Website Traffic Checklist - Complete Guide

Your Complete Website Traffic Checklist

Everything you need to make your website visible to search engines

Part 1: Google Search Console

This is step zero. If you skip everything else, don't skip this.

Google Search Console is Google's direct line to you. It's how you tell Google your site exists. It's how you see what's working and what's broken.

Why It Matters

Without Search Console:

  • Google might take weeks or months to find your site
  • You won't know if pages are being indexed
  • You won't know what keywords you're ranking for
  • You won't know if there are crawl errors
  • You're flying completely blind

With Search Console:

  • You submit your sitemap directly to Google
  • You see exactly which pages are indexed
  • You see what searches bring people to your site
  • You catch errors before they hurt you
  • You have data to make decisions

How to Set It Up

Step 1: Go to Google Search Console

Visit search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account.

Step 2: Add Your Property

Click "Add property" and choose "URL prefix" (easier) or "Domain" (more comprehensive).

  • URL prefix: Enter your full URL (https://yoursite.com)
  • Domain: Enter just the domain (yoursite.com)

Step 3: Verify Ownership

Google needs to confirm you own this site. Options:

  • HTML file upload: Download a file, upload to your site root
  • HTML tag: Add a meta tag to your homepage head
  • DNS record: Add a TXT record to your domain settings
  • Google Analytics: If already installed, verify through that
  • Google Tag Manager: If already installed, verify through that

For most people, HTML tag is easiest:

<meta name="google-site-verification" content="your-verification-code">

Step 4: Submit Your Sitemap

Go to "Sitemaps" in the left menu, enter your sitemap URL (usually yoursite.com/sitemap.xml), and click "Submit."

Step 5: Wait and Watch

Initial indexing takes a few days. Check back in a week. Look for errors in the "Pages" report. See what's indexed vs. what's not.

What to Monitor

Coverage Report (Pages)

  • How many pages are indexed?
  • Are any pages excluded? Why?
  • Are there crawl errors?

Performance Report

  • What queries bring traffic?
  • What's your average position?
  • Which pages get the most clicks?
  • What's your click-through rate?

Core Web Vitals

  • Is your site fast enough?
  • Are there layout shift issues?
  • Mobile vs. desktop performance

Check this weekly at first. Monthly once things are stable.

Part 2: Bing Webmaster Tools

"But nobody uses Bing."

Wrong.

Bing has roughly 10% of global search market share. That's hundreds of millions of searches daily. And here's the thing: most of your competitors aren't optimizing for Bing.

Less competition = easier wins.

Why Bing Matters

  • 10% market share globally (higher in US)
  • Powers DuckDuckGo search results
  • Powers Yahoo search results
  • Powers Alexa voice search
  • Less competitive than Google
  • Often indexes faster than Google

When you optimize for Bing, you're actually reaching multiple platforms.

How to Set It Up

Step 1: Go to Bing Webmaster Tools

Visit bing.com/webmasters and sign in with Microsoft, Google, or Facebook account.

Step 2: Import from Google Search Console (Easiest)

Click "Import," sign in to your Google account, select your Search Console property. Bing imports your sitemap and settings automatically.

That's it. One click. You're done.

Step 3: Or Add Manually

If you prefer manual setup:

  • Click "Add your site manually"
  • Enter your URL
  • Verify ownership (similar options to Google)
  • Submit your sitemap

Step 4: Enable IndexNow

While you're in Bing Webmaster Tools:

  • Go to "Configure My Site"
  • Find "IndexNow"
  • Generate your API key
  • Follow the setup instructions

More on IndexNow in the next section.

What to Monitor

Search Performance — Clicks, impressions, CTR, position. Compare to Google data. Sometimes different keywords perform better on Bing.

SEO Reports — Bing has built-in SEO auditing. Checks for common issues. Gives specific recommendations.

Crawl Information — Are pages being crawled? Any crawl errors? Crawl frequency.

Part 3: IndexNow

This one's a game-changer that most people don't know about.

Normally, you publish a page and wait. Wait for Google to crawl. Wait for Bing to crawl. Could be days. Could be weeks.

IndexNow flips that. Instead of waiting for search engines to find you, you ping them directly.

"Hey, I just published something. Come index it."

How It Works

  1. You publish or update a page
  2. You send a ping to the IndexNow API
  3. Bing, Yandex, and other participating engines get notified
  4. They crawl your page almost immediately

Who Supports IndexNow

Currently supporting: Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver

Not yet supporting: Google (though they're reportedly testing)

Even without Google, instant indexing on Bing is valuable.

How to Set It Up

Step 1: Generate an API Key

Any string works (use a UUID generator) or get one from Bing Webmaster Tools. Example: a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0

Step 2: Create the Key File

Create a text file named {your-api-key}.txt, put your API key inside the file, upload to your site root so it's accessible at:

https://yoursite.com/a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0.txt

Step 3: Ping When You Publish

When you publish or update a page, send a GET request:

https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow?url=https://yoursite.com/new-page&key=a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0

Or POST multiple URLs at once:

{
  "host": "yoursite.com",
  "key": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0",
  "urlList": [
    "https://yoursite.com/page1",
    "https://yoursite.com/page2"
  ]
}

Step 4: Automate It

Most frameworks and CMS platforms have plugins:

  • WordPress: IndexNow plugin
  • Next.js: Add to your build process
  • Vercel: Use deploy hooks
  • Cloudflare: Built-in IndexNow support

If you're using a custom setup, add the ping to your deployment script.

When to Use IndexNow

  • Publishing new pages
  • Updating existing content significantly
  • Launching your site
  • Adding new blog posts
  • Changing important metadata

Don't spam it. Search engines will ignore excessive pings.