Get my site into Google
Being findable on Google comes down to three things: Google knows your site exists, it can read your site’s table of contents (the sitemap), and nothing is telling it to stay away. bernard looks after all three. There is nothing you need to set up.
The prompt
“Is my site registered with Google yet, and since when? Run the findability check and tell me if anything is stopping Google reading my site.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
What bernard does for you
- Registers your site with Google. When your own address goes live on bernard, bernard registers it with Google straight away and hands over your sitemap in the same step. A site still on its bernardhosts.com address is covered by bernard’s own registration from the day it arrives.
- Keeps your sitemap and robots file right. Every site gets a sitemap when it moves in, and when your own address goes live bernard rewrites it for the new address, ready for you to approve. See Does my site have a sitemap?.
- Tells search engines when you publish. With measuring switched on, each publish refreshes your sitemap and tells Google, Bing and partner engines to take a fresh look - see How Bernard tells Google about my changes and Tell search engines my site changed.
How long it takes
- Day one. Your address goes live and bernard registers it with Google.
- Two to three days later. The first search numbers appear on your Analytics page. Google reports each day a couple of days late, so a zero before then just means no numbers yet.
- The first couple of weeks. Google finds the pages, reads them and starts showing them in results. For a small site this usually takes a few days to a couple of weeks.
Still nothing after a couple of weeks?
Ask Bernard to check. He confirms your site is registered with Google, then runs the findability check: nothing telling Google to stay away, the sitemap present and current, the robots file pointing at it. Anything that needs fixing lands as a draft you approve.
If all of that is fine, the next step is the words on your pages. Google shows a page when it answers what people type, so pages that use the words your customers search for get shown sooner (Use the words people actually search for). And being in Google is only the door - what makes Google rank what it finds is the standard it calls E-E-A-T: What is E-E-A-T, and does my site have it?.
Questions people ask
- Do I need to register my site with Google Search Console?
- No. bernard registers your site with Google for you. When your own address goes live on bernard, it is registered within moments, and your sitemap (the list of your pages) is handed to Google at the same time. A site still on its bernardhosts.com address is covered from the day it arrives. You never need to verify anything, paste a code or add a record for Google.
- How long does it take Google to show a new website?
- Usually a few days to a couple of weeks. Google has to find the new address, read the pages and decide where they belong. The first search numbers appear on your Analytics page 2 to 3 days after the address goes live, because Google reports each day’s numbers a couple of days late. A zero in the first week just means no numbers yet.
- Why isn’t my site showing up on Google yet?
- If it’s new, Google is usually still reading it. If it has been a couple of weeks, ask Bernard to run the findability check: it confirms nothing is telling Google to stay away, that your sitemap is present and current, and that your robots file points at it. Any fix lands as a draft you approve before it goes live.
- Can bernard register my site with Google for me?
- Yes, and it already has. Every address connected through bernard is registered automatically when it goes live, with no step for you. If you run another website that isn’t connected through bernard, that one is outside what bernard can register.
- Can I see the Search Console numbers myself?
- You don’t need to. Switch on measuring and your Analytics page shows how often Google showed your site, which searches found you and how many people clicked through, in plain words.