Search engine indexing is a crucial component of SEO success for your company’s online exposure and the overall visibility of your website. Search engines such as Google will pull keywords and meta-data from page titles and meta descriptions so that your website will be retrieved when a user plugs in similar business-related search terms. So, how can you ensure that you have successfully indexed your site and how do you know what pages of your website are indexed? Continue reading our industry blog to learn more.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free product offered by Google. To sync your site with Google Search Console, you will need to install coding in the header of your site or already have the site linked to Google Analytics. If your site is already using Google Analytics, there is a good chance syncing your site and Search console will be as simple as a click of a button. Need some instruction on how to sync your site and search console? See our blog on Search Console Verification here.
Sitemap Submission
Google Search Console allows you to easily create and submit a sitemap for your website. The sitemap is the outline for which search engines can see each page of your website. This section of Search Console allows you to view the total pages that were submitted and the total pages indexed. You are also able to use features such as Crawl Errors and Crawl Stats in order to help check the overall progress and health of your website.
Specific Webpage audit
Google Search Console also allows you to view the status and performance of specific webpages from a search standpoint. Simply go to the top left of Search Console and select the tab ‘URL Inspection’. From there, you can enter the URL you want to be inspected. This can take a minute or two but once completed, Google will be able to let you know if the page is indexed, in the queue for indexing, or it is not eligible to be found via search. If the last option occurs, it is most likely the page is designated as no-index, no-follow. If this is the case, you will need to edit the page’s source code accordingly.
You can also review the performance of the page under the ‘Performance’ tab right above ‘URL inspection’. This tab provides insights regarding what keywords fire the webpage to be found on Google in addition to the number of clicks specific keywords generate for a webpage. This information is valuable to marketers as it determines which pages are performing the best and which pages need content improvements.
Other Methods of Checking if your Pages are Indexed: Google Search
By using Google Search, you can see if your webpage is on Google. If you discover page(s) of your website are not included in these results, this means that Google cannot see them or they have yet to be crawled. Simply type into the search bar site:https://www.yourwebsite.com and view your results.
Boston Web Marketing: Improving Client Websites and Generating Leads
If you feel your current marketing team is not producing content that is being indexed on Google or you feel your site could improve, give Boston Web Marketing a call today. We have been providing clients across numerous industries the SEO know-how to increase web traffic and more importantly, leads. Contact Boston Web Marketing today for a website audit and learn more about how we can help your business grow.