A Comprehensive Guide to Submitting Your WordPress Website to Search Engines

Boost Your Website Traffic with Simple Search Engine Submissions

If you want your WordPress website to be easily discovered and rank well on search engine result pages, submitting it to search engines is a crucial step. This in-depth guide will walk you through the process of submitting your website to search engines and help you start driving targeted traffic to your site.

The Significance of Submitting Your WordPress Website to Search Engines

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the primary source of organic traffic for most websites. By submitting your website to these search engines, you ensure that they can easily find and index your web pages. This increases the chances of your website appearing in search results, which in turn drives free and targeted traffic to your site. By following the steps mentioned below, you can grow your business online without spending a fortune on advertising.

Guidelines for Submitting Your WordPress Website to Google

Google is the largest search engine and a priority for website owners to submit their sites. Luckily, submitting your WordPress website to Google is straightforward with the help of the free tool, Google Search Console.

1. Sign up for Google Search Console: Visit the Google Search Console website and click on the “Start now” button. Sign in using your Google account or create a new one.
2. Enter your website domain: Choose the URL prefix option and enter your website’s domain name. Follow the instructions to verify your site using the HTML tag method.
3. Add the verification code using All in One SEO: Install and activate the All in One SEO plugin. Go to All in One SEO > General Settings > Webmaster Tools and paste the content value from your HTML tag into the “Google Verification Code” box.
4. Validate your site: Return to Google Search Console and click the “Verify” button for the HTML tag method. You’ll receive a success message confirming that your website has been verified.

Generating and Submitting Your XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap helps search engine bots discover and index all the content on your WordPress website. It improves your chances of appearing in search results and drives more organic traffic. While WordPress includes basic XML sitemaps, using a plugin like All in One SEO offers more customization options.

1. Install All in One SEO: Install and activate the All in One SEO plugin, which offers easy WordPress SEO optimization.
2. Generate your sitemap: Go to All in One SEO > Sitemaps to automatically generate your sitemap. All in One SEO creates multiple sitemaps for different types of content, ensuring faster loading and better management.
3. Submit your sitemap to Google: Sign in to Google Search Console and click on the “Sitemaps” link. Enter “sitemap.xml” in the box and submit it. Google will crawl and index your website using the submitted sitemap.

Submitting Your Website to Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo

While Google is the dominant search engine, it’s essential not to overlook other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo. Submitting your website to these search engines increases visibility and potential traffic.

1. Submitting to Bing: Sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools and manually add your website. Enter your website URL and follow the instructions to verify your site using the HTML Meta Tag method. Use All in One SEO or the WPCode plugin to add the meta tag to your WordPress site. Finally, return to Bing Webmaster Tools, click the “Verify” button, and submit your sitemap.
2. Yahoo and DuckDuckGo: By submitting your website to Bing, it will also be automatically submitted to Yahoo and DuckDuckGo since these search engines use Bing’s search results.

Should You Use Website Submission Services?

While there are website submission services available, it is not recommended to use them. These services often charge a premium fee for a task that you can easily do yourself. Moreover, there are no added benefits to using these services, and they may even submit your website to spammy sources, which can harm your website’s SEO.

Frequently Asked Questions About Submitting Your Website to Search Engines