Google Index explained simply

The Google Index comprises all websites that have been captured by so-called Google bots (crawlers) and added to the database for the index.

Is my page indexed by Google?

Whether a website or a specific subpage of it is present in the Google Index can easily be found out using the “site:” query. To do so, the user simply enters the site command together with the URL to be queried into Google search.

Example: “site:www.yourwebsite.com”

The “site:” query, however, only provides a rough, filtered estimate and, according to Google (Search Advocate John Mueller), is not a reliable diagnostic tool. For a robust check, you can use the Google Search Console to query whether the desired URL can be found in the Google Index. To do this, you log in to the Search Console and enter the URL under the item “URL inspection”. It then shows whether the URL is already in the index or not.

The Search Console report “Page indexing” is the most reliable method for checking the indexing status of the entire website. It lists indexed and non-indexed URLs along with their error or exclusion reasons (e.g. “Crawled – currently not indexed”, “Excluded by noindex tag”, “Alternate page with proper canonical tag”). While the URL inspection covers only individual pages and the “site:” query only estimates, this report provides the complete overview.

What does “indexing on Google” mean?

The term “indexing on Google” refers to the task of showing Google content as well as links, so that these are seen by the search engine and end up in the index (more quickly).

The search engine reads out countless pieces of information with its crawlers. So that important information does not get lost, there are techniques to speed up the crawling of content and new backlinks.

How can I have my website indexed by Google?

Via the Google Search Console (direct link: https://search.google.com/search-console), formerly Google Webmaster Tools, the indexing of a web page can be initiated directly with Google itself.

To do this, the relevant URL simply has to be entered via the search bar at the very top or under the menu item “URL inspection”.

Via the item “Request indexing”, the crawling of a URL can be triggered. URLs that are already in the index but on which changes have been made can also be re-crawled this way, in order to inform Google of these changes as quickly as possible.

This step is not strictly necessary, since the crawlers read out/crawl a website automatically on a regular basis.

New websites and URLs do not have to request indexing manually via the Google Search Console. The Google crawlers regularly search the entire web for new content and always re-read existing pages in the process, in order to capture any changes.

Having backlinks indexed by Google

Normally, Google captures Backlinks automatically through regular crawling. The formerly widespread “pinging” of backlinks (e.g. via Ping-O-Matic) is practically ineffective and outdated for Google indexing – Google does not use this mechanism as an indexing signal for web search. Deliberately having individual external backlink pages indexed is neither reliable nor intended by Google.

A page does not enter the index for several reasons: a noindex tag, a block via robots.txt, the canonical selection in favor of another URL, Duplicate Content as well as content that is too thin or of poor quality.

Sources:

• Google, So funktioniert die Google-Suche: https://www.google.com/intl/de/search/howsearchworks/
• SEO-Suedwest, John Mueller erklärt warum die Site-Suche unvollständig sein kann: https://www.seo-suedwest.de/6898-john-mueller-erklaert-warum-site-suchen-unvollstaendig-sein-koennen.html