Have you wondered how websites pop up as search results when you browse through your computer or mobile? In this blog, I will explain how you can list your website on Google. Google is known for its search engine, and applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Drive etc… For details about other google apps you can refer to our article titled 6 essential google apps for your business.

It was when I was in class 3, my parents brought home a computer. My brother and I share a huge age gap. So, whenever I wanted him to play with me, he would have to study. My mom taught me to play games in the computer. Later on, as I grew up, I didn’t trouble my brother since I was enjoying the new norm.

My mom being a professor in a college in the city, about 48 kilometers, from the place where I stay and with my dad working abroad, I had nobody to teach me whatever I didn’t catch up at school. Gradually my mom taught me that there is a search engine called Google, where I could find the answers for most of my questions. Since then, it has become my best friend on whom I depend upon for anything and everything.

We all know that google search results produce several answers. There are numerous websites which you can explore to get information about something that you really want. You all must be wondering about how these websites appear when you just give a query on Google Search? These websites are actually submitted to the Google Search Console. Wondering how?In this article I will cover the steps that will help you to connect your website and help you show up on Google SERP’s (Search Engine Results Page).

What is Google Search Console ?

Google Search Console is a free service that will allow you to monitor your site’s performance in Google Search results. You can also see how Google sees your site, including your site’s relevance for Rich Cards and Accelerated Mobile Pages. Google search console will help you out in indexing. It helps you to find out things like how many people are visiting your site, whether they are visiting your site using a mobile phone or computer, it also helps you know which pages on your site are more popular and helps you in fixing website errors, submit sitemaps, remove old content.

How does Google search console generate results ?

The basic three steps that are followed are:

1) Crawling:

The first step is finding out what pages exist on the web. There isn’t a registry of all web pages, Google must search for new webpages and add them to the list of known web pages. Some web pages are known because Google has already visited them before. Other pages are discovered when Google follows a link from a known page to a new page. Still other pages are discovered when a website owner submits a list of pages (a sitemap) for Google to crawl. Once Google discovers a page URL, it visits, or crawls, the page to find out what’s on it. Google renders the page and analyses both the text and non-text content and overall visual layout to decide where it should appear in Search results.

2) Indexing:

The first step is finding out what pages exist on the web. There isn’t a registry of all web pages, Google must search for new webpages and add them to the list of known web pages. Some web pages are known because Google has already visited them before. Other pages are discovered when Google follows a link from a known page to a new page. Still other pages are discovered when a website owner submits a list of pages (a sitemap) for Google to crawl. Once Google discovers a page URL, it visits, or crawls, the page to find out what’s on it. Google renders the page and analyses both the text and non-text content and overall visual layout to decide where it should appear in Search results.

After a page is discovered, Google tries to understand what the page is about. This process is called indexing. Google analyses the content of the page, images and video files on the page and tries to understand the page. This information is stored in the Google index, a huge database stored in many computers.

To improve indexing:
1. Make use of short but meaningful page titles.
a. Use side headings that convey the subject of the page.
b. Use more text rather than images to convey content.

2) Serving (Ranking):

When a user types a query, Google tries to find the most relevant answer from its index based on many factors. Google tries to find highest quality answers, taking all the considerations into account that will provide the best user experience and most appropriate answer. It takes into account the location of user and other factors while searching for the results. For example, searching for “coffee shop” would show different result to a user in Mangalore than it would to a user in Mumbai. Google doesn’t accept payment to rank pages higher, it’s done programmatically.

To improve your serving and ranking:
1. Make your page fast to load, and mobile-friendly.
a. Put useful content on your page and keep it up to date.
b. Follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines, which helps ensure a good user experience.

Let us look at the steps which will help you list your website on Google ?

1. Search for Google Search Console in Google Search.

2. Click on the first search result, you will reach the page shown below. Click on Start now.

3. Once Start now is clicked, you will see a window as shown below. Entering your domain in the domain field (will consider the subdomains that come under it) while entering your domain in the URL prefix (considers only one subdomain). Hence it is better to choose Domain. Enter your domain name, you need not add any protocols like http, https. Click continue.

4. Once domain name is entered, the below popup opens. Follow the instructions as mentioned. You will be required to login to your domain provider (where you purchased your domain from. Example.godaddy.com, hostgator.com, namecheap.com etc).

5. Visit the DNS zone and add the text record as shown. Go back to the search console and click on verify. Refer to your domain provider for more details.

6. You may get a warning message saying ownership verification has failed. It’s always advisable to wait for around 10 to 15 minutes and then click on verify.

7. Once done with verification you will get a message saying ownership auto verified as shown below.

This is how google search console looks like. You can check your conversion rate, other parameters like mobile usability, no of clicks, average position where your website is ranked etc… In the enhancement section you will be shown how you can improve your website, repair errors. In the search console window there is an option called security issues which will help you find any issues associated with your website.

You can also add multiple websites in a similar way. I hope after going through these steps you are quite familiar about how to list your website on Google. Having a website for your business makes you stand apart from the rest of your competitors in the field. Our blog on 5 reasons your business needs a website will show you the benefits of having an website.

If you are looking for someone to help you set up your business website, please feel free to contact my team at hello@marketbird.in or call at +91-7204592231. Market Bird will help you get started.

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