In the first article of this series, Technical SEO 101: What Every WordPress Owner Must Know, we did a high-level overview of Technical SEO. In this article, we’ll discuss how to submit your WordPress site to Google. We will talk about Manual Submission versus Paid Submission. This article will give you a step-by-step best practice approach.
Manual Submission and Why It Matters
Google’s crawlers will eventually find most websites on their own — but “eventually” can mean days, weeks, or longer for a brand-new site with no backlinks pointing to it. Manually submitting your WordPress site to Google accomplishes three things at once:
- It tells Google your site exists, right now, without waiting for a crawler to discover it.
- It gives Google a complete picture of your site’s structure through an XML sitemap.
- It puts you in the driver’s seat with tools to monitor how Google sees and crawls your pages over time.
Submitting to Google and Bing covers the vast majority of global search traffic. Yahoo search results are powered by Bing, so submitting to Bing automatically makes your site eligible to appear on Yahoo as well.
Step 1: Verify Your Site in Google Search Console
Google Search Console (GSC) is Google’s free platform for website owners. Before you can submit anything, you need to prove to Google that you actually own the site. This is called verification.
There are two common methods:
Option A: Domain-Level Verification (Recommended)
This method verifies your entire domain, including subdomains and both HTTP and HTTPS versions of your site. Google will give you a small piece of text called a DNS TXT record. You add this record in your domain’s DNS settings — typically through your hosting control panel or your domain registrar (such as Namecheap or GoDaddy).
Once added, return to Google Search Console and click Verify. It can take a few minutes to an hour for the DNS change to propagate.
Option B: URL-Prefix Verification via RankMath SEO
If editing DNS records sounds intimidating, this option is more approachable. Google will give you an HTML meta tag — a short line of code — to place on your site. If you’re using the RankMath SEO plugin, you don’t have to touch any code at all.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to RankMath > General Settings > Webmaster Tools. You will see fields for pasting your Google Verification Code and spaces for other services as well.
Step 2: Generate and Submit Your XML Sitemap
Generate Your Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a special file that lists every important page on your site. Think of it as handing Google a detailed table of contents rather than making it guess what’s there.
Since you’re already using RankMath, this is done automatically for you. You can check your sitemap in RankMath > Sitemap Settings > General.
Submit the Sitemap to Google
- Log in to Google Search Console.
- Select your property (your website).
- In the left menu, click Sitemaps.
- In the “Add a new sitemap” field, enter your sitemap URL — just the path portion, such as
sitemap_index.xml. - Click Submit.
Google will begin processing your sitemap immediately. Within GSC, you’ll be able to see how many pages were submitted and how many have been indexed.
Step 3: Submit to Bing (and Yahoo at the Same Time)
Bing powers Yahoo search results, so submitting to Bing covers Yahoo. By using RankMath SEO plugin, you don’t have to manually submit your site, RankMath will do it for you via Instant Indexing. IndexNow is Microsoft and Yandex’s proud initiative to efficiently crawl sites, reducing their crawl footprint. Various engines have already adopted the IndexNow protocol.
Rank Math automatically generates an API key for your website, dynamically hosts it on your website, and serves it to the search engines, so you don’t have to go through all the hassle and instead focus more on creating and managing the content on your site. You can read more detailed instructions on RankMath’s site.
A Word About Paid Submission Services
A quick search will turn up dozens of services offering to “submit your site to hundreds of search engines” for a fee. Save your money — these services are largely outdated and ineffective.
Google, Bing, and a small number of specialized engines account for essentially all meaningful search traffic. None of the major search engines requires you to use a third-party submission service, and none of them gives preferential treatment to sites submitted that way. The official, free webmaster tools described in this article are the correct and sufficient method.
What to Expect After You Submit
Submitting your site is not an instant fix. Here’s a realistic timeline:
- Google Search Console will typically show sitemap processing within a few hours.
- Indexing of individual pages can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on your site’s authority, the size of your site, and how frequently Google’s crawlers visit.
- Bing generally processes new sites within a similar timeframe.
You can monitor progress in Google Search Console under Coverage to see which pages have been indexed, which are pending, and whether any errors are preventing pages from being crawled.
Once your pages are indexed, the work shifts to ensuring your content is relevant, well-structured, and worth ranking — which is the heart of ongoing SEO.
Wrapping Up How to Submit Your WordPress Site to Google
Submitting your WordPress site to Google and Bing is straightforward, free, and one of the most direct steps you can take to get your site in front of the people searching for what you offer. The process comes down to three things: verify ownership in Google Search Console, submit your XML sitemap, and follow the guidance for Bing/Yahoo.
If you run into trouble along the way — a sitemap that isn’t generating correctly, a verification that won’t confirm, or a site that still isn’t showing up after submission — we’re here to help. Contact us, and we’ll take a look.
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