How to put your website on Google search for free

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Google 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. However, sometimes sites get missed. Check to see if your site is on Google and learn how to make your content more visible in Google Search.

Basic checklist for appearing in Google Search results

Here are a few basic questions to ask yourself about your website when you get started. You can find additional getting started information in the SEO Starter Guide.

Is your website showing up on Google?

To see if your pages are already indexed, search for your site in Google Search with a query like this. Substitute your own site for "example.com".

site:example.com The site: operator doesn't necessarily return all the URLs that are indexed under the prefix specified in the query. Learn more about the site: operator.

Although Google crawls billions of pages, it's inevitable that some sites will be missed. When our crawlers miss a site, it's frequently for one of the following reasons:

  • Your site isn't linked to by other sites on the web. See if you can get your site linked to by other sites (but please don't pay them to link to you; that could be considered a violation of Google's guidelines).
  • You've just launched a new site and Google hasn't had time to crawl it yet. It can take a few weeks for Google to notice a new site, or any changes in your existing site.
  • The design of the site makes it difficult for Google to crawl its content effectively. If your site is built on some other specialized technology, rather than HTML, Google might have trouble crawling it correctly. Remember to use text, not just images or video, on your site.
  • Google received an error when trying to crawl your site. Most common reasons for this are that you have a login page for your site, or that your site blocks Google for some reason. Make sure that you can access your site in an incognito window.
  • Google missed it: Although Google crawls billions of pages, it's inevitable that we'll miss a few sites, especially small ones. Wait a while, and try to get linked from other sites.

    If you're feeling adventurous, you can add your site to Search Console to see if there's an error that might prevent Google from understanding your site. You can also send us your most important URLs to let us know we should crawl and potentially index them.

Follow the Google Search Essentials to make sure that you're fulfilling the site guidelines for appearing on Google.

Do you serve high-quality content to users?

Your number one priority is ensuring that your users have the best possible experience on your site. Think about what makes your site unique, valuable, or engaging. To help you evaluate your content, ask yourself the self-assessment questions in our guide to creating content that's helpful, reliable, and people-first. To make sure that you’re managing your website using Google-friendly practices, read the Search Essentials.

Is your local business showing up on Google?

Your Business Profile lets you manage how your business information appears across Google, including Search and Maps. Consider claiming your Business Profile.

Is your content fast and easy to access on all devices?

Most searches are now done from mobile devices; make sure that your content is optimized to load quickly and display properly on all screen sizes. Test if your pages are mobile-friendly.

Is your website secure?

Modern users expect a secure online experience. Secure your website's connection with HTTPS.

Do you need additional help?

SEOs (search engine optimizers) are professionals who can help you improve your website and increase visibility on search engines. Learn more about why and how to hire an SEO.

Is your content about a specialized topic?

Depending on what your content is about, there are more ways you can get that content on Google.

Digital content
Google Books and eBooks Promote your books online and sell your titles through our eBook store.
Scholar Include scholarly works in Google's academic index.
Google News Appear in Google News search results, or provide digital editions for subscription.
Local information
Geo Data Upload If you are an authoritative or official source of regional data, publish it through Google.
Photo Sphere Photograph and share the world with 360° pictures.
Street View Provide a panoramic virtual tour of your property.
Transit Partner Program Encourage use of public transit by making it easy to locate routes, schedules and fares.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2022-11-01 UTC.

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Learn how to submit your website to the Google search engine and help it show up in the top results

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of getting your website to show up naturally on search engines results without having to pay for it.

It is combined with the page titles, descriptions and content that you have added to the website.

How to put your website on Google search for free

There are basics that need to be taken care of before you share your website with the world. Make sure you have added page descriptions and images since this is essential for all sharing related — Google and, for lack of a better example, Facebook are displaying that info along with your web links.

If you're good to go, submit your domain to Google Search Console URL Crawler. Google adds new sites to their index and updates existing ones every time they crawl the web. If you have a new URL, tell them about it through the previous link.

Note that they won't add all submitted URLs to their index, and we can't make predictions or guarantees about when or if submitted URLs will appear in their index.

Google also asks for your website sitemap. This is necessary so that the Google robots can scan your site structure and index it in the search engine. If you've built your website with Voog, it's already available to them, and you don't have to take any extra steps to submit it.

Setting up Google Search Console with Voog

Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor and maintain your site's presence in Google Search results. Signing up can help you understand how Google views your site and optimize its performance in search results. 

To join the Google Search Console you first need to have a Google account and personal domain address. Once you've done that and have access to the tool, add your website address as a property in the console. Of course, Google asks for verification to confirm that you are the owner of the website listed.

Choose 'URL prefix' as the verification method, which should give you a code that looks similar to this: "googlef52f1d814b8972e9.html".

Copy the file name and paste it in your Voog console, in the 'Content > SEO' menu. When you scroll down on the SEO page, you can find the 'Google Search Console verification code' field and enter the code there.

Once you've done that, you should see a confirmation in the Google Search Console in a little while.

Google also offers another free service called Google Webmaster Tools (GWT). We recommend using it because it allows you to:

  • Submit your site to Google

  • Control updating rate and force Google to revisit your site (by re-submitting your sitemap.xml file)

  • See when Google has visited and indexed your site

  • See how users reach your site (incoming links and keywords)

  • Get Google's view of your site

  • Diagnose problems (broken links, duplicated page title)

But first, learn more about Voog

Future tasks — get to the top

Once indexed, you are halfway there. It requires a lot of work to get to the top in Google search results. The way to get to the top is to promote your site — promote it in popular blogs, websites, and your friends' sites. Let them write about your site and link to your site. But of course, the prerequisite for that is that the content of your site is valuable and interesting. We'll write more about how to make it to the top of Google in a further post.

  • Pingomatic blog pinging service
  • What is Sitemap
  • About Crawling & Indexing

What about other search engines, such as Bing?

There are multiple search engines out there, none as powerful as Google. However, if you are interested in joining, for example, the Bing search engine, it's a relatively similar process to the one described above. Check out the necessary steps here. Note that Voog doesn't support the XML verification method and we recommend the META-tag method.

If you've changed your website structure, deleted any pages or even added new ones, it's always good to ask Google to recrawl your website. It's a simple process and you can do it here. Check it out — it's a great tool because it keeps your website information updated in the search results.

You can read a more detailed guide in our blog entry here.

How to remove your whole site or a specific page from Google's search results?

Google may index your website in a way, which might not be most suitable for you. For example, the search results display a page, which is actually deleted. You can notify Google to delete false information from the search results.

If your site is connected to the Google Search Console tool, you must first delete your site or subpages of your site, which you don't want to be visible in the search results, then log on to your Google Search Console account and choose Google Index > Remove URLs from the left menu. If the site hasn't been deleted before, the application will only delete your site from the search engines temporarily – for 90 days. More information about this can be found in our blog post.

If you've made changes on your site, you can ask Google to re-index the site by using the Fetch as Google tool.