Google Indexing

How to Speed Up Google Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide That Actually Works

To speed up Google indexing, you can improve your website's structure, content, and links. Use Indexly to speed up indexing by enabling Google, Bing indexing, performing Technical SEO and OnPage SEO Audit.

Deepti

Feb 21, 2025 — 11 min read

Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi / Unsplash

Did you know that 90% of web pages never appear in Google search results? Even more surprising - some pages take weeks or months for Google indexing to occur.

For content creators and website owners, this waiting game can be frustrating. You've published great content, but it's invisible to your target audience until Google discovers and indexes it.

Fortunately, you can speed up this process. Through proven techniques like proper Search Console setup, technical SEO optimization, and strategic internal linking, you can help Google find and index your content faster.

This step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to accelerate Google indexing for your website, using methods that actually work. Let's dive into the practical steps you can take today.

Understanding Google's Indexing Process

Google's search engine operates through a sophisticated process of discovering and organizing web content. Initially, Googlebot, the search engine's web crawler, scans the internet to find new or updated content ¹.

How Google discovers new content

Googlebot begins its journey by following links from previously known pages to discover new URLs ¹. Subsequently, when the crawler finds a webpage, it analyzes the content, catalogs images and videos, and determines the topics covered ². This process enables Google to build its search index, a vast database stored across thousands of machines ².

The crawler operates strategically, visiting websites at different frequencies based on several factors. Furthermore, Googlebot renders pages using the latest version of Chrome to properly execute JavaScript and display dynamic content ¹. This ensures accurate interpretation of modern web technologies and interactive elements.

Why few pages get indexed faster

The speed of indexing primarily depends on two crucial factors: content quality and site popularity ³. High-quality websites with regular updates and strong backlinks often see their content indexed within hours ². Conversely, newer or average sites typically wait days to weeks for indexing ².

Website size also plays a significant role in indexing speed. Consider these typical indexing timeframes:

Sites with fewer than 500 pages: 3-4 weeks
Websites containing 500 to 25,000 pages: 2-3 months
Large sites exceeding 25,000 pages: 4-12 months ⁴

Moreover, technical factors influence indexing speed. Google allocates a specific crawl budget to each website, determining how many pages it can crawl simultaneously without overloading the server ¹. The crawler also prioritizes mobile-friendly content, as Google now primarily indexes the mobile version of websites ¹.

To verify if Google has indexed your website, simply type 'site:yourwebsite.com' into the Google search bar ¹. Additionally, for checking specific pages, use 'site:yourwebsite.com/url-slug' ¹. These commands provide immediate insight into your content's indexing status.

Set Up Google Search Console Properly

Setting up Google Search Console (GSC) properly forms the foundation for faster content indexing. This free tool from Google provides essential insights into your website's search performance and indexing status ⁵.

Verify website ownership

Before accessing GSC features, you must prove site ownership ⁶. There are two primary verification methods:

Domain Property Verification:
- Add TXT record to DNS settings
- Provides complete site data access
- Takes up to 72 hours for verification ⁷

The HTML file verification offers a simpler alternative, specifically for URL-prefix properties ⁸. This method requires uploading a verification file to your website's root directory.

Submit URL for immediate indexing

Once verification is complete, you can request Google to index specific URLs through the URL Inspection tool ⁹. This tool serves two crucial purposes:

Tests whether pages are indexable
Allows direct indexing requests ¹⁰

Specifically, the tool provides detailed information about Google's indexed version of your pages. For newly published or updated content, submitting URLs through this tool can significantly speed up the indexing process.

Monitor indexing coverage

The Index Coverage report notably helps track your site's presence in Google Search ⁴. This report identifies:

Successfully indexed pages
Pages with indexing problems
Excluded pages
Pages with warnings

Through this report, you can identify specific issues preventing page indexation ³. Upon fixing these issues, use the "Validate Fix" button to prompt Google to recrawl the affected pages ¹⁰.

The monitoring process primarily focuses on two aspects:

Tracking indexing status changes
Identifying technical issues affecting indexation

By maintaining regular oversight of these reports, you can ensure your content reaches Google's index promptly. Remember to check the Manual Actions and Security Issues reports if pages aren't appearing in search results ¹⁰.

Optimize Technical SEO Elements

Technical SEO elements form the backbone of efficient website indexing. By optimizing these elements, you can significantly improve how search engines discover and process your content.

