Everything Digital

(Note: This tutorial is written mainly for WordPress users.)

Did you ever wonder how search engines determine who gets to be on top of the search lists when you search for something? The answer has something to do with how robots index websites all over cyberspace. If this is your first website, you may have noticed that your site doesn’t show up in the search lists. That is because robots (also called spiderbots or crawlers) don’t know of your website yet. When someone looks for “barako coffee” for example, crawlers could only show websites that were already indexed or listed in their memory. The question now is how to get crawlers to index your site so that when people search for information about your products, they will also find your site.

The answer is quite simple. You only need to submit your site to major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Let’s start with Google first.

1. Login to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools with your Google account. If you don’t have a Google account yet, get one before proceeding to the next step.

2. Enter the URL of your website, then “Add Site.”

3. You will be asked to do one of two verification methods to ensure that you’re the real owner of the domain. For WordPress.com users, choose Meta Tag. Copy the code that looks like this: <meta name="google-site-verification" content="ys7pqhXChkdnmejsn3E4NTHd79a4r9FvYjfneNYzmyqtc" />

4. Leave that page open and login to your WordPress.com account. In your Dashboard, Click Tools under the Tools tab. In the lower part of the page you will see Webmaster Tools Verification where links to Google, Yahoo and Bing are provided.  Find Google Webmaster Tools and paste the code that you copied in step 4. There is a sample code below the blank space so you won’t get it wrong.

5. Click Save Changes.

6. Go back to the Google page you left in step 4 and click Verify.

You’re done! Your site is now verified by Google and soon crawlers will begin indexing your site. Be sure to read the webmaster tools guidelines to avoid getting banned by Google. You can also submit your site to Yahoo Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster Center using the same process.

For WordPress.org Users

If you have access to your cPanel, this tutorial is for you.

1. Perform steps 1 and 2 above.

2. Instead of choosing Meta Tag, choose Upload HTML file. Download the HTML verification file as instructed. Leave this page open.

3. Login to your cPanel, go to File Manager and go to the root directory of the domain you want to verify.  The root directory is the main folder in your cPanel right after the domain name. If you only have one domain in your cPanel, the root directory is called “public_html.” Upload the HTML file to that folder.

4. Go back to the Google Webmaster Tools page you left open in step 2. Click Verify.

You’re done.