It's probably safe to assume that you want organic traffic to your pages if you have a website. Most search engines automatically index websites today but it can still be helpful to submit your website to them.
This ensures that search engines can find and index your website so that it appears in the search results for relevant keywords. You can submit your website manually or via the help of various webmaster tools and plugins.
In this guide, I'll show you the best way to submit your website to search engines, including Google, Bing, Yandex, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go, and Baidu.
Is it necessary to submit your website to search engines?
Submitting your website to search engines is not an absolute necessity today, but it can quicken your search visibility online. Barring an issue on your website, it will likely be automatically indexed by search engines after you publish a URL.
However, the time it takes for your page to be successfully indexed and appear in the search results can depend on your website's authority, crawl frequency and on-page elements. Requesting your website's indexation can reduce this delay and make sure potential customers can discover your content more easily.
It is also recommended to periodically resubmit updated versions of your web pages as you revise or add new information and sections. Additionally, submitting an XML sitemap to Google and other search engines will help them understand your website's structure accurately.
For example, here's a page I requested a re-indexation for after implementing Surfer's content optimization suggestions. Within weeks, the updated page went from ranking in the mid-twenties to steadily climbing the SERPs to reach the 6th position when writing this article.
How to submit your website to search engines?
To submit your website for indexation, you'll need an XML sitemap. A sitemap is a roadmap of your website that explains the relationship between all the pages on your site and where they can be found. Search engines use sitemap files to index your content faster and more efficiently.
XML sitemaps can also help notify Google and other search engines about new content and updates on your website while helping search crawlers with a map of your website for easy navigation.
Most content management systems automatically create a sitemap file for your website so you don't have to generate one. You can usually find your website's sitemap at one of these URLs.
- yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml
- yourwebsite.com/sitemap_index.xml
Entering one of those in the search bar should show up a page that looks like this.
If you don't find your website's sitemap at any of these URLs, try the robots.txt file at
- yoursite.com/robots.txt
Most websites will specify the location of their sitemap in the robots.txt file. For example, the BBC's robots.txt file reveals its multiple sitemaps for different geographies.
If you still don't find a sitemap URL that works, you'll need to create an XML sitemap before you can submit websites. We'll begin with Google since it dominates the market share with a 92% slice among popular search engines.
1.How to submit your website to Google
You will need to have your website integrated and verified with Google Search Console before submitting a sitemap.
We strongly recommend installing Google Search Console on your website first because it will significantly simplify adding Bing webmaster tools and submitting your website to Bing and Yahoo.
Follow these steps if your GSC account has already been configured.
- Sign into Google Search Console
- Select the Sitemaps tab on the left panel
- Enter your sitemap URL and hit Submit
Taking these steps will submit your entire website to Google.
Submitting a specific web page URL to Google
It's good SEO practice to refresh your existing content and republish your updated pages periodically. When you do, request a re-crawl of the page, as it potentially improves its ranking.
To request indexing for a specific page, paste its URL into the URL inspection tool in Google Search Console.
If the page has been indexed, you'll see a green indicator confirming its indexing status.
However, if the page has not been indexed, you'll be met with a grayed-out warning. Click on Request Indexing to manually submit the page for Google to crawl and index.
Doing so will help Google's web crawler discover your content faster and start showing it in search results.
2.How to submit your website to Google News
The most important thing you need to do for your pages to show up on Google News is to follow their content policies. Although Google News is different from the search engine, you don't have to manually submit your website to be considered on their feed anymore.
However, signing up through Publisher Center can provide benefits like branding, monetization and placement control. Here's how to submit your website to Google News.
- Sign into Google Publisher Center
- Add your domain or URL path
- Hit Add
You'll be met with a couple of simple questions and then asked to verify your URL. Since you've already added GSC to your website in the previous steps, select Verify in Google Search Console for a quick method.
Hit Publish on the last window titled Publishing status before your website URL is submitted for review. This process could take several weeks after submitting your website but if your content complies with Google News policies, your pages will appear on Google News.
3.How to submit your website to Bing
Bing has the largest market share after Google and its webmaster tool offers several insights that Google Search Console prefers not to reveal. You'll need to have Bing webmaster set up correctly on your website before you can submit websites to Bing's search index.
You can import your website to Bing in a single click if you already have Google Search Console configured. Head to Bing webmaster tools and sign in.
You'll be offered two methods to add your website. Select the Google Search Console option and follow the simple steps to add your website to Bing Webmaster.
Once successfully integrated with Bing, the rest of the process is similar to submitting websites with Google. Follow these steps to submit your website to Bing's search results.
- Sign into Bing webmaster tools
- Select the Sitemaps tab on the left panel
- Enter your sitemap URL and hit Submit
4.How to submit your website to Yahoo
Since Bing powers Yahoo's search engine, you don't have to make a separate website submission to Yahoo if you've installed Bing webmaster tools. Unfortunately, Yahoo doesn't provide a website submission service or tool for indexation.
