When managing a website's visibility on search engines, reindexing plays a crucial role in ensuring that your latest content, structure, and optimizations are reflected accurately in search results. Before submitting a reindex request, it's essential to address certain issues that could hinder the effectiveness of the process. Proper preparation not only speeds up the reindexing but also helps in maintaining or improving your site's search performance. Failing to fix key problems beforehand might result in wasted effort, delays, or even further SEO setbacks.
What to Fix Before Submitting a Reindex Request
Reindexing is a powerful tool for website owners to update search engines about changes. Whether you've revamped your site's design, added new content, or fixed technical issues, a clean and optimized site ensures that search engines can crawl and index efficiently. Here are the essential areas to review and fix before making a reindex request:
1. Check and Fix Crawl Errors
One of the first steps is to identify and resolve crawl errors that could prevent search engines from accessing your content effectively. Use tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to find issues such as:
- 404 Not Found Errors: Dead links or missing pages that lead to 404 errors.
- Server Errors (5xx): Server-side issues that block crawling.
- Blocked Resources: Files or pages disallowed by robots.txt or meta tags.
- Redirect Loops or Chains: Incorrect redirects causing crawling difficulties.
Resolve these errors by fixing broken links, updating or removing outdated pages, and ensuring that redirect chains are streamlined. Clearing crawl errors ensures that search engines can access and index all relevant content without obstacles.
2. Optimize Robots.txt and Meta Tags
Robots.txt files and meta tags control search engine access to your site’s pages. Before requesting reindexing, verify that:
- Robots.txt does not block important pages or resources.
- Noindex tags are used appropriately—remove them from pages you want indexed.
- Meta tags are correctly implemented to allow crawling and indexing.
For example, if you accidentally blocked your homepage or key category pages, search engines won’t be able to crawl or index those pages, defeating the purpose of reindexing.
3. Improve Site Speed and Performance
Website speed is a critical ranking factor and impacts crawling efficiency. Before reindexing, optimize your site by:
- Compressing images without losing quality.
- Minimizing CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files.
- Using a reliable Content Delivery Network (CDN).
- Enabling browser caching and GZIP compression.
A faster site reduces server load and allows search engines to crawl more pages in a shorter time, ensuring that your latest updates are captured during the reindexing process.
4. Update and Clean Up Content
Fresh, high-quality content is vital for search rankings. Prior to reindexing:
- Review and update outdated information.
- Remove duplicate or thin content that offers little value.
- Ensure proper use of header tags, keywords, and internal links.
- Implement schema markup for rich snippets and enhanced visibility.
Clear, relevant content helps search engines understand your site better and index your pages more effectively.
5. Fix Technical SEO Issues
Technical SEO elements influence how well your site is crawled and indexed. Address issues such as:
- Broken internal links.
- Incorrect canonical tags causing duplicate content issues.
- Duplicate meta descriptions or missing title tags.
- Structured data errors.
Fixing these issues ensures that search engines can accurately interpret and prioritize your content, leading to better indexing results.
6. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness and Accessibility
With mobile-first indexing, ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is essential. Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to identify and fix issues like:
- Unresponsive design elements.
- Text too small to read.
- Touch elements too close together.
Additionally, improve accessibility by adding descriptive alt attributes, ensuring keyboard navigation, and providing clear site structure. These enhancements facilitate better crawling and indexing.
7. Submit a Sitemap and Remove Blockages
Ensure your XML sitemap is updated with all relevant pages and submitted to search engines. Confirm that:
- The sitemap is free of errors.
- All important pages are included.
- No URLs are blocked or excluded unintentionally.
Submitting a comprehensive sitemap helps search engines discover and index your content faster during the reindexing process.
8. Fix Bing Deindexing
Has your website been deindexed by Bing? Don’t worry—we’ve got you. We offer Bing Website Recovery services with a 90% recovery rate. Send us an email now and your website will be back in Bing SERPs in no time.
Deindexing can occur due to various reasons such as manual penalties, technical issues, or algorithmic filters. Before submitting a reindex request, investigate and resolve these issues to facilitate a smooth re-inclusion process.
Conclusion: Key Points to Remember Before Reindexing
Effective reindexing requires thorough preparation to ensure search engines can crawl, understand, and index your website efficiently. Key steps include fixing crawl errors, optimizing robots.txt and meta tags, improving site speed, updating content, resolving technical SEO issues, ensuring mobile-friendliness, submitting a proper sitemap, and addressing any Bing deindexing concerns. Taking these proactive measures not only accelerates the reindexing process but also enhances your site's overall SEO health and visibility in search results.
Remember, a well-prepared website is more likely to benefit from reindexing efforts, leading to improved rankings, increased traffic, and better user engagement. Prioritize these fixes before submitting your reindex request to maximize your SEO investments and achieve your digital marketing goals.
