Want to make your blog appear on Google Search? Try these 3 tips.
Growing your blog is a long-term game, and getting ranked on Google is a whole other ball game. I have been a blogger since 2023, and these 3 Google Search Console tips have helped me achieve the breakthrough I want.
I will be introducing the concept of Google search console sitemap, Google Search Console indexing, focusing on tips on Google search console for bloggers.
This post is all about making your blog posts appear on Google Search.
Before VS After Results
Is Google Search Console really necessary? I have witnessed numerous debates on this topic since I entered the world of blogging.
I have seen successful bloggers who don’t utilize any Google Search Console strategy. For instance, in the blogging course I took, the instructor didn’t focus on Google Search Console and still managed to achieve million views per month.
I suppose it really comes down to perspective.
But… there is one thing I know: Ever since I started implementing these three Google Search Console tips…
✅My impressions increased from 16 to 3,310 in less than two months.
✅My clicks rose from 5 to 26 in the same period.
✅And shortly after, my blog got monetized!
Just look at the results!
If you have read many articles on blogging strategies, many would say that blogging is hard and it’s a long game.
Well… I would argue that if your blog is stagnant like mine (in its beginning stages), it is possible to see results in a short time if you apply the correct strategy. I’m the perfect example.
Although the performance isn’t impressive or at its highest potential, at least you are seeing MOVEMENT, and that means you are getting traffic to your site (= hope) compared to having no views on your blog at all, which can be very discouraging.
A little background on my blog – I started it in October 2023 and had around 30+ blog posts before I implemented these tips that I am about to share.
Sitemaps and Site Indexing
Before I delve into the exact steps I took, let’s first understand Sitemaps and Site Indexing.
Here’s a great analogy to grasp these two concepts.
Imagine you are in a restaurant and you’re handed a menu. The menu categorizes a variety of food and beverages into appetisers, main courses, desserts, beverages, and more. Each dish is numbered according to its popularity.
Think of sitemaps as the menu, the blog posts as the food, and site indexing as the measure of how popular your blog posts are.
Simple, isn’t it?
The rules are quite simple:
- If you’re indexed, more people can search for your blog posts.
- The more people search for your blog posts, the higher the probability they will click into them.
- More clicks signal to Google that your blog post is popular.
- When Google learns that your blog post is valuable and people are reading it, it will move you up the list.
- As you move up the list, your impressions will increase.
So, let’s get your blog posts indexed!
Tip 1: Check the number of blog posts indexed
The first step you should take is to perform a quick check in the Google Search Bar to see how many of your blog posts are currently searchable.
Type “site: <your website URL>” in the search bar.
In the highlighted area, you’ll be able to see the number of results, which is equivalent to how many of your pages are indexed on Google.
Take note that the search results also include your social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, so just do a quick scroll to gauge the number of blog posts indexed.
Compare this number with your actual total number of blog posts to determine the number of posts NOT indexed.
Tip 2: Add Sitemaps
The next step is to add your sitemaps, which is your menu.
If you are hosted on WordPress like mine, followed the instructions here to obtain your sitemap URL.
Once you have your sitemap URL, enter it in Google Search Console > Indexing > Sitemaps.
Give it some time to process. A successful sitemap uploaded will be indicated by “Success”. (See picture below)
More Resources for you: WordPress Sitemaps | File types indexable by Google | Learn about sitemaps
Tip 3: Do Site Indexing
The last tip is to manually index your site
Step 1: Go to your Google Search Console and copy and paste the blog post URL into the search bar. Google Search Console will inspect the URL to see if it is indexed on Google. If not, it will appear as shown in the picture below.
Step 2: Click on “request indexing” to index your blog post.
A few things to note about Google Search Console indexing:
- It will take some time for Google to index, so please be patient.
- Even if you request indexing, Google will not index the page if it is not long enough. The rule of thumb is to have at least 1,500 words in each blog post, just to be safe.
- There is a limit to how many URLs you can request per day.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are some questions that I had when setting all of these up and I feel that it may be valuable to you too.
Q1: How long does it take for a sitemap to be indexed?
A: It depends on Google. From my experience, the fastest I have seen is one day, but some take two to three days, while some posts don’t get indexed at all.
Q2: Do you need to submit indexing if you have a sitemap?
A: In my opinion, YES. Having a sitemap does not guarantee that all your blog posts will be indexed. What I did was upload my sitemap first, and then manually requested indexing for all my blog posts. Subsequently, when I publish a new blog post, I would also hop into Google Search Console to request indexing immediately. The 15th of February was the day I added sitemaps and just let the data speak for itself.
This post highlights 3 tricks to make my blog appear on Google search.
If you love to see more content like this, connect & follow me on social media to stay updated with the latest information.
Other posts you may like:
- Step-by-Step Guide: How to Start a Blog for Beginners
- 4 Easy and Proven Steps to Set Up Free Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress
- 4 Quick & Easy Steps to Verify Google Search Console for WordPress Website
- Beginner’s guide to Blogging by Sophia Lee
