Google Search Console Auto Indexing

Setting Up Auto-Indexing for Your Website with Draft Horse

In this tutorial, I'll walk you through the process of setting up auto-indexing, a new feature we've added to help you efficiently index your entire website. Auto-indexing is a great solution to overcome Google's limitation of on allowing the indexing of 200 pages a day. With our system, you can schedule the indexing of thousands of pages over a week, saving you time and effort. Let's dive into the steps to get this set up.

Creating a Google Cloud Account

Go to Google Cloud and create an account. If you don't have one no worries tt's free.

Once logged in create a new project.

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Name the project with the related website. *NOTE: you can make multiple projects for each site you have on Drafthorse.

the go here and https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/enableflow?apiid=indexing.googleapis.com

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Then select the project and go to the related dashboard.

Next enable the Indexing API by going to this link. Make sure you're still on the same project and click enable.

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Then go to https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector2/iam-admin/serviceaccounts and select the related project.

Then create a service account.

Name the service account.

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You can leave 2 and 3 blank.

Now on the service account dashboard click manage keys.

Create new key.

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Select JSON.

Now go back to Drafthorse and upload that private key.

Next go back to service accounts and copy the email.

Then go to Google Search Console setting and add that email as an owner.

Then navigate back to Drafthorse and paste you sitemap URL and click update site.

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Obtaining a JSON Key for the Service Account

Once your service account is set up, you'll need to generate a JSON key to use it for communication. Here's how:

  1. In the service account list, find your newly created account and click the "Actions" menu.
  2. Select Manage keys and then click Add Key.
  3. Create a new key in JSON format and click Create. This will download a JSON file which you'll need in the following steps.

Enabling Indexing API and Google Search Console

Now let's enable the necessary APIs for auto-indexing:

  1. In the Google Cloud dashboard, use the search bar to find and enable the Indexing API under the Marketplace section.
  2. Similarly, enable the Google Search Console under Marketplace. Ensure it's offered by Google.
  3. The Indexing API allows communication with Google to request indexing of your website's pages.
  4. The Google Search Console integration helps you check and manage indexed URLs on your website.

Granting Access to Your Service Account

To allow your service account to access your Google Search Console, follow these steps:

  1. In the Google Search Console, go to Settings and select Users and permissions.
  2. Go back to the IAM section in your Google Cloud dashboard.
  3. Find your service account's email and copy it to the clipboard.
  4. Add this email as an owner in your Google Search Console.
  5. This grants the service account access to view indexed pages and request indexing.

Uploading Information to Draft Horse

Now let's upload the necessary information to Draft Horse for auto-indexing:

  1. Find the JSON file you downloaded earlier and upload it to your Draft Horse account.
  2. Make sure your sitemap is valid, and click Update Site.
  3. Our system will perform validations, and any errors will be described. If needed, you can seek assistance from our chatbot.

Scheduling Indexing

Once your information is uploaded and validated, you're almost there:

  1. After validation, you'll receive a notification confirming your setup is ready.
  2. Navigate to the Indexing tab in Draft Horse, where you'll see your sitemap along with indexing status and timestamps.
  3. You can manually select specific pages to index by clicking on the columns.
  4. Once selected, click Schedule for Indexing. The pages will show a clock icon indicating they're in the indexing queue.
  5. Within the next 24 hours, Google will be requested to index the scheduled pages.

Managing Quotas and Faster Indexing

Keep in mind that Google imposes quotas on API usage. If you notice that your publish request quota is larger than 200 per day, reach out to us. We can adjust this to enable faster publishing.

And that's it! You've successfully set up auto-indexing for your website using Draft Horse. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out.