How to get your website indexed by Google – from launch to search results

How Google indexing works: three stages

Every page in Google's results is stored in Google's index. Getting there happens in three stages:

• Discovery: Google learns the URL from a link or a sitemap
• Crawling: Googlebot visits the page and reads its content
• Indexing: Google evaluates the page and stores it for use in search

A brand-new site has almost no links pointing to it, so discovery is usually the slow part. Telling Google about the site through Search Console on launch day is the shortest route. Google still decides whether and when a page is indexed – it can take a few days or several weeks.

Check first: is your site already indexed?

Before changing anything, find out where you stand. There are three quick ways to check:

• site: search: search Google for "site:yourdomain.com" to see a rough list of indexed pages
• URL Inspection: paste a single URL into Search Console to see whether it is indexed and why
• Page indexing report: Search Console shows indexed and non-indexed pages with the reasons

If the reason says "Crawled – currently not indexed", the cause is usually the page itself; see crawled but not indexed for fixes. If pages are indexed yet nobody finds them, read why your website does not show up in search.

Setting up Google Search Console

Google Search Console is Google's free tool for site owners. Every indexing check and request goes through it, so set it up first.

• Sign in with a company Google account: avoid a staff member's personal account
• Add a property: a "Domain" property covers all subdomains and both http and https; a "URL prefix" property covers only one address
• Verify ownership: a DNS TXT record for a Domain property; an HTML file, meta tag, GA4 or Google Tag Manager for a URL prefix
• Add users: give your agency or staff user access under Settings, and keep the owner role in your company

If you can reach your DNS settings, choose a Domain property – one view covers www, non-www and http redirects. A Search Console account that only your agency can log in to becomes a problem the day you change providers, so keep ownership on your side.

Creating and submitting an XML sitemap

An XML sitemap lists the URLs on your site so Google can find them. Even a small site benefits right after launch. How much work it takes depends on your platform:

• WordPress: version 5.5 and later creates /wp-sitemap.xml automatically; if you use an SEO plugin, keep only the plugin's sitemap
• Shopify: /sitemap.xml is generated automatically and updates as you add products and collections
• Hand-built sites: use a generator or update the file whenever pages are added
• Which URLs to list: only canonical pages you want in search – no noindex pages, redirected URLs or error pages
• Submit it: enter the sitemap URL under Sitemaps in Search Console and check that the status reads "Success"

One sitemap can hold up to 50,000 URLs; beyond that, split it and group the files in a sitemap index. Adding a "Sitemap:" line to robots.txt also tells other search engines where to look.

Requesting indexing – and what to watch for

For a freshly published page or one you have rewritten, you can request indexing directly from URL Inspection:

• Paste the page URL into the search bar at the top of Search Console
• Click "Test live URL" to confirm Google can fetch the page
• If all is well, click "Request indexing"
• Inspect the same URL again after a few days to two weeks

There is a daily limit on requests, and sending the same URL repeatedly does not speed anything up. Use requests for key pages – the home page and main service pages – and let the sitemap handle the rest. If the live test reports "Excluded by noindex tag" or "Blocked by robots.txt", a setting from the staging phase is still active. Put both on your pre-launch checklist.

How UNANOBO handles indexing at launch

When UNANOBO launches a site, Search Console setup, sitemap submission and index requests for the key pages are part of the launch itself. Leftover noindex tags, robots.txt blocks and missing redirects are checked on launch day, and the Search Console owner role is set to your own account.

The process is free demo, feedback, launch, growth. You first see a free demo built around your brand, and production starts only once you are happy with it. The founder handles every project personally, so you keep one contact from the demo to growth after launch, by message in Japanese or English. For the full launch picture, see launching a new website.