Do you own a WordPress website and want to ensure your published articles, posts, pages, and content are indexed by search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, etc?
Search engine indexing is the process by which search engines discover, store, and organize the content of web pages. This process enables quick and efficient searching, analysis, and retrieval of information. In simpler terms, it refers to how search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex crawl through web pages and index their content.
CrawlWP is a powerful WordPress SEO plugin that can submit the content of your WordPress site to search engines for indexing. It has support for various search engines, including Bing, Yahoo, Google, Yandex,
In this article, you will learn how to get Google, Bing, Yandex, and other search engines to index your WordPress website by setting up indexing.
Why Search Engines Index Pages?
A dictionary is organized to help you quickly find the definition of a word, and search engines operate similarly. They index web pages to provide relevant and valuable search results to users. Using their extensive index, search engines can swiftly sift through numerous web pages to identify the most likely to answer the user’s question or meet their search intent.
If search engines did not use an index, they would have to examine every web page on the internet each time a user entered a search query. This process would be extremely slow and inefficient, as billions of web pages are online. Consequently, search engines would struggle to deliver the high-quality search experience that users expect.
How to Setup Search Engine Indexing in WordPress Using CrawlWP
CrawlWP integrates with IndexNow protocol to submit your WordPress posts and content to Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, Yep.
It also integrates with Google Indexing, Bing URL Submission, and Yandex APIs to directly submit WordPress posts for indexing.
To set up search engine indexing in WordPress, go to WordPress Dashboard >> CrawlWP >> Settings >> Indexing >> General and select the Post Types and Taxonomies whose content can be submitted for indexing.
There are also settings to configure when to notify search engines (SE). It could be when terms are added, posts are added, updated, deleted, or a combination of them.
Don’t forget to save your changes.
After configuring the WordPress post types and taxonomies to be submitted for indexing, the next step is to set up IndexNow and the various search engine APIs that will send the actual indexing requests.
WordPress Indexing via IndexNow
IndexNow helps website owners quickly inform search engines about changes to their content. It works like a simple alert, letting search engines know when a URL has been added, updated, or deleted.
IndexNow is a collaboration among various search engines (Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, Yep) where they all agree to share URLs they receive with other search engines participating in the protocol.
Say you set up CrawlWP to use the Bing IndexNow endpoint; when you publish a new post or page or update an existing one, CrawlWP will inform Bing, and Bing, in turn, will inform the other supported search engines – Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, Yep.
To set up WordPress Indexing via the IndexNow protocol, ensure the CrawlWP plugin is installed and activated on your WordPress site.
Go to WordPress Dashboard >> CrawlWP >> Settings >> Indexing >> IndexNow and enable it.
The API Key must contain between 8 and 128 hexadecimal characters, using only lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and dashes. Click the “Show example” link to have CrawlWP generate one.
Select any option as “Search Engine” and finally, save your changes.
Remember to save your changes when done.
WordPress Indexing via Google Indexing API
Google isn’t among the search engines participating in the IndexNow protocol; however, it provides an Indexing API that can be used to request indexing.
To set it up, go to CrawlWP >> Settings >> Indexing >> Google API and enable it.
Do note that you first need to connect CrawlWP to Google API and connect your account for it to work.
Google recommends using the Indexing API only for job posting and live-streaming websites. However, it applies to any website; many users have already reported excellent results. Use with caution.
WordPress Indexing via Bing API
Bing is one of the search engines that supports the IndexNow protocol; therefore, setting up indexing directly via the Bing API is unnecessary. However, if you prefer to use this method instead or alongside IndexNow, please follow the guide below.
Go to CrawlWP >> Settings >> Indexing >> Bing API and enable it.
Note that you first need to connect CrawlWP to Bing API and connect your account for it to work.
WordPress Indexing via Yandex API
Like Bing, Yandex is another search engine supporting the IndexNow protocol. As a result, you do not need to set up indexing directly through the Yandex API. However, if you prefer to use the Yandex API instead of or in addition to IndexNow, please follow the guide below.
To set it up, go to CrawlWP >> Settings >> Indexing >> Yandex API and enable it.
Before it works, you must first connect CrawlWP to Yandex API. And remember to save your changes.
Ensuring that search engines effectively index your WordPress website maximizes visibility and attracts traffic.
By utilizing the CrawlWP plugin, you can access a powerful WordPress SEO plugin designed to facilitate seamless search engine indexing of WordPress content through various protocols, including IndexNow and direct API submissions to Google, Bing, and Yandex.
By following the steps outlined in this article, you can consistently keep search engines updated on your content changes in WordPress, helping to improve your site’s rankings and visibility in search results.
Get CrawlWP today to ensure your valuable content reaches a broader audience efficiently.