How long does a new page take to get indexed?

So, you just launched an amazing new website… or you have a great new product to feature… But how can you make it easy for potential customers to find that new website or product? An important first step is to make sure Google, among other search engines, recognizes your website. A URL or web page address, is a unique link associated with your domain name. This is a crucial key in connecting your business to user search patterns. Google uses this identifier to index the associated individual pages and website content. Google has spiders, also known as bots or crawlers, to search website content and determine its value, relative to user queries.

Once these bots determine the content has enough relevant value, the pages will begin to show in search results. Making sure Google can easily recognize the pages and content that are most important to your business, is vital. A new product link directly on the home page, for example, minimizes the need for Google to crawl multiple categories to find it. Still, indexing is an imperfect system.

Remember:

  • There is no guarantee! Page and website indexing is done at the discretion of the search engine.
  • Search engines in general, do not index much of the content on the web, simply due to the sheer volume of data.
  • All indexed pages may not necessarily show to users during a search.
  • Expect some extra delays with new websites or recently added pages. This is unfamiliar content to crawlers.

Realistically, there is no set timeframe for how long it will take to get results with SEO. It can take days, weeks or months before bots crawl the new site to index the new pages. Larger websites may take months before all pages are indexed. There are some SEO tactics that can help to speed up the process.

Pro Tips:

  • Ensure your server can handle a decent amount of traffic. A slow server can often cause slower search engine response.
  • Feature links for newly added pages on your home page, or somewhere easily found within the website.
  • Remove unnecessary or rarely used links (URL’s) from your website. These can slow the process as the search engine bots must “decide” which links are most important.

Unexpected technical issues will occur with Google, and other search engines. However, if it has been a few months and Google still lists the pages in your sitemap as “non-indexed” there may be a bigger concern. Take some time to review and if necessary, update, the quality of your page content or the sitemap structure. Your website is an extension of your brand, product, or service. It is often the first opportunity customers have, to get to know your business. Use these tips to make sure every customer… and search engine, can easily find your business!