Posted on May 18th, 2010Have you ever changed content on your website and looked back a few days later with the old information still being displayed? This is a common question when dealing with search engines that many new web owners ask. With search algorithms changing and different criteria for relevant content constantly changing, it can be difficult to understand the answer.
In short there are a few reasons why search engines will initially ignore a newly submitted website. These include:
- Time
- Lack of backlinks
- Search engine updates
Time
Time is the enemy of all businesses. In the case of websites this is no different. In most instances, it takes time (sometimes days) for the search engine of choice to index the site. Indexing the site is simply adding the website to the results of a search on a search engine.
Search engines like Google have crawlers that are essentially searching the internet for new websites and web pages. Due to the size of the internet, it often takes awhile for the crawler to find the site and add it to the results.
Lack of Backlinks
Another reason the website might not be indexed immediately is due to a lack of backlinks which are inbound links to a website. The higher the page rank (above six) and the quality of the related links, the better the position on a search engine. Those sites that do not have many or related links may not even be indexed by a search engine as the crawler will see it as an irrelevant website.
Search Engine Updates
The final reason can be attributed to search engine updates. In many instances the search engine is performing scheduled maintenance or upgrading their software which would result in a longer time to index. Often, sites are updated at off-peak hours so be cognizant to the timing of the submission of a site.
Solutions
There are a few ways to speed up the indexing process. For instance, by placing homepage links on social media sites like Twitter, this improves the page rank and quality of backlinks. Also, submitting to link exchanges will provide the same result. Additionally, its good practice to check the homepage’s cache to verify when it was last crawled. Finally, utilizing meta-tags in the website will help the crawler identify the website more quickly.
In most cases, time is the primary cause of slow indexing followed by a lack of backlinks, and then scheduled maintenance. Simply be patient and if the site doesn’t show up in the results after a week, contact the search engine and they should be able to provide adequate reasons.