Google search advocate John Mueller advised new website owners on Tuesday to prioritize content quality over quantity to ensure proper indexing and ranking by the search engine's systems.
Mueller's guidance came in response to a new site owner experiencing repeated "Oops! Something went wrong" errors when attempting to request indexing through Google Search Console, despite a sitemap with 644 URLs and no manual actions, he said.
He explained that Google's algorithms require time to understand the unique value of nascent websites, particularly those publishing a large volume of content rapidly.
Mueller emphasized that new sites inherently take time to be fully indexed and achieve desired rankings within Google's search results.
The Google official also acknowledged the "Oops!" tool bug, stating he would relay the issue internally for investigation.
However, Mueller reiterated that the "Request indexing" feature within Search Console should not be heavily relied upon as a primary method to force content into Google's index.
Google generally discourages excessive use of the manual indexing request tool, recommending instead that site owners allow natural crawling and indexation processes to occur.
The company's long-standing advice has been to focus on creating high-quality, valuable content that naturally attracts Googlebot's attention over time.
This approach helps Google's systems accurately assess a site's relevance and authority, leading to more stable and effective indexing.
Source: Abondance
