How Do You Make Sure Your Online Store Is Indexed (Faster)?

The list of suggestions we have made below includes tactics that we also use for our clients, so I recommend you to follow it with confidence and you will get not only a faster indexing but also good positions in the search engine, in the long term.

1. Create a Sitemap

Maybe you've heard of the site map before. This is a list (in XML format) of all the pages on your site. Its primary function is to tell search engines when new pages are being added and how often they return to check for changes to certain pages (for example, you may want search engines to check the home page daily for new product content).

One question we often get about the site map is whether it helps to get a better position in Google in the long run. The truth is that this element does not have a significant impact on the positions but it can help you to be indexed faster.

Is there a guarantee that you will be indexed instantly? No, but it's effective in speeding up the process.

2. Upload site map to Google Search Console (Webmaster Tools)

Once you've found your sitemap, sign in to your Google Search Console account (formerly Webmaster Tools). Go to Optimization → Sitemaps and add the link to your site map to tell Google about it and the pages you've published.

If you want more, you can create an account on Bing: add the same link in Bing Webmaster Tools.

3. Use robots.txt

If you're not a coding expert, you've probably seen something called "robots.txt" in your domain files and wondered what it's for.

Robots.txt is a text file that should be at the root of your domain; its role is to give strict instructions to search engine robots about which pages should be crawled and indexed, and which should not.

When spiders find this file in a new domain, they read it before doing anything else. If they can't find it, they'll assume you want to index all the pages.

But why would you want Google to NOT index certain pages for you? No, it's not about hiding duplicate content because many mistakes can be made if you don't know how to use the file correctly (plus it's a publicly available file and anyone can see what you want to hide).

Your site may contain pages used for storage, admin, internal search, etc. They do not give much value to users so you can send them to spiders not to index them.

4. Install Google Analytics

Creating a Google Analytics account can help you shoot two rabbits in one fell swoop. First of all, you need long-term monitoring and analysis of your site's data, based on which to make development decisions.

On the other hand, it is very possible to give a boost (weak but effective), to let Google know that there is a new site waiting to be crawled and indexed.

5. Upload the URL of your site to the search engine

The truth is that this method is intensely debated by SEO specialists. Given that there are many other, more effective methods of stimulating indexing, most ignore this step.

On the other hand, it doesn't take long and it really can't hurt your site, so I recommend you take a second to load the URL manually in the Search Console.

All you have to do is log in to your account, go to "Fetch & Submit" and follow the steps:

• Add the URL and give Fetch as Google

• Click "Request indexing" next to the fetch in the Fetch History table

• Select whether you want to crawl only the added URL or the direct links to it

• Click on "Submit" and your request will be placed on the waiting list

6. Create or update Social Media pages for your site and promote links

Although social media pages or the number of shares are not counted as backlinks (practically, they do not influence the position in Google), they can help you in terms of traffic and visibility.

Search engines pay attention to social signals and they can influence the faster crawling and indexing of your site.

In addition, the tabs describing your social media pages are the right place to display a link to the site. This helps the users find you - don't forget to update your pages with links to your site.

7. Make a blog

Why do you need a blog? Because this is your long-term asset in SEO. Besides the fact that it