During a recent Q&A session during Google’s SEO office hours, a concerned website owner inquired about the slow indexing of his 16,000-page website.
Gary Illyes, a member of the Google Search Relations team, provided a comprehensive response to the query, addressing the factors affecting indexing speed.
Quality and popularity matter in indexing
Illyes explained that indexing speed depends on several factors, the most important of which is this Quality the site and theirs popularity on the Internet.
Illyes suggested that site owners should ensure their content is of the highest possible quality to increase indexing speed.
Quality content is essential as Google’s algorithms prioritize it when determining indexing priority. However, the definition of quality content goes beyond the mere text of individual articles.
According to Google’s John Mueller, content quality encompasses the entire website, including layout, design, integration of images, and page speed.
These elements contribute to a positive user experience and are key factors that Google considers when evaluating quality
Using social media to increase popularity
Illyes also recommended using social media promotions to encourage engagement and discussion about the site.
“How quickly a page is indexed depends on many things, but the most important is the quality of the page, followed by its popularity on the web. Once you’ve made sure your content is of the highest quality possible, try running some social media promos to get people talking about your site. That will probably help.”
Increasing a website’s popularity and online visibility makes it more likely that Google will prioritize indexing.
Although not specifically mentioned by Illyes, the role of backlinks should not be overlooked here.
Backlinks, links from external websites to your site, contribute to faster indexing and better rankings in search engines.
When quality and authoritative websites link to your content, it acts as an endorsement and signals to search engines that your website is reliable and contains valuable content.
Backlinks also generate referral traffic, increase brand awareness, and add to the credibility and trustworthiness of your website.
This approach increases indexing speed and can improve the site’s overall search engine ranking.
Technical SEO: Optimizing for indexing efficiency
Besides improving the quality and popularity of a website’s content, several technical aspects affect indexing speed and search engine ranking.
Technical SEO refers to optimizing a website’s structure, code, and page speed to meet search engine crawling and indexing needs. It plays a crucial role in improving a website’s visibility and making it easier for search engines to index the content.
Regarding indexing, here are some technical aspects to consider:
- page structure: A logical page structure is essential for users and search engines. It helps visitors navigate the site and assists search engines in locating and indexing content.
- Internal links: Internal links play a crucial role in getting search engine crawlers to discover new pages and spread PageRank, which affects a page’s quality score
- URL Optimization: Optimizing URL structures to be clear and meaningful improves user experience and improves search engine understanding of page content.
In total
Website owners can speed up the indexing process and improve their search engine rankings by creating quality content and using social media and link building to increase website visibility.
source: Google
Featured image created by the author using Midjourney.
