How to get Google to index your site: steps and timelines

Short answer: Add your site to Google Search Console as a Domain property, submit a sitemap, and check that nothing blocks Googlebot (robots.txt, noindex, a login, a firewall). Link every page you care about from another page, use Request indexing on a handful of key URLs, and earn a few real links from other sites. Google says a new site can take "a week or so" to be crawled and indexed. Don't mass-request indexing, pay for "guaranteed" indexing, or use the Indexing API unless you publish job postings or livestreams.

Most new sites need no trick. Google says it "automatically looks for sites to add to our index; you usually don't even need to do anything except post your site on the web," then adds the catch: "However, sometimes sites get missed." A new site that nobody links to is the usual victim. Below is the order we'd work in, with Google's limits beside each step.

1. Check whether Google already has you

Google's SEO starter guide suggests a site:yourdomain.com search: "If you see results pointing to your site, you're in the index." But the operator "doesn't necessarily return all the URLs that are indexed," so a short list doesn't mean a short index.

For a firm answer, inspect a URL in URL Inspection: "URL is on Google" means it's eligible to appear in results, "URL is not on Google" means it can't. Our Google index checker runs the site: search and checks the page for blocks. It's an estimate, so confirm important pages in Search Console.

2. Verify your site in Search Console

Search Console is free, and it's where Google tells you why a page isn't indexed. Add a Domain property (what that means). Google's property guide says it covers "all subdomains (m, www, and so on) and multiple protocols (http, https, ftp)," and that it uses "DNS record verification only": you add a TXT record where your DNS is managed, and for some domains Google can add it for you.

Do it on day one, even for a half-built site. Data is collected "as soon as anyone adds it in Search Console, even before verification occurs," but "it takes a few days for data to start to accrue." Leave the record in place: if Search Console can't find the token, your permissions eventually expire.

3. Remove anything that blocks Googlebot

Google's technical requirements come to three: Googlebot isn't blocked, the page returns HTTP 200, and it has indexable content. Meeting them "doesn't mean that a page will be indexed," but "It costs nothing to get your page in search results, no matter what anyone tries to tell you." Check, in order:

1. robots.txt. A Disallow: / left over from staging stops crawling. The robots.txt tester shows the line that decided.
2. noindex. A noindex in a robots meta tag or an X-Robots-Tag header keeps a page out. The noindex checker reads both for up to 20 URLs. Don't also block the page in robots.txt, or the crawler "will never see the noindex rule."
3. Logins. "If a page is made private, such as requiring a log-in to view it, Googlebot will not crawl it." Open your site in an incognito window to see what a stranger sees.
4. Firewalls. Google's hosting guide says to check "your firewall configuration or denial of service (DoS) protection" so it doesn't block Googlebot. A new CDN rule can do it by accident.
5. Status codes. Google "only indexes pages that are served with an HTTP 200 (success) status code."

The rest, including rendering, is in our technical SEO checklist.

4. Submit a sitemap

A sitemap lists the URLs you want crawled. Google's overview says you might need one if "Your site is new and has few external links to it," because "Googlebot might not discover your pages if no other sites link to them." A small, comprehensively linked site (about 500 pages or fewer) might not need one. We'd submit one anyway. It takes minutes.

Know its limit. Google calls a submission "merely a hint," and in February 2026 John Mueller wrote on Reddit: "If Google's not convinced that there's new & important content to index, it won't use the sitemap." A sitemap helps Google find URLs. It doesn't make them worth indexing.

Submit it in the Sitemaps report or with a Sitemap: line in robots.txt. List only canonical, indexable URLs and run the file through our sitemap checker. If you have several page families, give each its own sitemap: the Page indexing report filters by sitemap, so you see the status per family, as we did in the Discovered post.

5. Link every page from another page

Google "primarily finds pages through links from other pages it already crawled," so your own links are the surest way in. Its link guide says "Every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site," and that Google can generally only crawl a link that's an <a> element with an href.

• Link new pages from a page Google visits often. In 2022 John Mueller told a Reddit user: "One of the things even smaller, newer sites can do is to mention and link to updates on their homepages. Google usually refreshes homepages more frequently, so if there's something important & new, make sure you have it there."
• Keep key pages shallow. We aim for three clicks from the home page. That's our rule, not Google's.

The internal link checker flags orphan page candidates, and internal linking for small sites has a four-rule system.

