What is Link Indexing and How to Index Backlinks Faster?

What is Link Indexing?

Link indexing, or backlink indexing, involves getting search engines like Google to crawl and add backlinks to their index.

When a backlink gets indexed, it means Google has indexed the page containing the link. Indexed backlinks can pass ranking signals, called link juice, from the source to the destination page.

On the other hand, backlinks that aren’t indexed won’t pass any SEO value or impact search rankings.

Since Google doesn’t automatically crawl and index all pages on the internet, site owners and SEO specialists use strategies to speed up the process. 

Here, we’ll look at four solutions to help index your backlinks to ensure they contribute positively to your website’s visibility and ranking potential.

Difference Between Building and Indexing Backlinks

Link building and link indexing are two fundamentally different but related processes. 

Building backlinks means acquiring or earning links from other web pages to your own. This can be done via guest posting, link exchanges, broken link building, HARO responses, etc.

However, just because you get new backlinks doesn’t mean they are indexed by Google and other search engines. These pages might be dealing with indexing issues that prevent Google from serving them on SERPs.

That’s where link indexing comes in. This process validates that Googlebot crawls those backlinks and adds them to the Google index so they can pass SEO value. 

To maximize SEO benefits, site owners must focus on both acquiring and getting backlinks indexed efficiently.

Why is Backlink Indexing Important?

We’ve covered a critical benefit of getting your backlinks indexed: ensuring they pass SEO value and boost your page’s authority.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here are additional reasons why link indexing matters:

• Assist search engines in discovering new content. Inbound links from indexed pages act as discovery signals that help search engines find and crawl new or updated content more efficiently.
• Increased potential for referral traffic. When a page with your backlink gets indexed, it can appear in search results, allowing users to discover the content, click your backlink, and reach your website.
• Enhanced site credibility. Dofollow backlinks with descriptive anchors act as “endorsements” that boost the target page’s credibility and relevance in the eyes of search engines and users.
• Maximizes link-building efforts. Since link-building takes time and effort, indexing your backlinks means you get the full benefit of your strategy.
• Outcompete competitors faster. If your backlinks are indexed faster than your competitors, your website may see faster SEO gains, translating to quicker ranking improvement and organic visibility.

4 Ways to Index Backlinks Faster

Asking Google to index internal pages is easy. Simply resubmit the URL for indexing on Google Search Console, and the page may turn up on the search index.

However, it’s a different case when indexing backlinks because you have limited control over when and how Google will treat those links. Unlike internal pages, you can’t directly request Google to index backlinks through Search Console, you must rely on indirect methods to encourage indexing.

Here are several ways to help get your backlinks indexed faster: 

1. Acquire high-quality backlinks

You can’t control how Google indexes pages on a website, but you have complete control over which sites you partner with for link-building efforts.

One of the most effective ways to speed up backlink indexing is to acquire high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites.

High DA, frequently updated, and regularly publishing websites are crawled more often, making them more likely to be indexed.

When guest posting, focus on pitching and submitting articles to well-established websites in your niche. These websites will likely have faster indexing speed compared to lesser-known industry blogs.

In addition, make sure your guest post submissions are information-packed, valuable, and SEO-friendly to increase your chances of being hosted by the website and indexed by Google.

For other link-building efforts, such as broken link-building and link insertions, target resource pages from actively maintained and already-indexed pages from authoritative websites. Those pages are unlikely to be de-indexed, reducing the probability of backlink decay.

To verify whether a website is suitable for link-building, use online authority checkers like Linkody’s. Input the site URL, and then the tool will provide essential metrics to determine whether to push through with the collaboration.

2. Ask the website owner to resubmit the page manually

If your backlink got de-indexed or takes too long to index, one simple solution is requesting the site owner to resubmit the page manually via Google Search Console. 

Since site owners have direct access to their own domains, they can request reindexing for the specific page where your backlink is placed. They just have to paste the URL into the URL Inspection Tool and then click the Request Indexing button, as shown below:

Google also specifies the reason for the page’s indexing status in the drop-down. Speeding up the indexing process will depend on how you approach fixing the declared reason:

• URL is unknown to Google. Google has not discovered the page yet, and requesting a crawl can get Googlebot’s attention.
• Discovered – currently not indexed. Google is aware the page exists but hasn’t crawled it yet. All you need to do is request indexing so Google can verify whether the content is suitable for indexation. 
• Crawled – currently not indexed. Google has already visited the page but is not convinced to serve it on SERPs. In this case, improving the page’s content is better before requesting a recrawl.
• URL blocked by robots.txt. The site owner must remove the command on the robots.txt file, which blocks Googlebot from crawling the link. After this, they must request indexing.
• URL marked ‘noindex’. The site owner must remove the noindex directive on the page’s metadata to allow Googlebot to index the page and then request indexing.

