Indexing and SEO: 10 Steps to Get Your Content Indexed by Google and Bing

Introduction: Why Indexing is the Foundation of SEO

You might have the most amazing content in your field, but if Google and Bing aren’t indexing it, it’s like shouting into a void—nobody will hear you. Here’s a surprising fact: Ahrefs reports that a whopping 91% of websites don’t get any traffic from Google. What’s the main culprit? Indexing problems.

Indexing is the crucial first step to getting noticed. Without it, your content won’t show up in search results, Google Discover, Bing AI results, or even in AI-driven search engines like Gemini and ChatGPT.

This guide is here to walk you through everything you need to know, step by step, to ensure your pages get indexed quickly and start climbing the ranks on Google and Bing.

What is Indexing in SEO?

How Google & Bing Index Websites

Search engines follow a 3-step process to find and rank web pages:

• Crawling – Bots like Googlebot and Bingbot scan your site.
• Indexing – The scanned pages are added to Google’s and Bing’s databases.
• Ranking – Search engines evaluate content quality, links, user engagement, and 200+ factors to determine rankings.

If your page isn’t indexed, it simply won’t show up in search results.

How to Check If Your Page is Indexed

Quick method: Go to Google and search:

site:yourwebsite.com/page-url

If your page appears, it’s indexed. If not, follow the 10 powerful steps below to fix it!

10 Steps to Get Your Content Indexed by Google and Bing

Step 1: Perform an Indexing Audit

Before you optimize, check why your content isn’t indexed.

How to Audit Indexing Issues

1. Google Search Console (GSC) → Go to Pages → Check Indexing Status
2. Bing Webmaster Tools → Check the URL Inspection tool
3. Look for the following errors:

• “Discovered – currently not indexed”
• “Crawled – currently not indexed”
• Soft 404 errors
• Canonical tag issues
  

Common Reasons for Indexing Failures

Example: A travel website saw 30% of its pages not indexed due to “noindex” meta tags. Removing these tags boosted their indexed pages by 85% in two weeks.

Step 2: Submit Your Website to Google & Bing

Fact: Websites that manually submit their pages get indexed 40% faster than those that rely on bots alone.

🔹 How to Submit Your Site

✅ Google Search Console (GSC):

Go to Google Search Console

• Click “Add Property.”
• Verify ownership using DNS, HTML tag, or Google Analytics
• Submit your sitemap.xml

✅ Bing Webmaster Tools:

• Visit Bing Webmaster Tools
• Add your site
• Submit your sitemap.xml

Case Study: A SaaS company reduced its indexing time from 3 weeks to 3 days by submitting its site manually.

Step 3: Create and Submit an XML Sitemap

A sitemap tells search engines which pages to index.
How to Create a Sitemap
WordPress: Use Yoast SEO or Rank Math

Manual Method: Use Screaming Frog or XML-Sitemaps.com

🔹 Best Practices for Sitemaps
✅ Only include important pages (no duplicate or thin content).
✅ Keep your sitemap updated whenever you publish new content.
✅ Submit your sitemap to both Google and Bing.
Example: An e-commerce site saw a 70% increase in indexed product pages after optimizing its sitemap structure.

Step 4: Improve Internal Linking

Google and Bing discover new content through internal links.
🔹 How to Optimize Internal Links for Faster Indexing
✅ Link to new content from high-authority pages.
✅ Use descriptive anchor text (not just “click here”). 
✅ Add related content sections on blogs and product pages.
Example: Wikipedia dominates search rankings due to its powerful internal linking structure.

Step 5: Use IndexNow & Google Indexing API

Search engines take days or weeks to discover content. But with IndexNow and Google’s Indexing API, they can find new pages instantly.

🔹 How to Use IndexNow (For Bing)
Generate an API key from Bing’s IndexNow

Submit new URLs whenever you publish content
🔹 How to Use Google’s Indexing API
Works best for job postings and live event pages

Limited to 200 API calls per day

Example: A news site using IndexNow saw pages indexed within minutes instead of days.

Step 6: Improve Page Speed for Faster Crawling

Google prioritizes fast-loading sites.
🔹 Ways to Improve Speed:
✅ Use Cloudflare or a CDN for faster content delivery
✅ Optimize images using TinyPNG or WebP format
✅ Enable lazy loading for images and videos
Google’s Benchmark: Pages should load within 2.5 seconds for better indexing.

Step 7: Use Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Google prioritizes pages with structured data in search results.
🔹 Schema Types That Help with Indexing
✅ Article Schema – Helps news/blog indexing
✅ FAQ Schema – Improves snippet visibility
✅ Product Schema – Boosts e-commerce indexing
Case Study: A travel blog added structured data to its articles and saw a 40% increase in organic visibility.

Step 8: Refresh and Update Old Content

Google prefers fresh content. Updating old pages improves their indexing and rankings.
🔹 How to Refresh Content:
✅ Update outdated stats and links
✅ Add new images, videos. 
Example: HubSpot found that refreshing old content led to a 106% increase in organic traffic.

Step 9: Leverage Social Media & External Links

🔹 Ways to Get Content Indexed Faster:
✅ Share your new pages on X, LinkedIn, and Reddit
✅ Get backlinks from high-authority sites
✅ Post in forums like Quora and niche communities
Example: Content shared on Twitter gets indexed 23% faster than non-shared content.

Step 10: Manually Request Indexing for Hard-to-Index Pages

For stubborn pages, manually submit them for indexing.
🔹 How to Manually Request Indexing in GSC:

• Go to URL Inspection Tool
• Enter the URL
• Click “Request Indexing.”

Case Study: An enterprise website indexed 70% of missing pages after manual submissions.

FAQs on Indexing & SEO

1. How Long Does It Take for Google to Index My Website?

• Some pages get indexed in hours.
• Others take weeks without SEO optimization.

2. How Do I Check If My Page is Indexed?

Ans: Go to Google and search:

site:yourwebsite.com/page-url

If your page appears, it’s indexed.

3. What If My Page is Not Indexed?

• Check robots.txt & meta tags for errors.
• Submit the page to Google Search Console.
• Improve internal linking & content quality.

Conclusion: Key Takeaways

✅ Submit your site & sitemap to Google & Bing
✅ Use IndexNow & Google Indexing API for instant discovery
✅ Improve internal linking & backlinks
✅ Optimize site speed & structured data
✅ Update old content & leverage social media

Take Action: Apply at least 3 steps today and track your indexing results.