Configure robots.txt file

The robots.txt file serves as a gatekeeper for search engine crawlers, controlling which parts of your website they can access ¹¹. This file resides at your site's root directory (e.g., www.example.com/robots.txt) and follows the Robots Exclusion Standard ¹¹. Through proper configuration, you can direct crawlers to focus on important content while avoiding unnecessary areas.

Fix crawl errors

Crawl errors create roadblocks for search engines, preventing them from properly accessing and indexing your content. These issues primarily manifest in two ways:

Dead-end links that stop crawler navigation
Server errors that block content access
Technical barriers preventing proper page rendering

Enable Google indexing with Indexly

Indexly is an all-in-one indexing platform that provides not only the indexing capabilities on Google, Bing, Yandex but also the Technical SEO and On Page SEO checker features that help you with holistic indexing.

Follow the step-by-step guide on how to enable Google indexing on Indexly.

Enable Bing indexing

IndexNow represents a significant advancement in search engine communication. This protocol, developed by Microsoft and Yandex, instantly alerts participating search engines about website changes ¹².

Consequently, when you update content, the protocol automatically notifies all participating search engines ¹³, essentially eliminating the time gap between updates and discovery ¹⁴.

The protocol operates through a simple verification process:

Generate a unique API key for your website
Host the key on your domain
Submit URLs through the IndexNow API

Worry not, Indexly helps you with all of this. Follow the blog to enable Bing indexing for your sites with Indexly

Optimize crawl budget

Crawl budget management directly impacts how effectively search engines process your site. For websites with hundreds of millions of pages that change periodically, or tens of millions of pages with frequent updates, Google might not crawl the entire site as often as desired ¹⁵. Therefore, prioritizing your most valuable pages becomes crucial.

To maximize crawl efficiency:

List recently updated pages in your sitemap
Block low-value URLs through robots.txt
Fix redirect chains that waste crawler resources
Remove duplicate content that consumes crawl resources

The primary goal is directing crawl resources toward pages that generate revenue and engagement ¹⁶. Hence, analyze your server logs to understand crawler behavior and make informed optimization decisions ¹⁷. Through these technical improvements, you can ensure search engines focus on your most important content.

Create an Effective XML Sitemap

XML sitemaps serve as a crucial roadmap for search engines, directing them to your website's most valuable content. A well-structured sitemap accelerates the indexing process by highlighting key pages and their update patterns.

Check your sitemap on Indexly's sitemap checker

Include priority URLs

Creating an effective XML sitemap begins with careful URL selection. The sitemap should contain URLs of pages you want indexed, excluding blocked pages, redirects, and non-canonical URLs ¹⁸. Above all, focus on high-quality, indexable pages that return 200 OK status codes ¹.

For optimal organization, assign priority values to different types of content:

0.8-1.0: Homepage, product pages, and major category sections
0.4-0.7: Blog posts, minor categories, and FAQs
0.0-0.3: Outdated content and less relevant pages ¹⁹

Although Google states they ignore priority values ²⁰, maintaining these assignments helps organize your content hierarchy and may benefit other search engines. Indeed, the primary goal remains directing crawlers toward revenue-generating and engagement-focused pages.

Set update frequency

The lastmod tag plays a vital role in sitemap optimization. In particular, Google uses this tag when it's consistently accurate and reflects significant content updates ¹⁸. Accordingly, update this value whenever you make substantial changes to page content, structured data, or internal links.

A single XML sitemap can contain up to 50,000 URLs or reach a maximum size of 10MB uncompressed ²¹. For larger websites, creating multiple sitemaps becomes necessary. In such cases, develop a sitemap index file to organize these smaller sitemaps effectively ²².

As a matter of fact, regular sitemap maintenance proves essential for optimal indexing. Update your sitemap at least once daily if your site changes regularly ²¹. Furthermore, ensure all URLs are UTF-8 encoded and entity-escaped ²³.

For multilingual websites, consider creating separate sitemaps for each language or implementing hreflang tags within a single sitemap ²². In essence, this approach helps search engines understand which version of your content to display based on user location.

Remember to exclude password-protected pages, admin sections, and utility pages from your sitemap ²². Given these points, focus on including pages that provide value to users and deserve visibility in search results.

Build Strong Internal Link Structure

Internal linking serves as a powerful tool for accelerating website indexing and improving search visibility. A strategic internal linking structure helps search engines understand your site's hierarchy and content relationships.

