Hey there! If you‘re launching a new WordPress website, one of the first things on your to-do list should be submitting your site to search engines like Google and Bing.
Why? Because search engines are likely going to be the #1 way people find your awesome new site. Over 50% of website traffic on average comes from organic search. So if you want people to actually visit your site, you need to make sure it shows up in search results.
Now, you might have seen services out there offering to submit your site to hundreds of search engines for a fee. But the truth is, you don‘t need them. In fact, you‘re much better off submitting your site yourself. And I‘m going to show you exactly how to do it, step-by-step.
Why You Shouldn‘t Use a Search Engine Submission Service
Back in the early days of the web, search engine submission services were more popular. The idea was they would submit your site to dozens or hundreds of search engines to increase your visibility.
However, the SEO world has changed a lot since then:
Google now dominates nearly 92% of the global search engine market share. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo make up most of the remainder. Submitting to smaller, obscure search engines is largely a waste of time.
Most search engines have gotten a lot better at discovering new sites on their own through links from other sites. Manual submission isn‘t as crucial.
Legitimate search engines want you to submit your site yourself through their own webmaster tools. They don‘t really trust or use third party site submissions.
Many submission services just take your money and either don‘t actually submit your site or submit it to spammy, low quality directories that could even harm your SEO.
So in short, the potential benefits of using a search engine submission service are minimal to none. And there can even be risks to your site‘s reputation. It‘s much better to take the time to manually submit your site yourself to the search engines that matter. It‘s really not that hard, and I‘ll walk you through it right now.
How to Submit Your WordPress Site to Google (Step-by-Step)
Google is obviously the biggest search engine, so submitting your site to Google should be the top priority. The process is actually pretty simple using Google Search Console:
Go to Google Search Console and click "Start Now"
Sign in with your Google account (or create one if needed)
Click "Add Property" and enter your website URL
Choose a verification method to prove you own the site. The easiest method is uploading an HTML file:
- Download the HTML verification file and upload it to the root directory of your WordPress site using FTP or a file manager plugin
- Click "Verify" and you should see a success message
Congrats, your site is now verified with Google Search Console! The next steps are submitting your sitemap and requesting indexing.
Submitting Your XML Sitemap to Google
An XML sitemap is essentially a roadmap of your website that helps search engines find and index all your important pages. You definitely want to give Google your sitemap after you submit your site. Here‘s how:
- Install and activate a WordPress sitemap plugin. Some good free options are XML Sitemaps or the Yoast SEO plugin which includes sitemap functionality.
- Configure your sitemap settings. For example, in Yoast SEO go to SEO → General → Features and enable XML sitemaps.
- Decide which types of content to include in your sitemap (posts, pages, products, etc.) and exclude any thin or low quality pages.
- In Google Search Console, go to Sitemaps in the left sidebar
- Enter sitemap.xml after your domain name (e.g. mysite.com/sitemap.xml) and click Submit
- You should see a success message and details about your sitemap contents will appear.
Google will now regularly crawl your sitemap to look for new and updated content to index. You can check the Status to see when your sitemap was last read.
I also recommend submitting your RSS feed (yourdomain.com/feed) as a sitemap too for faster crawling of new posts.
Requesting Indexing of Your Homepage and Key Pages
Finally, to give Google a little nudge, you can manually request indexing of your new site‘s key pages:
- In Google Search Console, go to URL inspection in the left sidebar
- Paste in the URL of your homepage or other key page
- Click "Request Indexing"
You can also use this tool anytime to check the index status of a URL and get crawling and indexing details.
Repeat the process for 5-10 of the most important pages on your site (About page, contact page, cornerstone content pieces, etc.)
Note that requesting indexing doesn‘t guarantee Google will instantly index the page, but it can speed up the process, especially for important pages.
How to Submit Your WordPress Site to Bing (& Yahoo)
While Google is #1, Bing is still used for over 6% of worldwide desktop searches. Since Bing also powers Yahoo Search, submitting to Bing covers two bases.
The process is very similar to Google Search Console:
- Sign up for a Bing Webmaster Tools account and log in
- Click "Add A Site" in the left sidebar and enter your site URL
- Upload the provided BingSiteAuth.xml file to your WordPress root directory to verify ownership
- Click "Verify" and you should see a success message
Again, you‘ll then want to submit your XML sitemap to Bing:
- In Bing Webmaster Tools, go to "Sitemaps" under "Configure My Site"
- Enter your full sitemap URL and click "Submit Sitemap"
Bing will now crawl your sitemap to find all your pages and posts for indexing.
I‘d also recommend connecting your site to Bing Places for a local business to improve your visibility in Bing‘s local search results.
Other Search Engines Worth Submitting To
Google and Bing/Yahoo are the biggies, but depending on your audience, there may be some other search engines worth submitting to:
DuckDuckGo – A privacy-focused search engine that doesn‘t track users. Growing in popularity, especially among tech savvy audiences. You don‘t actually need to manually submit since DuckDuckGo sources results from Bing and other partners.
Baidu – The most popular search engine in China. If your site is targeting Chinese audiences, you‘ll want to submit via Baidu Webmaster Tools.
Yandex – The leading search engine in Russia. Use Yandex.Webmaster to submit your site and sitemap.
But for most websites, especially those targeting primarily English-speaking audiences, Google and Bing should be the priority for search engine submission.
Tips for Optimizing Your WordPress Site for Search Engine Crawling
Submitting your site and sitemap to search engines is a great start. But to really improve your chances of getting indexed and ranking well, you‘ll also want to follow some WordPress SEO best practices:
Tip #1: Make Sure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly
Google now uses mobile-first indexing for most sites. This means they primarily crawl and index the mobile version of your site. So if your site isn‘t optimized for mobile devices, it could hurt your indexing and ranking.
Some key mobile optimization tips:
- Use a responsive WordPress theme that adapts to screens of any size
- Make sure your text is easily readable on mobile without zooming or pinching
- Size tap targets like buttons and links to be easily clickable with a thumb
- Avoid intrusive interstitials or pop-ups that block mobile content
- Minimize page load time (more on that next)
You can use Google‘s free Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check individual pages and get specific recommendations for mobile optimization.
Tip #2: Improve Your Site‘s Page Load Speed
Page speed is an important search ranking factor, both for desktop and mobile. Faster loading pages provide a better user experience and can reduce bounce rates.
Some ways to speed up your WordPress site:
- Choose a fast, lightweight theme
- Optimize images by compressing them and specifying dimensions
- Minify CSS and JavaScript files
- Use browser caching and a CDN
- Minimize use of plugins and external scripts
Use tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test your site speed and get optimization suggestions.
Tip #3: Add Schema Markup to Your Key Content
Schema markup is a special code that provides additional information to search engines about your page‘s content. It can enhance your search result snippets and even make your pages eligible for rich results like reviews, recipes, FAQs and more.
For example, if you have a recipe post, you can add schema markup for the ingredients, cooking time, ratings and other properties. This can help your result stand out in search with extra visuals and info.
To add schema in WordPress, I recommend the free Schema Pro plugin. It adds schema automatically to your posts and pages based on the type of content.
Tip #4: Create a Clear Site Structure with Internal Linking
Having a clear website structure and navigation makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index all your pages. It also helps users find their way around your site.
Some tips for your site structure:
- Organize your content into clear categories and sections
- Include relevant keywords in your page URLs
- Add a search bar and HTML sitemap page for easy navigation
- Use a "flat" site structure with pages no more than 3 clicks away from the homepage
In addition, be smart about internal linking between your pages and posts. Add links to relevant content whenever it makes sense. This keeps people on your site longer AND spreads "link juice" to help more of your pages get indexed and rank.
How to Check if Your WordPress Site is Indexed
After you submit your site and follow these optimization tips, how can you tell if your site has been indexed by search engines? Here are a few methods:
- Search for your site in Google using
site:yourdomain.com. If indexed pages show up, you‘re good to go. - Install the free Google Search Console WordPress plugin to view your sitemap status and indexing directly in your WP dashboard.
- Use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console to check the index status of individual pages.
If you‘re not seeing your site indexed after a few days, you may need to do some more troubleshooting:
- Make sure your WordPress privacy settings allow search engines to index your site (go to Settings → Reading and uncheck "Discourage search engines from indexing this site")
- Check your robots.txt file to make sure it‘s not blocking search engine crawlers
- Look for any crawl errors or manual penalties in Google Search Console and fix them
FAQs About WordPress Search Engine Submission
Before we wrap up, let me address some of the most common questions I get about submitting your WordPress site to search engines:
How long does it take for search engines to index my site after submitting?
It varies. It could be a few hours or a few weeks depending on your site‘s size and popularity. Submitting your sitemap can speed it up, but there‘s no guaranteed timeline. Just be patient!
Do I need to resubmit my sitemap regularly?
Not necessarily. Once you submit the first time, search engines will generally keep recrawling your sitemap automatically when you update content. But you can always resubmit if you make major changes or think there‘s an issue.
Should I submit every single page on my site?
No, focus on your most important content – homepage, key landing pages, pillar posts, etc. Submitting thousands of thin or low quality pages won‘t help you and could even hurt your SEO. Quality over quantity!
Can I see how many people are finding my site on search engines?
Yes! I recommend connecting your WordPress site to Google Analytics (GA4). Then you can see organic search traffic, top performing pages, keywords, and a whole lot more. Super valuable data as you grow your site.
What‘s the best way to rank higher on search engines after submitting?
Ah, the age old SEO question. Submitting your site and following the tips I‘ve shared will definitely help with crawling and indexing. But ranking is a longer-term process that involves many factors like:
- Conducting keyword research and optimizing your content
- Building high quality backlinks from other relevant websites
- Improving your site‘s overall authority and trustworthiness
- Providing a great user experience and keeping people on your site longer
- Consistently publishing new, valuable content in your niche
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Focus on serving your audience, following best practices, and always striving to be the best resource in your space. The search rankings will follow.
Go Forth and Submit!
Well there you have it, my friend. Everything you need to know to get your WordPress site submitted to search engines the RIGHT way.
Just remember:
- Focus on Google and Bing, not obscure search engines or submission services
- Take advantage of free webmaster tools to verify your site and submit your sitemap
- Follow WordPress SEO best practices to make your site as crawlable and search-friendly as possible
- Track your progress with analytics and keep on improving!
You‘ve got this. Now go get your site out there in the search results and start attracting those visitors. Happy optimizing!
){kind=link}