How to Submit Your First URL

Preparing Your URL for Submission

Before submitting any URL to GetIndexedNow, it's crucial to ensure your page is ready for search engine discovery. This preparation phase can significantly impact the success rate of your submissions.

Technical Requirements

Your URL must meet several technical criteria to be successfully submitted and indexed:

• HTTP Status 200: The page must return a successful response code
• Public Accessibility: The page should be accessible to anonymous users
• Robots.txt Compliance: Ensure the page isn't blocked by robots.txt directives
• Valid HTML: The page should contain properly formatted HTML content
• Fast Loading: Pages should load within reasonable time limits (under 5 seconds)

Content Quality Checklist

While not strictly required, ensuring your content meets quality standards will improve indexing success:

• Unique, valuable content that provides value to users
• Proper meta title and description tags
• Relevant headings (H1, H2, H3) that describe the content
• Internal links to related pages on your site
• Mobile-friendly responsive design

Submitting via Web Interface

The web interface provides the most user-friendly way to submit URLs, especially for beginners or occasional users. It offers real-time validation and immediate feedback.

1. Log in to your GetIndexedNow account and navigate to the Dashboard
2. Click on 'Tasks' in the left sidebar to access the task management area
3. Click the 'New Submission' button to open the submission form
4. Enter your URL in the input field, ensuring it includes the full protocol (https://example.com/page)
5. Optionally add descriptive tags to help organize your submissions (e.g., 'blog-post', 'product-page', 'landing-page')
6. Set the priority level: Normal (default), High (for urgent content), or Low (for less critical pages)
7. Review your submission details and click 'Submit' to add the URL to your queue
8. Monitor the submission status in real-time through the queue interface

Understanding the Submission Form

The submission form includes several fields to help you organize and prioritize your submissions:

• URL Field: Enter the complete URL including protocol (http:// or https://)
• Tags: Add multiple tags separated by commas to categorize your submissions
• Priority: Choose from Normal, High, or Low priority levels
• Notes: Optional field for additional context or reminders

Submitting via API

For developers and power users, the API provides programmatic access to submit URLs. This is ideal for automated workflows, bulk submissions, or integration with existing systems.

API Authentication

First, you'll need to generate an API key from your account settings:

1. Go to User Settings → API Keys
2. Click 'Generate New Key'
3. Copy the generated key and store it securely
4. Use this key in the Authorization header of your API requests

Basic API Submission

Here's a basic example of submitting a URL via API:

curl -X POST https://api.getindexednow.com/v1/submit \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/page",
    "priority": "normal",
    "tags": ["blog", "tutorial"]
  }'

Advanced API Usage

For more advanced scenarios, you can include additional parameters:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/product-page",
  "priority": "high",
  "tags": ["product", "featured"],
  "notes": "New product launch - urgent indexing needed",
  "callback_url": "https://your-domain.com/webhook"
}

Error Handling

The API returns structured responses that you should handle appropriately:

{
  "success": true,
  "task_id": "task_12345",
  "status": "queued",
  "message": "URL successfully queued for submission"
}

For errors:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "INVALID_URL",
  "message": "The provided URL is not valid",
  "details": "URL must be absolute and include protocol"
}

Monitoring Submission Status

After submitting a URL, you can monitor its progress through various status indicators. Understanding these statuses helps you track the submission lifecycle.

Status Types

• Queued: URL is waiting in the submission queue
• Processing: URL is being submitted to search engines
• Success: URL has been successfully submitted to all target search engines
• Failed: Submission encountered an error (check error details for resolution)
• Retrying: System is attempting to resubmit after a temporary failure

Checking Status via API

You can check the status of a submission using the task ID returned from the submission API:

curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE' \
  https://api.getindexednow.com/v1/tasks/task_12345

Best Practices

Following these best practices will help you maximize the success rate of your URL submissions and optimize your workflow.

Submission Timing

• Submit URLs during off-peak hours for faster processing
• Avoid submitting the same URL multiple times in short periods
• Space out bulk submissions to avoid rate limiting
• Submit time-sensitive content immediately upon publication

URL Quality

• Ensure URLs are canonical (avoid duplicate content issues)
• Submit only publicly accessible pages
• Verify mobile-friendliness before submission
• Check that pages load quickly and without errors

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Even with proper preparation, you may encounter issues during submission. Here are common problems and their solutions.

Validation Errors

• INVALID_URL: Ensure the URL is absolute and includes the protocol
• BLOCKED_BY_ROBOTS: Check your robots.txt file and meta robots tags
• HTTP_ERROR: Verify the page returns a 200 status code
• TIMEOUT: Check if the page loads within reasonable time limits

Rate Limiting

If you encounter rate limiting:

• Reduce the frequency of submissions
• Upgrade your plan for higher rate limits
• Use bulk submission features for multiple URLs
• Contact support if you need temporary rate limit increases

Who Is This Guide For?

This guide is ideal for marketers, SEO specialists, founders, and developers who want a reliable, repeatable process for how to submit your first url with minimal friction.

Prerequisites

• An active GetIndexedNow account
• A modern web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
• Owner or editor access to your website or CMS
• Basic familiarity with URLs and sitemaps

Detailed Steps

1. Open your GetIndexedNow dashboard and verify your project/website is selected.
2. Navigate to the relevant module for this task (Dashboard, URL Submitter, Sitemaps, or API).
3. Complete the input fields carefully—double‑check domain, protocol (http/https), and trailing slashes.
4. Click the primary action (Submit / Validate / Sync) and wait for a confirmation response.
5. Review status badges, logs, or activity feed to confirm successful processing.
6. If you see warnings, use the Troubleshooting section below to resolve them immediately.
7. Document your process so your team can repeat it consistently.

Best Practices

• Keep URLs clean, canonical, and accessible (no login walls for public pages).
• Use concise, descriptive titles and meta descriptions for faster search understanding.
• Batch similar actions (e.g., submit a set of new pages together).
• Avoid resubmitting unchanged URLs too frequently to prevent throttling.
• Maintain a changelog of edits and submissions to support audits.

Troubleshooting

• 403/401 errors: The destination blocks automated access—confirm robots and firewall settings.
• 404/410 errors: The URL doesn’t exist—fix the path or update internal links.
• 5xx errors: The site/server is unstable—retry after stabilizing hosting or CDN settings.
• Mixed content: Ensure all assets load over HTTPS to avoid blocked indexing.
• Slow responses: Optimize server performance or use a CDN to reduce TTFB.

FAQs

• How long does indexing take? It varies by search engine, crawl budget, and site authority. Many see results within hours to days.
• Can I undo a submission? No, but you can update or remove the page and submit changes.
• Is there a daily limit? Rate limits may apply—batch and prioritize important URLs.

Glossary

• Canonical URL: The preferred version of a page for indexing.
• Crawl Budget: The number of pages a crawler is willing to fetch on your site.
• Sitemap: A machine‑readable file listing URLs for discovery.