Updated · Guide
How I get my sites found on Google and AI search
I'm not an SEO expert. I'm one guy with two brand new sites, and I just spent a whole night in Google Search Console and Bing figuring this stuff out. Here's everything I learned, in the order I'd do it if I started over.
1. Set up Google Search Console first
Add your site as a Domain property and verify it with the TXT record Google gives you. Then submit your sitemap (usually yoursite.com/sitemap.xml). Once it says Success, Google finds new pages on its own, so you don't have to tell it about every single one.
2. Request indexing once per page, not over and over
Paste a link into the search bar at the top of Search Console and hit Request indexing. Once is enough. Asking again doesn't speed anything up, so only do it again for a brand new page or a big rewrite.
Google only gives you around 10 requests a day, and it counts across your whole account, not per site. I burned through mine on ComposerScout and had to save PlayScout for the next day. So pick your most important pages first.
- Start with your homepage and your best guides.
- Skip privacy and terms pages.
- Skip anything with a # in it. Google treats those as your homepage.
- yoursite.com and yoursite.com/ are the same page, so don't do both.
3. Don't skip Bing, it's how ChatGPT finds you
ChatGPT search uses Bing, so this one matters for AI answers. In Bing Webmaster Tools, use Import from Google. It adds your site, verifies it and brings your sitemap over in one step.
My account didn't even have the old bulk Submit URLs page anymore. What it has instead is IndexNow, which turned out to be way better.
4. Use IndexNow so your pages submit themselves
IndexNow is a small key file on your site plus a ping whenever a page goes live. I sent every page on both sites through it, 12 on ComposerScout and 92 on PlayScout, and Bing accepted all of them. Now every time someone publishes a ComposerScout profile, Bing hears about it right away. Nothing to paste, nothing to remember.
5. Make a page for every search you want to show up for
I searched "music for my game" and ComposerScout was nowhere. Not because the site was bad, but because no page on it was actually about that. So I built one, plus pages for free game music, pricing, and where to find a composer, sound designer or voice actor.
Answer the question in the first two lines. People skim, and so does Google.
6. Write pages that AI can quote
AI answers pull from pages that give a straight answer. A few things that help:
- Short, clear answers near the top, plus a few FAQ questions.
- Real numbers with links to where they come from. Never make them up.
- Fair roundups that name other options too, not just yours. AI answers love quoting those.
- Let AI crawlers in (check your robots.txt) and add an llms.txt file, a plain-text summary of your site that AI tools can read.
7. Win the small searches first
A new site usually takes weeks to months to rank for big searches, and those are crowded with huge sites. The smaller, more specific ones are where you can actually win early, like "find a voice actor for my indie game" or "how much does a game composer cost". Ranking for those helps with the big ones later.
Links from other sites help too. I ask my users to link their profile from their own bio or site.
What doesn't matter (yet)
- Cookies and cookie banners do nothing for search. You only need a consent banner if you add ad pixels or Google Analytics.
- Ads. Big sites like Fiverr outbid everyone on words like "composer", and on a free product it's not worth it this early.
In about a week I'll check Search Console to see which searches my sites start showing up for, and I'll update this guide with what actually moved. If you're building something too, steal all of this.