Ethan Lively Mentoring

SUBSCRIBE

To The Newsletter

Ethan Lively Logo

How Google Reads Your Website:
How to Index Using Google Search Console

Understanding Google Crawling and Setting Up Google Search Console
 

As a website owner, you want your content to be discovered by potential visitors. One way to make this happen is through search engines like Google. 

However, for your website to appear on Google search results, it must first be crawled and indexed by Google.

In this blog post, we will explore what crawling is, how it works, and how you can ensure that your website is being crawled by Google. 

We will also discuss how to set up Google Search Console, a powerful tool that can help you monitor and improve your website’s performance on Google.

 

Before we begin, you can use www.browseo.net,

and view your web page like search engines see it.

 

Toronto, Ontario
SHARE:

What is Crawling?

Crawling is the process by which search engines like Google scan your website’s content to determine its relevance and importance. This is done by using automated software programs called “spiders” or “bots” that crawl through the pages of your website, following links and collecting information about your content. The information gathered during the crawling process is then indexed by the search engine, allowing it to quickly retrieve and display relevant content to users who perform a search.

Why is Crawling Important?

Crawling is an essential component of search engine optimization (SEO) because it allows search engines to understand the content of your website and its relevance to specific search queries. If your website is not being crawled by Google, your content will not appear on search results, no matter how valuable it may be. To ensure that your website is being crawled and indexed by Google, you need to take some steps to optimize it for search engines.

How to Setup Google Search Console and Index Your Website?

Visit Google Search Console (GSC)

Search Console is a free tool from Google that helps website owners understand their performance on Google Search and optimize it for better results. It provides information on how Google crawls, indexes, and serves websites, which can help you monitor and improve your site’s search performance. To get started, follow these simple steps: verify site ownership, check for indexing errors, review mobile usability, consider submitting a sitemap, and monitor your site’s performance using the Search performance report.

Now, I will  explain the steps. Realistically, I assume you don’t know how to do most of these and you should run a youtube search for better understanding.
 
1- Verify site ownership:

Verify that you own the website by adding it to your Google Search Console account. This will give you access to all of the information Search Console makes available.

There are several ways to verify your website with Google Search Console (GSC). These include uploading an HTML file, verifying through your domain name provider, adding an HTML tag, using your Google Analytics tracking code, or using your Google Tag Manager container snippet code. Google-hosted sites are automatically verified.

2- Create a sitemap for your website:

Create a sitemap of your website. This is a file that lists all of the pages on your site that you want Google to index. You can use a tool like XML Sitemap Generator to create your sitemap.

If you use WordPress, you can grab the sitemap from Yoast SEO Plugin settings.

Check this link, Sitemap Submission Explained by Google

3- Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console:
 

Submit your sitemap to Google through Search Console. This will help Google discover and index all of the pages on your site.

4- Optimize your pages:
 

Optimize your pages for search by including relevant keywords in your content and meta tags. This will help Google understand what your pages are about and index them more accurately.

5- Monitor your site’s performance:
 

Use Search Console to monitor your site’s performance in Google Search. This will help you identify any issues that might be affecting your site’s visibility and take action to address them.

 

 Look Out! 

When a website has a URL with and without “www”, they are actually two different domains that may be served from different servers. However, website owners can choose a preferred domain, which is known as the canonical domain. 

If you do not specify your preferred domain to GSC, Google may consider the www and non-www versions of your domain as distinct, which could lead to a division of your page views, backlinks, and engagement into two separate entities. This can be detrimental to your website’s performance.

Make sure to index your preferred domain! 

example, https://www.yourwebsite.com instead of, https://yourwebsite.com

Subscriber
Zkgfkxq
Posts: 0
Subscriber
Vojwq
Posts: 0
Subscriber
Exlcauqcjak
Posts: 0
Subscriber
Zbpinpvv
Posts: 0

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *