Getting Your Static Website Indexed by Google

If your website isn't showing up in Google, the first question to ask is whether Google even knows it exists. That's what Google Search Console fixes. It's a free tool from Google that lets you:

• Tell Google your website exists
• Submit your sitemap
• See which pages are indexed and which aren't
• Find out why a page isn't ranking

Setting it up takes about 10 minutes. Here's the path.

Step 1: Open Search Console

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with a Google account. If you don't have one, create one. Use an email you'll actually keep, because Search Console emails you when something is wrong with your website.

Step 2: Add your website as a property

Click "Add property" and choose URL prefix. Type your full website URL including https:// . If you're on the free static.app subdomain, that's something like https://brave-whale.static.domains  (the platform assigns a random name, which you can customize in Settings → Domains). If you have a custom domain, use that. The URL prefix method is simpler than the domain method for static websites, because it doesn't need DNS access.

Step 3: Verify ownership with an HTML file

Google offers several verification methods. Choose HTML file. Google gives you a file named something like googlexxxxxxxxxxxxxx.html . Download it.

In your static.app dashboard, open the Files section. Upload the verification file to the root of your website (the same level as your index.html , not inside a folder). The file needs to be reachable at yoursite.com/googlexxxxxxxxxxxxxx.html . Test it by opening that URL in your browser. You should see a single line of text.

Step 4: Click Verify

Back in Search Console, click "Verify." If you uploaded the file correctly, Google confirms ownership in a second or two. Done.

What happens next

Google now knows your website exists, but indexing isn't instant. New pages typically appear in search results within a few days to a few weeks. To speed things up:

• Submit your sitemap. A later article covers how to make one. Once you have it, go to Sitemaps in the left menu of Search Console and paste your sitemap URL (usually https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml ).
• Request indexing for individual pages. Use the URL inspection tool at the top of Search Console. Paste a URL, then click "Request indexing." This nudges Google to crawl it sooner. Don't overdo it; Google rate-limits this.

Do the same for Bing

Open bing.com/webmasters and repeat the process. Bing has its own webmaster tools, and the indexing matters more than it used to. ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and several other AI tools pull from Bing's index. If you skip this, your website is harder for AI assistants to find and cite.

Tip: Bing Webmaster Tools lets you import properties from Search Console with one click. Use that.

Common issues

"Verification failed." The file didn't upload to the root, or it uploaded to a subfolder. Check that yoursite.com/googlexxxxxxxxxxxxxx.html  opens in a browser and shows the verification text. If the URL 404s, the file isn't where it needs to be.

"Discovered, currently not indexed." Google knows about the page but hasn't crawled it yet. Wait, or request indexing manually. For a brand new website, this can take a couple of weeks.

"Crawled, currently not indexed." Google looked at the page and decided not to index it. Usually means the content is thin or duplicates another page. Improve the content.

"Noindex tag detected." There's a <meta name="robots" content="noindex">  tag in the HTML. Open the page source, find it, remove it.

"Blocked by robots.txt." Your robots.txt  is disallowing the page. The robots.txt article explains how to fix this.