How to submit a URL to Google: 5 ways, from one page to thousands

Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Getting this step right matters beyond classic rankings. AI answers cite what's been crawled, and they lean toward pages that are kept current, so a page Google hasn't fetched can't appear in Google results or in AI Overviews. FreshlyCited helps Google discover and index the pages, posts and backlinks you publish or update sooner, so they become eligible for Google Search, AI Overviews and AI Mode, then re-checks and shows you what Google has indexed. This guide walks through five ways to submit a URL to Google, from one page to thousands, plus how Bing differs and how to confirm the URL was indexed.

Before you submit: is the page indexable?

A page can only be indexed if Google is allowed to crawl it and allowed to index it. Run these checks first, because no submission method can override them.

• Returns HTTP 200. Not a redirect, 404, soft 404 or server error.
• Not blocked by robots.txt. A blocked URL can't be crawled.
• No noindex. Check both the robots meta tag and the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header (Block Search indexing with noindex).
• Canonical points to itself (or is absent), not to another URL.
• Main content renders for Googlebot, not only after scripts it can't run.
• The page adds something. Thin or duplicate pages are often crawled and then not indexed.

The quickest way to check all of this for a URL you own is Test live URL in the URL Inspection tool. It shows whether the page is crawlable, the indexing directives Google sees, and the rendered HTML.

1Step 1: URL Inspection and Request indexing in Search Console

URL Inspection with Request indexing is the most direct way to submit a single URL to Google for a site you've verified. Google's Ask Google to recrawl your URLs page names it as the method for individual URLs. Our walkthrough of the URL Inspection tool covers the live test, rendered HTML and the request quota.

How to request indexing

1. Open Google Search Console and select the property that contains the URL.
2. Paste the full URL into the inspection bar at the top and press Enter.
3. Click Test live URL to confirm the current version is crawlable and indexable.
4. Click Request indexing. Google runs a quick check and, if it passes, queues the URL for crawling.
5. Note the date, then re-inspect the URL in a few days.

Limits to know

• You must be an owner or full user of the property.
• There is a quota for individual URL submissions. Google doesn't publish the exact number, and it isn't meant for bulk work.
• Google says "requesting a recrawl multiple times for the same URL won't get it crawled any faster." Request once, then wait.
• It only works for properties you've verified, so it can't submit pages on other people's sites, such as the pages your backlinks are on.

Use it for your most important new pages and for pages you've just fixed or meaningfully updated.

2Step 2: Submit or update your XML sitemap

A sitemap is the right way to submit many URLs at once. Google says "If you have large numbers of URLs, submit a sitemap" and calls it "an important way for Google to discover URLs on your site."

How to submit a sitemap

1. Generate an XML sitemap that lists only canonical, indexable URLs. Leave out redirects, noindexed pages and duplicates.
2. Keep each file under 50,000 URLs or 50MB uncompressed, and use a sitemap index for more (Build and submit a sitemap).
3. Set <lastmod> to the date of the last significant change to each page. Google uses it only when it's "consistently and verifiably" accurate.
4. In Search Console, open Sitemaps, enter the sitemap URL and click Submit.
5. Add a Sitemap: line with the full URL to your robots.txt so all crawlers can find it.
6. Check the Sitemaps report for the last read date and any errors.

Google calls submitting a sitemap "merely a hint." It's still the most scalable signal you control, and an accurate lastmod helps Google spot which pages changed. Google ignores priority and changefreq, so don't bother tuning them. For updated pages specifically, see how to get Google to recrawl updated pages.

3Step 3: Link to the page from pages Google already crawls

Internal links from pages Google visits often are one of the most dependable ways for Google to find a new URL on its own. Google discovers many pages by following links from pages it already knows (How Google Search works), so a link from your homepage or a busy hub puts the new page in Googlebot's path.

How to do it

1. Identify pages Google crawls often: your homepage, main category or hub pages, and popular articles. The Crawl stats report in Search Console (under Settings) shows crawl activity.
2. Add a contextual link to the new page from two or three of them, using descriptive anchor text.
3. Use a normal <a href> link that Google can follow, not a script-only click handler.
4. Make sure the new page links back into related content so it isn't a dead end.

External links work the same way. A link from a relevant page that Google already has indexed gives Google another path to your page and a reason to think it matters.

