I started a blog, perpetualgirlhood.com, a little over a month ago using WordPress. I just realized that it doesn’t show up in Google search results when I type in “perpetual girlhood” or any of the titles of my articles.
I feel pretty lost and discouraged because it seems like there’s no way for anyone to find my site. Is there something I should be doing to register it with Google? I’m completely clueless about this whole process.
Don’t worry about Google Search Console! Once you understand what it needs and how it works, it’s not that hard.
After you register, it will ask for a sitemap. This is just a simple XML file, and you can find many generators online or even create one yourself. The sitemap should be placed in the root directory of your website, where your main HTML file is located.
Once Google has your sitemap, it will crawl your site and start giving you statistics. This includes which pages are indexed, reasons for not indexing some pages, how often your site appeared in search results (impressions), the search terms people used to find your pages, how many clicks you got, and where your pages ranked.
You can use this information to improve your pages for more impressions and clicks. As you add new pages, just update your sitemap by regenerating it or adding entries manually. Most sites have a sitemap.
Many people don’t show their GSC results on their site, but I do. I created a graph using the Google Visualizations API, which Google uses for most of its graphs, including the ones in your GSC account.
I searched for “perpetual girlhood,” and your site shows up in the results, which means it is indexed! Since you’re using WordPress, consider installing the Yoast plugin. Even the free version can be very helpful for improving your site’s SEO.
This will take time. I recommend adding your sitemap to Google Search Console. I had the same experience. If it doesn’t work automatically, you can add it manually.