and implementing an effective strategy to introduce them. Googlebot discovers URLs to crawl in different ways:

• Inbound backlinks pointing to site pages
• Declaration in Google Search Console
• Links in already indexed pages
• Sitemap XML

🎯 Website crawling

Crawling refers to the process by which search engines explore and analyze pages of a website to reference them. Crawlers automatically browse and index content. The crawling frequency depends on several factors: popularity of the site, frequent updates or not, time required to crawl all the pages, etc. Important sites are crawled continuously.

Googlebot visits and crawls all pages, analyzing their text content and outgoing links. Tools like Google Search Console allow you to monitor crawling: number of pages indexed, HTTP status of URLs, possible errors, etc. They provide valuable information to detect and resolve problems.

🎯 Page indexing

Optimize the title tag with the main keywords and avoid it being too long. Write an attractive, concise meta description that includes secondary keywords. Reduce page weight, minimize requests, improve the server. Make the site mobile-friendly for a comfortable consultation on mobile.

Link the contents together with relevant text links. Balance links on each page. Build a network of backlinks from trusted partner sites. Aim for diversity of sources and avoid buying links. Monitor your engine positions, traffic, bounce rate. Analyze the competition. Set monthly objectives and KPIs.

After crawling, Googlebot adds the site pages to its enormous index of several hundred billion web pages. Googlebot returns to crawl the site to detect new features, update the index and dereference old pages. Indexing is therefore a permanent process managed automatically by Google robots.

What factors influence the indexing of a website?

Many technical and qualitative elements affect indexing by Googlebot:

🎯 Crawl budget

The crawl budget refers to the number of pages that a search engine like Google can crawl and index on a website during a given period. This budget is limited. Several factors influence the crawling budget allocated to a site: its popularity, the number of updates, the size of the site, the interest of its content for Internet users. Tools like Google Search Console allow you to have an estimate of your site's crawling budget by Google and to see the most crawled pages. To improve your crawling budget and be better indexed, you have to gain popularity, improve its internal structure, offer engaging content that is frequently updated.

Duplicate pages, of low quality or providing little added value are given lower priority in the Google's crawling budget. Googlebot has limited crawling capability. A site that is too slow will only partially indexed.

🎯 robots.txt file

Le robots.txt file is a text file used to tell search engine crawlers which pages they are allowed to crawl on a website. It is located at the root of the website and may contain instructions for different crawlers. The robots.txt file is used to block access to pages that you do not want indexed by search engines. This may include test pages, login pages, shopping cart pages, or other pages that are not intended to be indexed.

The robots.txt file can also be used to limit how often crawlers access your website. This can help reduce the load on your server and avoid bandwidth issues. It is important to note that the robots.txt file does not guarantee that blocked pages will not be indexed by search engines. Crawlers may ignore instructions in the robots.txt file or index pages that are not included in the file.

It is also important to ensure that the robots.txt file is correctly configured. Improper configuration can cause indexing issues, such as important pages being indexed or important pages being excluded.

🎯 Speed ​​and technical quality of the site

A fast site, in HTTPS, without 404 errors will be better indexed. Start by identifying the URLs returning these 404 errors in analytics and tracking tools like Google Search Console. This allows you to see the missing pages.

Redirect when possible. If the URL no longer exists, set up a 301 redirect to a similar page still online when possible. This conserves SEO capital.

Remove dead links. Remove all internal links pointing to 404 URLs. These broken links harm the user experience.

Ne pas leave URL orphaned. Any URL must lead either to an active page or to a redirect. You should not leave a permanent 404 URL unresolved.

Create a custom 404 page. Set up an attractive 404 page explaining to the user that the page cannot be found and offering links to other content.

🎯 Other factors

More a site receives traffic and backlinks, the more quickly and widely it will be indexed. Googlebot prioritizes unique, updated, and keyword-optimized texts. The HTML and CSS must be valid and clean to facilitate the robot's work. Furthermore, make your site responsive. With mobile-first, smartphone indexing has become a priority. Anything that improves user experience also improves Googlebot indexing.

How to precisely monitor the indexing of your web pages?

Several methods exist to monitor the indexing status of your site. First you have Google Search Console This is the reference tool provided by Google to monitor the indexing of each page in detail.

It is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to monitor the indexing of your website. It provides information on indexed pages, crawl errors, search statistics and much more. You can check the indexing status of your individual pages and submit new URLs for crawling. Do searches on Google using the mention “Site:” followed by the link (site:www.monsite.com) that you want to know if it is already indexed on Google.

Although Google Analytics doesn't directly track page indexing, it can give you indirect insights into organic search activity. You can look at organic traffic data to see if your pages are indexed and generating traffic from search engines. Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz or Serpstat to monitor your keyword rankings and how your visibility is changing in search results. If your pages rank well for relevant keywords, this indicates that they are likely indexed.

