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How to get a new website indexed by Google

Guide · No. 012

A new domain is invisible until Google crawls it. Here is the order to do things in, what each Search Console status means, and how long to wait before you worry.

By David Published 3 min read

On this page
  1. The short answer
  2. Before you start
  3. Steps
  4. What the Pages report is telling you
  5. How long does it take?
  6. FAQ
  7. Sources

The short answer

Make sure nothing blocks Google, verify the site in Search Console, submit your sitemap, then request indexing for your homepage and your best few pages. Link every new page from a page Google already knows. Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and there is no button that makes it instant.

Before you start

  • A live domain you control
  • Access to its DNS (your registrar or Cloudflare), to verify ownership
  • A sitemap. Most setups make one for you: Astro’s sitemap integration, Next.js app/sitemap.ts, WordPress at /wp-sitemap.xml

Steps

Seven steps, in this order.

  1. Check nothing is blocking Google.

    Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt. If it says Disallow: / under User-agent: *, Google is shut out of the whole site. Then view the source of your homepage and search for noindex. Staging settings, like WordPress’s “Discourage search engines” box, often leave it switched on.

    robots.txt
    # robots.txt that lets Google crawl everything
User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

  2. Add the site to Search Console as a Domain property.

    Verify it with a DNS TXT record. A Domain property covers http, https, www and every subdomain in one place, so you never wonder which version Google is looking at.

  3. Submit your sitemap.

    In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste the sitemap URL and submit. The status should read Success. A sitemap tells Google which pages exist. It does not promise Google will index them.

  4. Request indexing for your most important pages.

    Open URL Inspection, paste a URL, and click Request indexing. There is a daily limit, so spend it on your homepage and your best few pages, not every URL.

  5. Your homepage, your navigation and related posts. A page nothing links to (an orphan page) gets found slowly, if at all.

  6. One link from a site Google already crawls often, like a launch directory or a community post, helps a brand-new domain get discovered sooner.

  7. Wait a week, then read the Pages report.

    In Search Console, open Indexing, then Pages, and check why any page is not indexed. The table below decodes the common reasons.

What the Pages report is telling you

Common Page indexing statuses in Search Console, what they mean and what to do
StatusWhat it meansWhat to do
Discovered - currently not indexedGoogle knows the URL but has not crawled it yet.Usually just time. Add internal links and make sure the site is not slow or erroring.
Crawled - currently not indexedGoogle read the page and chose not to index it, for now.Make the page clearly more useful than what already ranks, or merge thin pages.
Excluded by ‘noindex’ tagThe page tells Google not to index it.Remove the noindex if you want it in search.
Page with redirectThe URL redirects somewhere else.Fine if the redirect is intended. Put the final URL in your sitemap.
Duplicate without user-selected canonicalGoogle sees it as a copy of another page.Add a canonical tag pointing at the version you want indexed.

How long does it take?

Google’s own guidance is a few days to a few weeks. A brand-new domain with no links usually sits at the slow end. If nothing is indexed after four weeks, go back to step 1: a leftover noindex or a robots.txt block is the usual culprit.

If you would rather ask than click around Search Console, ContextBolt SEO, which we make, can check a page’s index status from inside Claude.

FAQ

Does submitting a sitemap get my pages indexed?

No. It helps Google find them. Whether to index a page is Google’s decision.

Should I request indexing for every page?

No. There is a daily limit. Use it for the pages that matter most and let internal links carry the rest.

Do I need backlinks to get indexed?

Not strictly, but a few real links help Google discover a new domain sooner.

Sources

  1. Ask Google to recrawl your URLs (Google Search Central) Checked
  2. Add a website property to Search Console (Search Console Help) Checked
  3. Build and submit a sitemap (Google Search Central) Checked
  4. URL Inspection tool (Search Console Help) Checked
  5. Page indexing report (Search Console Help) Checked
  6. Block search indexing with noindex (Google Search Central) Checked