There are many aspects of Search Engine Optimization, but a key step to any SEO campaign is indexing. Indexing is the bridge between the content you create and ranking on search engines. Many companies find indexing to be overly technical and complex, but it’s really quite simple.
So, let’s talk about Indexing.
What is Indexing?
Indexing is essentially cataloging. Once you create and upload content on your website, Google and other search engines will send a crawler to your pages. The crawler analyzes the page for content and meaning, and stores this information in Google’s index, or database. Indexed pages are what then appear in SERPs, ranking for the right keywords and phrases.
Why is Indexing Important?
There is no SEO without indexing. In fact, there’s no centralized Internet without indexing. Indexing is a vital process that catalogs, archives, and links together all the various pages on the Internet. While it’s possible to visit sites that aren’t indexed on Google, it is much harder to find them.
Simply put, if you want to rank for anything on a search engine, you’ll have to get your content indexed.
How Long Does Indexing Take?
This is where Indexing can become a bit complicated. Indexing can take “several hours to several weeks” according to Google. Technical issues on the site can make this take even longer. A well-optimized website and content will be indexed faster. Generally, though, most pages are indexed within a few hours or days.
You can speed up the indexing process by investing in quality content. There is a lot of content out there, and Google only has so much capacity. Sites that are well-built, have a good page speed, and are full of original, non-duplicate content will get indexed faster.
Does Indexing Guarantee Rankings?
We get asked this a lot as an SEO agency. While indexing and ranking go hand-in-hand, having your website indexed doesn’t guarantee you’ll rank. Indexing is just step one. Google still has to decide if the content they cataloged should show for the keywords you’re targeting. In order to rank for your ideal keywords, you’ll also have to create quality content, build links, optimize technical SEO, and more.
If you’re interested in growing your business’s online presence, contact Hilborn Digital today! We’re one of the top SEO and digital marketing agencies in the GTA and we’d be happy to help your business with indexing, SEO, and more.