A common question after adding a new page, updating content, or launching a new site is “How long before we see our new content in Google search?” Google has, for the first time, stated a cumulative timeline of each step in its process of crawling, indexing, and serving website content.

What did Google’s Gary Illyes say?

• New content: Best case, 48 hours. Worst case, a few months or more to be indexed.
• If it is a brand new URL: While Google says to expect up 1-3 month to be settled into SERPs, known as fully processed, we often see new URLs discovered within a week.

These are a few of our tips to help encourage faster indexing and ranking: 

• 301 page-to-page redirects: Every page needs a redirect. One mistake we often see is redirecting only the top 100 pages in organic results. If your site has hundreds or thousands of pages, they collectively account for a significant amount of traffic. This does not need to be a big lift. At the beginning of your project, create a redirect matrix tracking each new URL as you create them to your original URLs.
• Sitemap.xml: Access your sitemap.xml file to make sure your sitemap file is properly cataloging the right pages, and is updating itself in a timely manner with new pages.
• Robots.txt: Double check nothing is being blocked.
• Google Search Console: Frequently update and submit the sitemap link in Google Search Console, especially after major content changes on the site.