4Step 4: Google's Indexing API, and its official limits

Google's Indexing API is not a general submission tool. Google's documentation states: "The Indexing API can only be used to crawl pages with either JobPosting or BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject" (Using the Indexing API).

What that means in practice:

• Who it's for: job boards and employers publishing job postings, and sites publishing livestream video pages.
• Quota: a default of 200 publish requests per day per project (Indexing API quota). Google says "Quota is counted at the URL level," so batching doesn't save quota.
• Policies: Google says "Our spam policies apply to content submitted with the Indexing API" and "Don't circumvent our submission limits, such as by using multiple accounts."

Using the Indexing API for blog posts, product pages, landing pages or backlinks is outside its stated use, and we don't recommend it. Our Google Indexing API guide covers setup for job and livestream sites. Be wary of any service that promises instant Google indexing: Google's own help says "Indexing is never instant, even when you submit a crawl request directly" (Page indexing report help). If your pages aren't job postings or livestreams, use the other methods on this page.

5Step 5: Bulk push services for many URLs and backlinks

Push services ask Google to look at large lists of URLs, including pages on sites you don't own. They fill two gaps that Search Console can't: the daily quota on Request indexing, and the fact that you can only submit URLs on properties you've verified.

That second gap matters most for link builders and agencies. Your backlinks sit on other people's pages, and a link only helps once Google has crawled and indexed the page it's on. A push service is how you submit backlinks you don't own.

What to look for in one:

• Check first. It should check which URLs Google already has and skip them, so you don't pay to push pages that are already indexed.
• Re-check after. It should tell you what changed, URL by URL, not just confirm it "submitted" them.
• No guarantees. Nobody can force Google to index a page. Low-quality or spammy pages may never be indexed, whoever pushes them.
• No unsupported methods. Avoid services built on the Indexing API for non-job pages.

FreshlyCited works this way: it checks each URL, lets you push many URLs at once while only pushing what Google can't see, then re-checks and gives you a report you can share.

What about Bing? IndexNow and Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing has its own submission routes, and they don't reach Google. Google isn't one of the participating IndexNow engines (IndexNow FAQ), so IndexNow submissions don't affect Google Search or Google's AI features.

For Bing:

• Bing Webmaster Tools lets you verify your site (including by importing it from Search Console), submit sitemaps and submit individual URLs; our guide to submitting URLs to Bing compares the routes.
• IndexNow is a protocol for telling participating engines when URLs are added, updated or deleted. As of October 2026, indexnow.org says a submission is shared across all IndexNow-enabled engines, meaning Bing and the other participating engines. It also says "Submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing." Setup, key files and response codes are in our IndexNow guide.
• Accurate lastmod. Microsoft's July 2025 guidance says "freshness signals directly influence how quickly updates are reflected in search results and AI generated answers," recommends IndexNow for real-time URL submission, and asks that lastmod reflect real content changes (Bing Webmaster Blog).

Microsoft says Bing's crawling and indexing serve both traditional search and "AI-powered experiences like Copilot," so it's worth covering both engines. Microsoft also says Copilot's web answers use the Bing search service (Microsoft Learn). FreshlyCited sends your URLs to IndexNow alongside its Google push, free, for sites you verify by hosting an IndexNow key file. Only URLs on the verified site are sent. ChatGPT, Perplexity and other assistants use their own crawlers and search partners. We don't submit to them, and we don't claim to. See how to submit URLs to Bing with IndexNow for setup.

How to check whether Google indexed the URL

Always verify after you submit. A submitted URL can be crawled and still not indexed, and the fix for that is on the page, not in another submission.

What the results mean

• "URL is on Google" in URL Inspection: indexed and eligible to appear.
• "Discovered - currently not indexed": Google knows the URL but hasn't crawled it yet. Strengthen internal links and server health.
• "Crawled - currently not indexed": Google fetched it and chose not to index it. Improve the page before asking again.

Indexed pages are also the only ones eligible for Google's AI features. Google says a page "must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet" to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode (AI features and your website). Indexing makes a page eligible; it doesn't guarantee a citation.

For the full picture of how crawling and indexing work, read the Google indexing guide.

If you have more URLs than Search Console's quota covers, or links on sites you don't control: Check your own links free. We check what Google sees, push only what it can't, and re-check so you know what changed.