There are five real ways to submit a website or URL to Google. For one or two pages on your own site, Search Console is free and works fine. For many pages, sites you do not own, or submitting on every deploy, use Index My Site and see which pages were indexed.
Answer three questions to get the route that fits your pages, with the steps to follow.
Recommended route
It is free and made for a few URLs at a time. For one or two pages, this is all you need.
Recommended route
Google recommends a sitemap when you have many URLs. It is free, but it is only a hint, and it does not tell you about each page.
Recommended route
Pages are sent when they go live, from your sitemap, your deploy, or your AI agent, and each one reports whether it was indexed.
Recommended route
Search Console only lets owners and full users request indexing. Index My Site accepts any public URL, with no access to grant.
1 to 10 pages, Search Console access, no automation needed: Use Request indexing in Search Console. It is free and made for a few URLs at a time. For one or two pages, this is all you need.
Dozens to thousands of pages, Search Console access, no automation needed: Submit a sitemap in Search Console, then track the pages that matter. Google recommends a sitemap when you have many URLs. It is free, but it is only a hint, and it does not tell you about each page.
Any number of pages, published often or submitted automatically: Automate submission with Index My Site. Pages are sent when they go live, from your sitemap, your deploy, or your AI agent, and each one reports whether it was indexed.
No Search Console access, no automation needed: Submit the URLs to Index My Site. Search Console only lets owners and full users request indexing. Index My Site accepts any public URL, with no access to grant.
These are all the routes that work today. The first four are free, and the fourth only covers two kinds of page. Index My Site is paid and covers any public page.
For a few pages on a site you own.
For many pages on a site you own.
How Google finds most pages on its own.
Only for job postings and livestream videos.
For many pages, automation, and knowing the result.
Google’s routes are free but tied to Search Console or limited to a few page types. Index My Site costs credits and works for any public page.
| Question | Search Console Request indexing | Sitemap | Links | Google Indexing API | Index My Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pages it accepts | Pages on sites you manage | Pages on sites you manage | Any page someone links to | Only job posting and livestream video pages | Any public http or https page |
| Search Console access | Owner or full user | Needed for the Sitemaps report, not for robots.txt | Not needed | Owner, through a service account | Not needed |
| How many pages | A few at a time, with a daily limit | Up to 50,000 URLs per sitemap | No limit, but no control over timing | 200 publish requests a day per project by default | Up to 2000 URLs per job, as many jobs as you need |
| Automation | Manual, one URL at a time | Your site can update the sitemap automatically | Not applicable | API calls from your code | Sitemap watch, deploy step, API, CLI, or AI agent |
| What you learn afterwards | The status, when you inspect the URL again | When Google read the sitemap, plus Page indexing counts | Nothing directly | When Google received your last notification | Per-URL status: checked, sent, indexed, not indexed, or refunded |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free | Free | $0.20 per sent URL. The standard credit comes back if a URL is confirmed as not indexed. |
Google details from Ask Google to recrawl your URLs, URL Inspection tool help, Build and submit a sitemap, Link best practices, Get your website on Google, and the Indexing API quickstart.
Google removed its public submit URL form in 2018 and pointed people to Search Console and sitemaps. In 2023 it announced the end of the sitemap ping endpoint: requests now return a 404 error and do nothing. Tools that still offer either one are not reaching Google that way.
Source: Sitemaps ping endpoint is going away, Google Search Central Blog.
Not directly to Google any more. Google removed its public submit URL form in 2018, and its sitemap ping endpoint stopped working after 2023: requests to it now return a 404 error. Without Search Console you can add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt, get the page linked from other pages, or submit it to a service like Index My Site, which works for any public URL.
Source: Google Search Central Blog: Sitemaps ping endpoint is going away
Google sets a daily limit for Request indexing in Search Console but does not publish a fixed number. It also says that asking for the same URL more than once will not get it crawled any faster. For large numbers of URLs, Google says to submit a sitemap.
Not on its own. Google says a sitemap is a hint: it does not guarantee that Google will download it or use it to crawl your pages. It is still worth having, and the Sitemaps report in Search Console shows when Googlebot last read it and any errors.
No. Google says the Indexing API can only be used for pages with job posting or livestream video structured data. For other pages, Google points you to sitemaps and Search Console.
Source: Google Indexing API quickstart
First make sure Google can index it: pages load without a login, are not blocked by robots.txt, have no noindex tag, and have real text content. Then link to each page from at least one other page, submit a sitemap, and request indexing for your most important URLs. Google says crawling can take from a few days to a few weeks, and that requesting it never guarantees a page will be indexed.
Inspect the URL in Search Console, or check the Page indexing report. A site: search gives a rough idea, but Google says it does not necessarily return every indexed URL. Index My Site searches Google for each exact URL you submit: We check every URL once after 24 hours. Your full report follows around day 5, with final checks around day 14.
Neither. We help Googlebot discover and crawl the public pages you submit, then check whether each one is indexed. There is nothing to install and no access to grant. Google still decides what it indexes, so indexing is never guaranteed, and a URL confirmed as not indexed gets its standard credit back.
Not directly to Google any more. Google removed its public submit URL form in 2018, and its sitemap ping endpoint stopped working after 2023: requests to it now return a 404 error. Without Search Console you can add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt, get the page linked from other pages, or submit it to a service like Index My Site, which works for any public URL.
Source: Google Search Central Blog: Sitemaps ping endpoint is going away
Google sets a daily limit for Request indexing in Search Console but does not publish a fixed number. It also says that asking for the same URL more than once will not get it crawled any faster. For large numbers of URLs, Google says to submit a sitemap.
Not on its own. Google says a sitemap is a hint: it does not guarantee that Google will download it or use it to crawl your pages. It is still worth having, and the Sitemaps report in Search Console shows when Googlebot last read it and any errors.
No. Google says the Indexing API can only be used for pages with job posting or livestream video structured data. For other pages, Google points you to sitemaps and Search Console.
Source: Google Indexing API quickstart
First make sure Google can index it: pages load without a login, are not blocked by robots.txt, have no noindex tag, and have real text content. Then link to each page from at least one other page, submit a sitemap, and request indexing for your most important URLs. Google says crawling can take from a few days to a few weeks, and that requesting it never guarantees a page will be indexed.
Inspect the URL in Search Console, or check the Page indexing report. A site: search gives a rough idea, but Google says it does not necessarily return every indexed URL. Index My Site searches Google for each exact URL you submit: We check every URL once after 24 hours. Your full report follows around day 5, with final checks around day 14.
Neither. We help Googlebot discover and crawl the public pages you submit, then check whether each one is indexed. There is nothing to install and no access to grant. Google still decides what it indexes, so indexing is never guaranteed, and a URL confirmed as not indexed gets its standard credit back.
Create an account, buy credits from $25, and submit your first URLs in a few minutes. No Search Console access needed.