The above are only a few reasons why Google might not index pages.

When reaching out, be professional and concise in your request. Politely ask the website owner to resubmit it via Google Search Console.

We suggest providing a direct URL and mentioning any potential indexing issues to help them take quick action. Moreover, suggest adding fresh information to the page, as Google is more likely to recrawl and index frequently updated pages.

The key is building a good relationship with site owners to ensure your backlinks get indexed and, more importantly, to improve your chances of future collaborations.

3. Build tiered backlinks

Tiered link-building is a popular SEO strategy that involves creating additional layers of backlinks pointing to your primary backlinks. This is an effective way to improve link indexing.

In a tiered system, Tier 1 consists of your main backlinks, which you’ve acquired from authoritative, high-quality websites. To help these Tier 1 links get indexed, you can create Tier 2 backlinks that point directly to those Tier 1 pages. 

Many Tier 2 backlinks come from less authoritative sites than their Tier 1 counterparts but maintain decent contextual relevance.

Usually, a 2-tiered backlink system is generally enough, but you can take a step further and build Tier 3 backlinks pointing to Tier 2. These backlinks are often low-quality, including UGC content from forum posts or blog comments. 

Tier 3 backlinks aim only to help Tier 2 backlinks get noticed by Google.

Creating this multi-layered linking structure increases the chances of indexing your backlinks. More importantly, your target page will benefit from the combined link juice acquired from your Tiers 1-3 backlinks.

4. Use a reliable indexing service provider

Indexing service providers, also known as backlink indexers or backlink indexing tools, use various methods to help you index pages. If your backlinks aren’t getting indexed naturally, you can use them to speed up the process.

These services use advanced methods, such as Google indexing API submissions, frequent search engine pings, and high-authority link networks, to prompt Googlebot to crawl and index your backlinks. 

When choosing a provider, look for one with a proven track record, transparent process, positive reviews, and compliance with Google’s Guidelines. In our dedicated resource about indexers, we listed seven highly recommended indexing tools:

1. Omega Indexer
2. IndexMeNow
3. Speed-Links
4. Links Indexer
5. Rapid URL Indexer
6. IndexPlease
7. IndexJump

Make sure to vet each one and choose the best indexer for your needs. Avoid spammy or black-hat service providers that can harm your website.

While indexing services aren’t a guaranteed solution, they can significantly improve the chances of your backlinks being recognized by Google and serving your website’s SEO.

Monitor Your Backlinks and Stay Ahead of Indexing Changes

Ensuring that your backlinks get indexed is one thing, but actively monitoring your backlinks for any indexing changes is an entirely different concept.

Google has always had a penchant for unpredictability. One day, Google indexes your page; the next, it can be removed entirely from search results.

In other words, even currently indexed backlinks may get de-indexed after a core algorithm update. Tracking the indexing status of your backlinks can help you stay ahead of indexing changes and resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

Instead of checking if your backlinks are indexed manually using Google search operators, IndexCheckr automates the process for you.

Log into your IndexCheckr account and create a new project:

Fill out the necessary information and paste the pages containing the backlink URLs into the dedicated section. You may also import the list via a CSV file or an XML sitemap.

Then, adjust the recheck frequency (how frequently the tool will monitor the indexing status of the links) according to your preference. You can set it up as either daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Make sure to activate the toggle at the bottom to be notified when the pages are checked. 

On the main dashboard, IndexCheckr will specify whether the page is indexed under the Status column. If a page is not indexed, the tool will verify whether the entire domain is removed from the Google index.

The tool also integrates backlink indexers so you can easily submit unindexed pages for indexing straight from IndexCheckr’s dashboard.

Click the three-dot menu adjacent to each link and select Submit to Indexer, as seen below:

This will automatically notify your indexer to prompt Google to crawl the selected page.

Building high-quality backlinks is only half the battle. It’s essential to ensure Google indexes these links and that they remain visible in search results. IndexCheckr does exactly that.

Try IndexCheckr now for 50 FREE credits—no credit card requirement, no strings attached.