6. Request indexing for a handful of URLs

Inspect a URL in URL Inspection and click Request indexing. If the page passes a quick check it joins the indexing queue; if the live test says it can't be indexed, you can't request it. Spend requests on pages that matter: home, pricing, your main product pages and your best two or three articles. Google's limits:

• "There is a daily limit to how many index requests you can submit." The help page gives no number.
• "Submitting a request does not guarantee that the page will appear in the Google Index."
• Asking again doesn't help: "requesting a recrawl multiple times for the same URL won't get it crawled any faster," Google says.
• For many pages, "your best choice is to submit a sitemap."

7. Get your first links from other sites

Links are how Google finds most pages, and the starter guide says you can "encourage people to discover your content by promoting your site." Google's page on getting your site on Google lists "Your site isn't linked to by other sites on the web" as a common reason sites get missed, with a condition: "please don't pay them to link to you; that could be considered a violation of Google's spam policies."

The honest first links for a startup:

• A launch. Launch free on LaunchRanked: a permanent product page, a weekly leaderboard slot and a followed link after human review, no badge required.
• A few reviewed, niche directories. Our directory submission service does this by hand. Be selective: Google's spam policies list "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam. Directory submissions in 2026 covers how to pick.
• Places your audience already talks, with a real reason to link to you.

We have no controlled test of how much one link speeds up indexing, and some links are nofollow, which Google treats as a hint (dofollow vs nofollow). The case for links is the path they give Googlebot, plus the people who click.

How long it takes

Google gives ranges, not promises:

The last row is an attendee's account of a Google talk, not a Google publication, and it lists only typical and slowest times. It reports Illyes's caveat that the processes are linked: "a page can't be indexed until it has been crawled, so delays stack up." Our reading: the fast numbers describe a page that has been found and judged worth keeping, and the slow end is where quality decides. The recap's author says "never" is usually tied to quality.

Our own numbers sit at the "few weeks" end. On 4 October 2026, when launchranked.com was about three weeks old, the Page indexing report showed 659 indexed URLs and 613 in Discovered – currently not indexed, and our three sitemaps list 1,341 URLs. About half indexed, the rest queued. We ran no controlled test, so we can't say which step moved the most. The full numbers are in the Discovered post.

Bing and the others: IndexNow

IndexNow is a ping you send when a URL is added, updated or deleted. Its site lists support from Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep, and its FAQ adds an Amazon endpoint. Submit to any one endpoint and "your submission will be shared across all IndexNow-enabled search engines." It guarantees nothing: "Submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing."

Google isn't on the list. It said in 2021 it "will be testing the potential benefits of this protocol," and John Mueller wrote that he wouldn't "assume from a limited test that this will launch broadly anytime soon." We haven't found a later announcement, so for Google stay with the sitemap and Search Console. For Bing, our IndexNow tester checks your key file and submits up to 10 URLs.

What not to do

• Don't mass-request indexing. There's a daily limit, and asking twice speeds nothing up. Use the sitemap for volume.
• Don't pay for guaranteed indexing. Google says it "doesn't accept payment to crawl a site more frequently, or rank it higher. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're wrong." Its guide to hiring an SEO warns against anyone who advertises a "priority submit" to Google. We can't see inside any indexing service. We can only say its promises conflict with Google's.
• Don't use the Indexing API for ordinary pages. Google's quickstart says it "can only be used to crawl pages with either JobPosting or BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject," and that abuse "may result in access being revoked." In office hours Gary Illyes said it "might still work, but since it's intended for those two things, I wouldn't be surprised if suddenly it stopped working for unsupported verticals overnight." In May 2025 John Mueller said "We see a lot of spammers misuse the Indexing API like this, so I'd recommend just sticking to the documented & supported use-cases."
• Don't buy links or join exchanges. Buying links for ranking, excessive link exchanges and automated link creation are all on Google's link spam list. See is backlink exchange safe?
• Don't publish in bursts. We shipped about 2,500 posts to Versely in a month and many were crawled but not indexed. Here's what happened.

If it's still not indexed after a few weeks

Give it two to four weeks first. That's our rule of thumb, inside Google's "few weeks." Then inspect a URL and read the status Search Console gives it:

Indexing is step one. The weeks after it are in our 90-day plan for a new domain, and Search Console for founders explains the reports you'll keep opening. We opened every source here on 8 October 2026.