Verify your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your XML sitemap in each, and add IndexNow for Bing.
To submit your website to search engines, verify it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, then submit your XML sitemap in each. That covers Google and Bing directly, and Bing’s index also feeds other search engines and AI tools. For faster updates on Bing and several other engines, add IndexNow.
You don’t strictly have to submit a site at all. Search engines find new sites through links. But submitting speeds up discovery, gives you data on how your site is crawled and indexed, and alerts you to problems you’d otherwise never see.
Ignore services that offer to submit your site to hundreds of search engines. Google and Bing account for nearly all search traffic in the UK, and the rest either use their indexes or find sites on their own.
Before you submit
Submitting a site that search engines can’t crawl or index achieves nothing. Check these first:
- The site isn’t set to block search engines. Many CMSs and builders have a “discourage search engines” setting that’s often left on after launch.
- Your robots.txt file doesn’t disallow the pages you want found.
- Important pages don’t carry a noindex tag.
- You have an XML sitemap listing your canonical, indexable URLs. Most CMSs and SEO plugins create one automatically.
How to submit your website to Google
Google Search Console is the only official way to submit a site to Google. Google retired its old sitemap ping endpoint in 2023, so Search Console and the sitemap line in robots.txt are now the routes that count.
- Add a property in Search Console. Choose a domain property if you can add a DNS record, as it covers every subdomain and both HTTP and HTTPS. Otherwise use a URL prefix property.
- Verify ownership. Domain properties need a DNS TXT record. URL prefix properties can also be verified with an HTML file, a meta tag, Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager.
- Submit your sitemap. Go to Sitemaps, enter the sitemap URL (often /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml) and submit. Check back for a “Success” status and the number of discovered URLs.
- Request indexing for key pages. Use the URL Inspection tool on your homepage and most important pages. There’s a daily quota, so prioritise.
- Add the sitemap to robots.txt. A line such as “Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml” lets every search engine find it.
Our guide to getting Google to index your pages covers what to do if pages still aren’t showing up after you’ve submitted.
How to submit your website to Bing
Bing Webmaster Tools works much like Search Console, and if you already use Search Console the setup takes a couple of minutes.
- Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Import from Google Search Console, which brings across your verified sites and sitemaps in one step. Or add the site manually and verify it with an XML file, a meta tag or a DNS record.
- Check your sitemap is listed under Sitemaps, and add it if not.
- Use URL Submission for new or updated pages you want crawled quickly.
Bing matters more than its search share suggests. Its index is used by other search engines, and several AI assistants draw on Bing results when they search the web. Being properly indexed in Bing is part of showing up in AI answers, which our guide to AI search explains.
What IndexNow does
IndexNow is an open protocol that lets you notify participating search engines the moment a URL is added, updated or deleted. Instead of waiting for a crawler to come back, you ping the engine and it knows to check the page.
Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver and Yep support it, and a notification sent to one is shared with the others. Google doesn’t use IndexNow, so it doesn’t replace Search Console.
Setting it up is simple on most platforms. Many SEO plugins and CDNs, including Cloudflare, offer it as a setting you switch on. For a custom setup, you host a key file on your domain and send URLs to the IndexNow endpoint whenever content changes.
Which tool does what
| Tool | Search engines covered | Main use |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | Sitemaps, indexing reports, URL inspection, performance data | |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Bing, plus engines and tools that use Bing’s index | Sitemaps, URL submission, crawl and performance data |
| IndexNow | Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, Yep | Instant notification of new, changed or deleted URLs |
| Sitemap line in robots.txt | Any engine that reads robots.txt | Lets crawlers find your sitemap without a manual submission |
After you submit
Submission is the start, not the finish. Check the Page indexing report in Search Console and the equivalent in Bing every few weeks. Look for pages excluded by noindex, blocked by robots.txt or stuck as discovered but not crawled.
Over time, internal links and links from other sites do more for discovery than any submission tool. A new page linked from your homepage and from related content will be found quickly whether or not you submit it.
If you’ve submitted your site and pages still aren’t appearing, our technical SEO team can find out why. Book a free strategy session and we’ll take a look.
Related reading: our guides to indexability and SEO audits.
Common questions
Do I have to submit my website to Google?
No. Google finds most sites through links. Submitting a sitemap in Search Console speeds up discovery and gives you indexing data, so it’s worth doing for every site.
How much does it cost to submit a website to search engines?
Nothing. Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow are all free. Avoid paid services that promise mass submission.
Does Google support IndexNow?
No. Google doesn’t use IndexNow. Use Google Search Console and your XML sitemap to keep Google up to date.
How long after submitting will my site appear in search?
Often a few days, sometimes a few weeks. New domains with few links usually take longer than established sites.
