How to Submit Your Website to Search Engines

Submitting your website to search engines is an effective way to make your content accessible to anyone searching for it. 

In this knowledgebase article, we’ll guide you through the process of submitting your website to major search engines such as Google and Bing, as well as alternatives like Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and others. 

By the end of this article, you’ll feel confident that your website will appear in search results, allowing you to reach a wider audience.

1 What is Search Engine Submission?

Search engine submission refers to providing search engines with information about your website, including its URL, content, and structure. 

This action prompts search engine crawlers to visit your site, index its pages, and include them in search engine results pages (SERPs).

2 Preparing Your Website for Submission

Before submitting your website to search engines, it’s crucial to ensure it is optimized and crawler-friendly. There are several key elements to review on your site:

1. Implement a clear website hierarchy and navigation structure.
2. Create an XML sitemap (discussed in the next section).
3. Ensure pages are not blocked from crawlers via robots.txt.
4. Optimize titles, descriptions, and headings with target keywords.
5. Maintain fast-loading pages without excessive scripts or code bloat.
6. Ensure crawlable links exist between all public pages.

Among these elements, having a sitemap is perhaps the most important for effectively connecting your website with search engines. Let’s briefly discuss this in the following section.

3 What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages and URLs on your website. It acts as a roadmap to help search engines understand your site’s layout and structure. 

Having an XML sitemap significantly simplifies the process for search crawlers to discover all of your website’s content.

While search engines typically discover new websites over time through web crawling, submitting your sitemap can expedite this process. 

Thus, submitting your website to search engines essentially means submitting your website sitemap.

In the next section, we’ll discuss how to obtain a sitemap for your WordPress website.

4 How to Get Your WordPress Website Sitemap

To submit your website sitemap to search engines like Google and others, you can utilize the Rank Math SEO plugin. Once installed and set up on your WordPress website, it automatically generates XML sitemaps of all pages, posts, and archives.

The best part is that the plugin can automatically submit your website sitemap to search engines like Google once you connect your Search Console account. Additionally, the sitemaps are maintenance-free, as the plugin automatically updates them whenever you publish or edit your pages.

Furthermore, Rank Math ensures that your sitemap is listed in your robots.txt file, which is helpful since search engines may check this file to locate the sitemap. For more details, refer to our guide on configuring your website sitemap using Rank Math.

In the next section, we will continue with how to submit these sitemaps to major search engines to expedite indexing your site.

5 Submitting Your Website to Search Engines

With your site ready to go, you can now submit it to the major search engines. Most search engines offer a submission tool or webmaster tools that allow you to submit your website directly.

Well, let’s look at how to submit your website to most search engines freely:

5.1 How to Submit Your Website to Google

To submit your website sitemap to Google, navigate to the Google Search Console. You’ll be presented with the Search Console login page. Click the Start now button and proceed to log into your Google account.

Next, submit your website URL and obtain an HTML tag to verify your website’s ownership. 

This tag needs to be pasted into the Google Search Console field in Rank Math to verify your website and connect your Google service account to Rank Math.

For more details, refer to our guide on verifying your website on Google using Rank Math.

After verifying ownership in Google Search Console, add your generated website sitemap. 

Simply copy the XML sitemap generated by Rank Math on your WordPress website and paste it into the “Add a new sitemap” field found in the Sitemaps section of Google Search Console.

For more details, refer to our guide on submitting your sitemap to Google.

Once submitted to Google, the Googlebot will visit your site, but it may take anywhere from a couple of weeks to over a month before your site is fully indexed and visible in Google Search.

5.2 How to Submit Your Website to Bing

Like Google, before submitting your website to Bing, you need to verify your website’s ownership. To do this, visit the Bing Webmaster Tools site and click the SIGN IN button.

After logging in, you have two options: import your site’s settings and data from your Google Search Console to Bing or manually add your site.

To add your site manually, you can copy the HTML meta tag to the Bing Webmaster Tools field in the Rank Math SEO plugin.

For detailed instructions, refer to our guide on verifying your website on Bing using Rank Math.

Once your website is verified on Bing, you’ll need to add your website’s sitemap. 

Since Rank Math has already generated your sitemap, copy it and paste it into the “Submit sitemap” field found in the Sitemaps section of Bing Webmaster Tools.

For more details, refer to our guide on submitting your website sitemap to Bing.

5.3 How to Submit Your Website to Yandex

Yandex is a popular search engine in Russia. If you’re targeting users from Russia, connecting your website to Yandex is recommended.

