The first step in having your site ranked in Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) is simply getting the site recognized by Google's crawler (spider or robot), known as Googlebot.
Contrary to some belief, Google doesn't roam around the web randomly looking for new servers and web sites that happen to pop up (see possible exception below). Before a new site can be recognized and visited, Google must somehow become aware of the site. This can happen in a number of different ways, all of which require some action on your part, or by someone else on your behalf.
Submit URL - Google provides a very basic method of submitting site or page URLs, but it's buried down deep in their site and is often never discovered. It's at:
www.google.com/addurl/.
I continue to use this method, along with other methods, and recommend it because it's easy. Does it work? Although I haven't used this method exclusively for a number of years, it worked well for me in the past.
Sitemap - More recently, Google has added a much more sophisticated method for submitting sites - Google Sitemaps. There are a number of free sitemap generators available. Here's one that I've used in the past. You can search for others.
You get a chance for greater control over how your site is crawled because you can provide specific information about all your web pages, such as when a page is added, when a page was last modified or how frequently it changes. This is a powerful tool for sites that change frequently – and it's free.
Links - The absolute best way to let Google know that your new site exists is with links to it from other web sites that Google already knows about and crawls.
These links can be on other sites that you own or have some influence with. Links can be placed on free blog sites, introduced in forum posts, in discussion group signatures, or in MySpace profiles.
It may be possible to purchase links, or engage in a link exchange with sites that are similar to yours. You can also write online articles, submit web press releases, and comment on blogs.
When Googlebot crawls the already-known site, it will also discover and follow the link to your site. The timing and exact method by which this process takes place is one of the many Google mysteries. This is the way by which I routinely introduce a new site to Google.
Maybe another way - an exception
There are some folks who will say that Google can find new sites on it's own by examining servers of "trusted" web hosts. I cannot say if this is true or not. If it is true, who are these trusted hosts? Personally, I don't care to spend time being concerned about the authenticity of this idea. I would rather use methods over which I have more control.
How long does it take?
The answer: As long as it takes. There are many factors that determine when Google gets around to crawling your site, most of which we have absolutely no control over. It doesn't crawl every site every day. If you just missed the last crawl, it may be a while before you get recognized.
I have had sites that were crawled within a day of my first notification action. Most are crawled within a few days.
Some sites seem to be problems, for reasons only known to Google, and can go for weeks without being noticed.
How do you know?
Your web site's logs or stats will show when Googlebot has paid you a visit, and how often. Sites and pages that are updated frequently get visited more often than those that don't.
What then?
Getting Google to simply crawl your site and recognize its existence is one thing; getting your site indexed and ranking high in search results pages is quite another. But these are topics for other articles.
Al Hearn is founder, owner, and operator of StackPoint.com, which provides free information and advice to those who want to learn how to make money on the web.
