Hello WordPress folks, welcome to another piece where we’ll be helping you alleviate your SEO practices and make you roar among competitors. But all your SEO practices would be only beneficial and work; if a search engine like Google indexes your website. What if your website is not indexed? Well, we have got you covered.
In this blog, we will define the complex indexing process into 9 simple steps and a WordPress SEO checklist that would get your website indexed on Google.
So, whether you are a WordPress website owner or an SEO professional, this blog can relate to everyone struggling to index their WordPress Site.
So, let’s get dive in and start this new journey.
9 WordPress SEO Checklist to Alleviate your indexing Procedure
As mentioned above, your SEO practices will only be beneficial if your website is indexed – Google uses its indexed content to show the results regarding search queries of its surfers.
Let’s master the art of website indexing and industry domination with this concise yet comprehensive blog, presenting 9 crucial steps to follow. Let’s dive in:
1. Check WordPress Settings for Search Engine Visibility:
This is the first step that comes toward your site’s success journey. So, ensure that your WordPress site is set to be visible to search engines.
To do this, navigate to the WordPress dashboard and go to “Settings”> “Reading.” Ensure that the “Search Engine Visibility” option is unchecked. This tends to cause search engines to crawl and index your website.
Now, let’s move to the next phase, which will let you submit your website on Google.
2. Submit Your Website to Google Search Console:
Google Search Console, usually known as Google’s webmaster tool, is free for all website owners. It also allows you to monitor and optimize your site’s presence in Google search results.
You can easily submit your website at the Google search console; this is how to do it:
Start by creating an account if you haven’t already. Then, install the All-in-one SEO pack plugin.
- Now, go to “All in One”> “General Setting” and click on the Webmaster tools tabs.
- Now verify your ownership by pasting the HTML Code of your website in the text box.
- Once done, make sure you click on the save changes button available at the top of the screen.
Once you are done with verification, let’s move to the next step!
3. Create an XML Sitemap:
Now, it’s time to make your XML sitemap file. Hold on, what is a sitemap? Read on.
An XML sitemap is a file listing all the page’s links of your website, helping search engines discover and understand your website’s structure and content more efficiently.
Many WordPress SEO plugins offer automatic sitemap generation. Yoast SEO is on top of the list.
- After installing the plugin, navigate to “SEO”> “General”> “Features,” and ensure that the XML sitemap functionality is enabled.
- Once it’s enabled, go to click on the “open sitemap” button to view your XML sitemap.
That’s it; move to the next step.
4. Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console:
Once your XML sitemap is ready, it’s time to submit it on Google Search Console.
Go to the “Sitemaps” section within the console and enter the URL of your sitemap.
Google will then crawl and index the pages listed in your sitemap, improving their visibility in search results.
How to get the link to your sitemap?
Suppose you have a website having a homepage link, “www.yourdomianname.com” For this, your sitemap link would look like this “www.yourdomianname.com/sitemap.XML”
Sounds easy, right? Not finished yet, keep reading.
5. Optimize Your Robots.txt File:
Imagine approaching a house or place with a locked door, and you don’t know the password – you can’t enter, right? That’s how robots.txt functions for your website. Ensuring that your robots.txt file grants search engines access to your desired content is crucial. It acts as a guide, instructing search engine crawlers on which pages to explore and which ones to exclude from indexing.
Here Is How You Do It On WordPress Website.
Open your WordPress dashboard.
- Go to “All in One” > “Tool” > Robots.txt editor.
- Enable the Custom robots.txt option.
Now, you will see the robots.txt preview.
- Now, enter the name of the crawler you want to block. (Like Google crawler, bring bot and * for all search engines)
- Enter the URL of the page you want in your robots.txt file
- Choose Allow or disallow
Don’t forget to save the changes. However, to confirm, you can easily check as we did for the sitemap.
For instance, our website has a homepage link, “www.mydomianname.com” For this, your robots.txt link would look like this “www.mydomianname.com/robots.txt”
6. Look For No index Tags:
If your website is not getting indexed, this might be because your website may have no index tag. Sometimes, certain pages or posts may unintentionally have a “no index” tag, instructing search engines not to index them.
This can happen if you accidentally mark a page as “no index” or if your theme or plugin includes such tags.
But how to correct them? This is how to do this.
Go to “Google Search Console” > “Coverage” no look for excluded by the “index” tag.
Yes, you see this again in your WordPress “Settings”> “Reading” (as told above); now, enable the indexing.
7. Remove Nofollow Links:
The “nofollow” attribute instructs search engines to remove them from indexing. While it’s important to use “nofollow” for external links that you don’t endorse, you want to ensure that internal links within your website are not set as “nofollow.”
Optimize your website’s indexing process by ensuring your internal links are not inadvertently marked with the “nofollow” attribute. These internal links play a crucial role in helping search engines discover and index your content effectively.
To do this, simply look for “rel=nofollow” option and remove them from your WordPress block editor.
8. Create Internal Links on Your Website:
Internal links are links to your own website, connecting one page on your website to another. They help search engines understand the structure of your site and navigate between different pages.
By strategically creating internal links, you can guide search engines to important pages that you want to be indexed and ranked higher.
To achieve this, you can link one of your popular blog posts to a relevant product page on your site, enhancing the chances of that product page being indexed and ranked.
For instance: If you have written a piece about “The Best Digital Cameras,” you can create an internal link to your product page for “Top Digital Cameras” using anchor text like “explore our top digital camera recommendations.”
This would help engines to understand your product and website more efficiently, as internal linking and anchor tags urge the search engine bot to crawl your site.
9. Build High-Quality Backlinks:
We all are aware of the significance of backlinks to make your site stand out as an authority, as search engines like Google count it as a voting trust. Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable sources within your industry.
Building backlinks can involve various strategies, such as guest posting, creating valuable content that others want to link to, or reaching out to relevant websites for link opportunities.
All in all, backlinks indicate to the Google bots that this page must be indexed.
Prepare your Website for Google indexing
By following this WordPress SEO checklist, you can ensure that your WordPress site is effectively indexed on Google, increasing its visibility and attracting organic traffic. Remember to regularly monitor your website’s performance through Google Search Console and make necessary adjustments to improve your search rankings. With consistent effort and optimization, you can enhance your site’s online presence and attract more visitors. However, if you can’t do this on your own, you may enlist a trusted SEO Services company; they may help you make a better impact on search engines.
Let the Lincoln SEO help with the indexing Procedure
Here at Lincoln SEO Services, we have a team of skilled professionals who eat, sleep, and dream WordPress SEO. We’ve got our hands on the latest tools and techniques to optimize your website for maximum visibility and engagement. It’s like having a secret weapon in your digital arsenal. What are you waiting for? Give us a call now, and elevate your SEO game.
FAQs
How do I get my WordPress Website indexed by Google?
- Check WordPress Settings for Search Engine Visibility.
- Submit Your Website to Google Search Console.
- Create an XML Sitemap.
- Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console.
- Optimize Your Robots. Txt File.
- Look For Your Noindex Tags.
- Remove Nofollow Links.
- Create Internal Links on Your Website.
- Create Some high-quality backlinks
How do I check my no of indexed pages?
Yes, you check your indexed pages on your own; this how-to this;
site:www.yourwebsitehomepagelink.com
Does Google index the website automatically?
Yes, Google can index your website even without any sitemap or robots.txt file. We do these to SEO practice to streamline the process and make it happen more promptly.