How to Tell if Your Website Has Been Indexed by Google

Have you ever wondered if Google even knows whether or not your website exists? This article explains how to find out whether or not your website is included in Google's index in a couple of very easy steps.

Things You'll Need

• A computer
• Internet access

Instructions

1. Go to Google's homepage at google.com.

2. In the search bar, you will need to type in the following query: "site:" (without the quotes), followed by your website address. Please note that you must give the FULL website address, with the "http://" included at the beginning of the address. For example, if your website is "www.examplesite.com", the actual text you would type into the search bar is "site:http://www.examplesite.com" (without the quotes, of course). Make sure to NOT put any space between the "site:" and the web address.

3. Once you have typed that in, click "Google Search".

4. What you will see next is all of the pages of your website that Google has in its index. It's pretty much a given that they will index your home page, but also look for what other pages Google has decided to index.

5. If you see the following result, you will know that your site is not in Google's index: "Your search - 'site:http://www.examplesite.com' - did not match any documents." If this is the case, you are not yet included in Google's index.

Tips & Warnings

• If your website is not yet included in Google's index, you have to make that your first priority, otherwise you have no online presence in the largest search engine out there. Don't get discouraged, though...if your website is fairly new, it will take time to get the site indexed. Trust me when I say, submitting your site to Google using their online form is a waste of time...Google will find you without you even having to do this, and sometimes they will index you faster when you DON'T submit your site manually. Don't ask me why...I don't know, but I have experienced this first-hand with different websites.

• If your site is not indexed, you're probably asking yourself "How do I get it indexed?" Good question. I have included a link to my related article "How to Get Your Website Indexed by Google" in the "Resources" section below.

• Nothing really to be afraid of with this stuff.

Resources

• How to Get Your Website Indexed by Google