Link from high-authority pages

High-authority pages on your website possess significant link value due to their strong incoming link profiles ²⁴. These pages primarily pass their authority to other pages through internal links, making them valuable assets for boosting indexing speed.

To identify high-authority pages, analyze your website's link structure using tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush ²⁵. Rather than randomly placing links, focus on pages with substantial incoming links to distribute link equity effectively across your site.

Create content clusters

Topic clusters represent a sophisticated approach to content organization that strengthens your website's authority on specific subjects. This structure consists of a comprehensive pillar page linked to multiple related cluster pages ²⁶.

The pillar page serves as the foundation, covering broad topics, while cluster pages delve into specific aspects. For instance, if your pillar page focuses on "washing machines," cluster pages might explore different types, each linking back to the main pillar ²⁷.

To build effective topic clusters:

Create a pillar page that broadly outlines the topic
Develop cluster pages focusing on specific subtopics
Establish contextual links between related content
Link all cluster pages back to the pillar content

Since search engines follow links to discover content, this organized structure signals topical expertise ²⁴. Furthermore, topic clusters help search engines determine page hierarchy through the internal link map ²⁸.

Update old content with new links

Refreshing older content presents an opportunity to strengthen your internal linking structure. During content updates, focus on three key aspects:

First, identify and fix broken links that might hinder crawling and user experience ²⁹. Soon after fixing broken links, evaluate external links to ensure they still point to reliable, up-to-date sources.

Secondly, analyze your content for new internal linking opportunities ³⁰. Rather than letting new pages exist in isolation, integrate them into your existing content network through contextual links. This practice helps search engines discover and index new content faster.

Finally, use Google Search Console to identify the most relevant anchor text for updated pages ³¹. Altogether, these updates enhance both user experience and search engine crawling efficiency.

By implementing these internal linking strategies, you create a robust network that facilitates faster indexing and improved search visibility. Nevertheless, remember that link quality outweighs quantity ³². Thus, focus on creating meaningful connections between related content pieces rather than adding links indiscriminately.

Conclusion

Speeding up Google indexing requires a systematic approach combining multiple optimization strategies. Search Console setup, technical SEO elements, XML sitemaps, and strategic internal linking work together to help Google discover and index your content faster.

Most website owners struggle with slow indexing because they focus on single tactics rather than implementing a comprehensive strategy. Therefore, start with proper Search Console configuration, fix technical issues, create detailed sitemaps, and build strong internal links between related content.

Remember that Google indexing speed depends heavily on your website's authority and technical health. Regular monitoring through Search Console helps identify and fix indexing issues quickly. Additionally, maintaining updated sitemaps and strong internal linking structures ensures Google can efficiently crawl and index your most valuable content.

Success comes from consistent application of these proven techniques. Start implementing these strategies today, and you'll likely see improvements in your content's indexing speed within weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What factors influence Google indexing speed?
Indexing speed is primarily influenced by the quality and popularity of the website. High-quality content, a well-structured site, and social media engagement can enhance visibility and indexing speed1.
How can I use the Indexing API to speed up indexing?
The Indexing API allows you to notify Google directly about new or updated pages on your site, which can significantly reduce the time it takes for those pages to be crawled and indexed2.
What role does internal linking play in indexing?
A strong internal linking structure helps Google discover and index pages more efficiently by guiding crawlers through your site. This enhances the chances of all your important content being indexed quickly3.
How long does it typically take for Google to index a new page?
The time for Google to index a new page can vary widely, ranging from a few hours to several weeks, depending on factors like website size and crawl budget4 6.
What is crawl budget, and how does it affect indexing?
Crawl budget refers to the number of pages Googlebot will crawl on your site during a given period. A higher crawl budget can lead to faster indexing, while issues like server overload or poor site structure can reduce it2 4.
How can I improve my website's overall quality for better indexing?
Improving your website's quality involves optimizing content for relevance and readability, enhancing user experience through design and layout, and ensuring fast loading times. All these elements contribute to better indexing outcomes1 3.

Further Reads

[1] - https://seranking.com/blog/create-sitemap/
[2] - https://sitechecker.pro/what-is-google-index/
[3] - https://help.lofty.com/hc/en-us/articles/26697006829595-Google-Search-Console-Understanding-Index-Coverage-Issues
[4] - https://search.google.com/search-console/about
[5] - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-console-start