Perform manual searches on search engines using specific keywords to check if your pages appear in search results. Make sure to use private browsing or a offline browsing window to get non-personalized results. Monitor backlinks (links from other websites to yours) using tools like Majestic, Ahrefs or SEMrush. If your pages are linked from other websites, this indicates that they are probably indexed.

How to speed up the indexing of your site by Google?

A fast site will be indexed much better. Consider minifying resources, optimize images, activate a CDN and cache. A simplified structure with fewer silos will also facilitate Googlebot's crawling work. Publish quality content on a regular basis. Unique, updated, keyword-rich texts will optimize indexing. Submit an XML sitemap from your website to google. The sitemap tells Google all the URLs to index. The RSS feed makes it easy for Googlebot to discover new content.

Configure your robots.txt correctly to let Googlebot crawl and index all the useful pages of the site. With these best practices, indexing new pages will only take a few hours or days, compared to weeks or months otherwise.

Indexing errors to avoid on your site

When you want to avoid indexing errors on your website, here are some important points to consider:

Block the indexing of important pages: Make sure you don't block the indexing of pages you want to appear in search results. Check that your robots.txt file doesn't accidentally block important parts of your site.

Duplicate content: Avoid having duplicate content on your website as this can cause indexing issues. Make sure each page has unique content and avoid copying and pasting content from other sources.

Incorrect or missing meta tags: Meta tags, such as title tags and descriptions, are important in helping search engines understand the content on your pages. Make sure each page has unique, relevant, and well-optimized meta tags.

Crawl errors: Monitor crawl errors in Google Search Console to identify issues that might be preventing your pages from being crawled and indexed. Fix these errors as soon as possible to ensure correct indexing.

Broken links: Broken links can also cause indexing issues. Check your website regularly to identify and fix broken links to ensure a smooth user experience and trouble-free indexing.

Low quality or irrelevant content: Make sure the content on your website is high quality, relevant and useful to users. Search engines are more likely to index and rank pages that provide real value to users.

Technical issues : Technical issues such as loading speed issues, server errors, or site structure issues can also affect indexing. Make sure your website is technically optimized for easy crawling and indexing by search engines.

By avoiding these common indexing mistakes, you can improve your website's visibility in search results and ensure that your pages are correctly indexed by search engines.

Conclusion

Understanding the process of Google indexing websites is essential to improving a site's visibility and online presence. Indexing is the mechanism by which Google crawls, analyzes and stores web pages in its index, so that they can be displayed in relevant search results. By understanding how indexing works, website owners can take steps to optimize their site and maximize their chances of being indexed and ranked appropriately.

This includes practices such as creating high-quality, unique content, using relevant meta tags, avoiding duplicate content, fixing crawl errors, and resolving technical issues. By using tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and keyword tracking tools, you can monitor your website's indexing, identify potential issues, and take steps to improve visibility. in search results.

To accelerate loading speed and improve indexability, use a plugin such as WP Rocket on WordPress is very effective. By optimizing resources and cache, WP Rocket dramatically boosts page speed. It's a major SEO gain for indexing a WordPress site by Google.

FAQs

Q: What is website indexing at Google?

A: Website indexing at Google is the process by which Google crawls, analyzes and stores web pages in its index, so that they can be displayed in relevant search results.

Q: How do I know if my website is indexed by Google?

A: You can check if your website is indexed by Google by searching “site:yoursite.com” in the Google search bar. This will display the pages on your site that are currently indexed.

Q: How can I optimize the indexing of my website?

A: To optimize the indexing of your website, you can take the following steps:

• Create unique, high-quality content.
• Use relevant and optimized meta tags.
• Avoid duplicate content.
• Fix crawl errors identified in Google Search Console.
• Fix technical issues that might affect indexing.

Q: Are all websites automatically indexed by Google?

A: No, Not all websites are automatically indexed by Google. Google crawlers follow specific guidelines to decide which pages to index. It is important to implement optimization practices to facilitate the indexing of your site.

Q: How long does it take for a website to be indexed by Google?

A: Indexing time may vary depending on several factors such as site size, content update frequency, and optimization quality. Typically, Google crawls popular websites regularly, but it can take a few days to several weeks for new pages to be indexed.

Q: Is blocking the indexing of certain pages recommended?

A: Yes, It may be necessary to block certain pages from being indexed, such as test pages, login pages, or shopping cart pages. You can use the robots.txt file or meta tags “noindex” to tell Google not to index these pages.

Q: What if an important page is not indexed by Google?

A: If an important page is not indexed by Google, you can check if it is blocked by robots.txt or has crawl errors in Google Search Console. Also make sure the page has unique and relevant content, as well as optimized meta tags.

Q: How can I track the indexing of my website?

A: You can track your website's indexing using tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and keyword tracking tools. These tools will provide you with information on indexed pages, crawl errors, and performance in search results.

Q: What should I do if my website is downgraded or loses visibility in search results?

A: If your website is downgraded or losing visibility in search results, you can perform an SEO audit to identify potential issues such as technical issues, duplicate content, or low-quality backlinks. Then take the necessary steps to resolve these issues and improve your site's optimization.