Mastering Search Engine Submission: A Step-by-Step Guide for New Websites

A new website doesn't appear in search results just because it is online. Search engines have to find it, crawl it and decide to index it, and you can speed that up by telling them it exists. This guide covers what to check before you submit, how to submit to Google and Bing (which also covers Yahoo and, largely, DuckDuckGo), and what to do when pages still don't show up.

1. How search engines find a new site

Submitting helps only with the first step: it tells the crawler where to look. It doesn't make a page rank.

2. Get the site ready first

Check these before you submit:

• Real content on every page. Remove "coming soon" pages and placeholder text. Thin or duplicate pages are often crawled but not indexed.
• HTTPS works. Every page should load over https:// without warnings, and http:// should redirect to it. Domain India hosting includes free SSL.
• One preferred address. Choose www or non-www and redirect the other to it, so search engines don't see two copies.
• Titles and descriptions. Give each page a unique title and meta description that says what the page is about.
• Works on phones. Google indexes the mobile version of your site. Check it with Lighthouse in Chrome's developer tools or with PageSpeed Insights.
• Nothing blocks crawling. Look for noindex tags left over from development, and for a "Discourage search engines" setting if you use WordPress.

3. robots.txt and the XML sitemap

robots.txt sits at the root of your site and tells crawlers what not to fetch. A simple one:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Two points people get wrong:

• robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing. A blocked page can still appear in results if other sites link to it. To keep a page out of results, let it be crawled and add a noindex meta tag or header.
• Never put Disallow: / on a live site. That blocks everything.

An XML sitemap lists the pages you want indexed. How to get one:

Open the sitemap URL in a browser to check it loads and lists your real pages. More detail: XML sitemap: what it is and how to create one.

4. Submit to Google

Google no longer accepts sitemap "ping" URLs; submit through Search Console and keep the Sitemap: line in robots.txt.

5. Submit to Bing, and what that covers

Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools. The quickest route is to import your site from Google Search Console, which copies the verified sites and sitemaps. Otherwise verify with an XML file, a meta tag or a DNS record, then submit your sitemap.

Bing's index also powers Yahoo search results, and DuckDuckGo relies heavily on Bing, so this one submission covers all three. DuckDuckGo has no submission form of its own.

Bing, Yandex and some other engines also support IndexNow, a protocol that notifies them the moment a page is added or changed. Many SEO plugins and CMSs can send IndexNow pings automatically. Google doesn't use IndexNow.

6. Other search engines

• Yandex: use Yandex Webmaster if you target Russian-speaking users. Baidu and Naver have their own tools too, for China and South Korea.
• "Submit to 500 search engines" services: skip them. The engines that matter find sites through Google, Bing and links.

For a business serving customers in a town or city, a Google Business Profile often brings more local visitors than any submission.

7. When pages don't get indexed

After you fix an issue, use Validate fix in Search Console. Then give it time: new sites often take a few weeks to be crawled regularly.

8. After submission: keep improving

• Publish useful pages that answer what your customers search for, and link them from related pages.
• Earn links from real sources: suppliers, local directories, trade bodies and partners.
• Watch the Performance report for the searches that already show your site, and improve those pages first.
• Keep the site fast and error-free. See My website is slow.

For on-page detail, read SEO basics for your website.

9. Doing this on Domain India

• HTML file verification. Upload the file Google or Bing gives you to your site's folder, usually public_html, with File Manager or FTP. See How do I use the File Manager.
• DNS TXT verification. Add the TXT record wherever your domain's DNS is managed. If your domain uses your hosting nameservers, that is the DNS editor in your control panel. See How to change your domain's DNS settings.
• HTTPS. Free SSL is included with Domain India cPanel hosting (AutoSSL with Let's Encrypt) and DirectAdmin hosting (Let's Encrypt), so your site can be HTTPS from day one.
• AI Website Builder. Builder sites get page titles, meta tags and a sitemap generated automatically, and you can copy the sitemap URL and verify the site with Google Search Console from the editor. See the AI Website Builder.

The card shows the live Domain India list price, excluding 18% GST.

Ready to get found? Put your site on Domain India hosting with free SSL, or register a domain first. If verification or indexing isn't working, open a ticket and tell us your domain.