5.How to submit your website to Yandex
The next largest slice of the search engine market share goes to Yandex. Their market share figures may look minuscule compared to other search engines but remember, we're speaking about millions of users on the internet. A small percentage can be worth submitting your website for.
As you're familiar, you'll first need to set up Yandex Webmaster with your website. Sign into Yandex Webmaster and enter the HTTPS version of your domain. You'll then receive three options to verify your domain similar to the ones you've received from Google Search Console.
You can follow the steps here to verify Yandex Webmaster with your website.
Once you've verified domain access, take these steps to submit your website on Yandex.
- Sign in to Yandex webmaster tools
- Select the Indexing tab on the left panel, then Sitemap files
- Enter your sitemap URL and hit Add
6.How to submit your website to Baidu
Baidu is the most popular search engine in China and similar to Google in its features and services. Because of its search engine market dominance in a largely populated country, consider submitting your website with Baidu's webmaster tools.
However, because Baidu's instructions are primarily in Chinese and require SMS verification, you'd be best positioned to follow the steps here.
7.How to submit your website to DuckDuckGo
Unlike other search engines, DuckDuckGo doesn't offer URL submission tools and will index your website automatically, so you don't have to submit your website manually. Instead, the search engine relies on various sources of information to generate search results.
How to check if your website is indexed
The most reliable way to check if Google has indexed your entire website is to check Google Search Console. The Pages report under Indexing in the left panel displays two categories, Not indexed and Indexed.
Indexed pages are those that are eligible to appear in search results, while Not indexed pages have been found but not indexed.
Selecting both categories will reveal the timeline of their discovery by Google's crawlers.
If you want to check if a specific page has been indexed, paste the URL into Search Console's URL inspection tool and hit Enter.
A green notification will let you know that the page has been indexed but if you receive a clear grey warning, click on the Request indexing option for Google to index the URL submission.
You can also check if your website pages have been indexed by entering "site: yourwebsite.com" in the Google search bar. This method isn't 100% reliable but can help if you're rushed for time.
To find out if your site submitted to Bing has been indexed, head to Bing webmaster tools and select the Site Explorer tool in the left panel. Then select Indexed URLs in the dropdown filter.
Paste the URL into the URL inspection tool to check individual pages indexed by Bing Webmaster tools.
How to fix page indexing issues
If you need help getting your site indexed, head to the Page indexing report we saw earlier in Google Search Console by navigating to > Indexing > Pages.
Scroll past the graph to the section that reads Why pages aren’t indexed. You'll find a list of all your non-indexed pages grouped by their reasons. Click on any row to reveal the URLs affected by that indexing error.
Here are some of the most common reasons in the Search Console for non-indexed pages.
- Redirect error > Google experienced one of the following issues; an excessively long redirect chain, a redirect loop, a redirect URL exceeding the max URL length, or an empty URL in the redirect chain.
- Server error (5xx) > When the page was requested, your server encountered a 500-level error.
- URL blocked by robots.txt > If you don’t want Google to index a page, use an explicit 'noindex' directive on this page rather than relying upon blocked access through your site's robots.txt file.
- URL marked ‘noindex’ > A ‘noindex’ directive on this page prevented Google from crawling it. If you want this page to appear in search engine results, remove the 'noindex' directive.
- Duplicate without user-selected canonical > Google has determined this page contains duplicate content and indexed what it believes to be the canonical version instead.
- Crawled - currently not indexed > Google crawled this page but did not index it. It is uncertain if or when the URL will be indexed, and a URL resubmission will not help quicken the process.
If your individual pages aren't appearing in the search results, head to Google Search Console's URL inspection tool and paste the URL. Then hit the Enter key on your keyboard.
Open the Page indexing section of the report to reveal more information about why the page is not being indexed. For example, this page isn't being indexed because it has a redirect error. I can fix it and then request the page to be reindexed.
Are search engine submission services necessary?
You absolutely don't need an external agency to submit your website to search engines. You only need to generate an XML file and submit your sitemap to a webmaster tool. Submitting your website to search engines is a fairly straightforward process.
And so ignore any website submission service that claims to automatically submit websites to many different search engines and directories simultaneously. They won't do you any good, and you may even be risking Google's policies.
Submitting your website to search engines is a good search engine optimization practice but will not automatically ensure organic traffic to your pages. Instead, you'll need to follow a robust content strategy that helps your pages rank higher in the search engines and drives traffic to your blog posts.
Conclusion
Submitting your website is relatively straightforward and broadly similar for most search engines. In fact, major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing don't require you to submit your websites for indexation. However, providing an XML sitemap that includes information on your website's content and page architecture will be appreciated by search engines and can help you improve search performance.