To submit your site to Yandex, you must verify your website ownership using Yandex Webmaster Tools. First, create a Yandex account by visiting the site and clicking the Add site button.

After creating an account, add your website and verify ownership by copying the meta tag to the Yandex Verification ID field in Rank Math. For more details, refer to our guide on verifying your website with Yandex using Rank Math.

Once your website is successfully verified on Yandex, you’ll need to connect your sitemap. Although Yandex can discover your sitemap from your website’s robots.txt file, you can also manually submit it.

Simply navigate to Indexing → Sitemap files, copy your website’s sitemap generated by Rank Math, paste it into the “Add Sitemap file” field on that page, and click the Add button, as shown below.

Your sitemap file will then be queued for processing, and their robot will download it within two weeks.

5.4 How to Submit Your Website to Baidu

Baidu, a major search engine in China, requires a Baidu account to add your website to its platform, especially if your target audience is Chinese. 

To create an account, visit the Baidu Webmaster Tools website and enter your registration details. Please note that a Chinese phone number may be requested during registration.

After registering, provide your website URL and your company’s category. Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll need to verify your website ownership on Baidu. 

To do this, navigate to the HTML tag option, copy the tag, and paste it into the Baidu Webmaster Tools field in Rank Math.

For more details, refer to our guide on adding your website to Baidu using Rank Math.

5.5 How to Submit Your Website to Duckduckgo

Unlike Google and Bing, DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine, doesn’t require manual website submission. 

This is because DuckDuckGo relies on its web crawler, DuckDuckBot, to discover and index websites. Additionally, it pulls information from various sources, such as Bing, Wikipedia, and other partners.

Therefore, if you have already submitted your website to Bing using Bing Webmaster Tools, there is a good chance it will also appear on DuckDuckGo.

In short, focus on optimizing your website for search engines in general and submitting to Bing. This will likely get you indexed on DuckDuckGo as well.

5.6 How to Submit Your Website to Brave

Currently, Brave Search, the privacy-centric search engine from Brave browser, does not offer a traditional website submission process like Google.  

However, it leverages the Web Discovery Project (WDP), a privacy-preserving initiative in which users opt-in to share browsing data anonymously. This data helps Brave Search discover new websites.

5.7 How to Submit Your Website to Yahoo

Yahoo Search actually relies on Bing’s search results. This means you don’t need to submit your website directly to Yahoo.

By submitting your website to Bing Webmaster Tools, you’re essentially submitting it to Yahoo Search as well.

Once Bing indexes your website, it will likely also appear on Yahoo. However, note that it can take up to 6-8 weeks or even longer before you see your content in Yahoo search results.

5.8 How to Submit Your Website to Qwant

Qwant, the French search engine focused on privacy, takes a unique approach to website discovery and indexing compared to Google or Bing.

Unlike Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools, Qwant doesn’t offer manual website submission or sitemap upload functionalities.

Instead, it relies on its web crawlers to discover and index websites across the Internet. Qwant’s crawlers visit and index millions of pages daily, and new websites typically appear on Qwant within a few days or weeks of launch.

However, if your website doesn’t appear after a reasonable wait, you can contact Qwant through their help form.

5.9 How to Submit Your Website to Ecosia

Ecosia, the search engine that plants trees with its ad revenue, takes a different approach to website discovery compared to traditional search engines. 

Ecosia search results or search-related ads come from its search partners, Microsoft Bing and Google. This means Ecosia does not have a separate website submission process.

By optimizing your website and submitting your sitemaps to Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console, you’re indirectly impacting your visibility on Ecosia. 

Once Google and Bing index your website, it will likely show up on Ecosia as well.

5.10 How to Submit Your Website to Startpage

Startpage a privacy-focused search engine, doesn’t have a traditional search engine crawler.

Instead, Startpage anonymizes user searches and displays results pulled from Google. Therefore, submitting your website to Google is the key to getting indexed on Startpage.

Once your website is indexed on Google, it’s likely to appear in Startpage’s anonymized search results when users search for relevant keywords.

6 After Submitting Your Website to Search Engines 

After submitting your website, it may take some time for search engines to crawl and index it. 

Be patient and monitor your website’s performance using the webmaster tools. 

Additionally, continue to build backlinks and update your website with fresh, relevant content to improve its visibility and ranking in search results.

By following these steps, you can effectively submit your website to search engines, increasing your chances of attracting more visitors and achieving your online goals.

7 Frequently Asked Questions

That’s it! If you have questions about using Rank Math to verify and submit your website to search engines, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team. They’re always available and willing to help you.