5 Strategies to Get Your Backlinks Indexed Faster
Waiting months for Google to index your backlinks kills momentum. Here are five tactics that actually work to speed up the process and get your links counting toward rankings sooner.
Method Comparison at a Glance
| Method | Cost | Time Investment | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-Crawl Sites | Free | High (outreach) | Very Good |
| Social Sharing | Free | Low | Moderate |
| Internal Linking | Free | Low | Moderate |
| Search Console | Free | Very Low | Moderate |
| Indexing Service | Paid ($$$) | Very Low | Excellent (90%+) |
Build Links on High-Crawl Sites
Not all websites are equal in Google's eyes. Sites that publish daily content and have strong authority get crawled constantly. Getting a backlink on a site Google visits every day means your link gets discovered fast.
Focus your outreach on active blogs, news sites, and industry publications that update regularly. Skip the abandoned blogs and dormant directories—they won't help your indexing timeline.
Where to Focus Your Link Building
- •Industry news sites with daily updates
- •Popular niche blogs (50k+ monthly visits)
- •Active community forums and discussion boards
- •Well-maintained resource pages
- •Sites with no updates in 6+ months
- •Link directories with hundreds of outbound links
- •Low-quality guest post sites
- •Sites with DA under 15
Pro tip: Use tools like Ahrefs to check a site's "crawl frequency" before pursuing a backlink. Look for sites that publish new content at least weekly and have regular organic traffic growth.
Share Your Backlinks on Social Media
Google doesn't directly use social signals for ranking, but social shares create pathways for crawlers to discover content. When you share a page containing your backlink on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Reddit, you're creating additional entry points.
It's simple: more exposure equals more chances for Google to find the page. Share the article, not just your own site. Get eyes on the content hosting your backlink.
Twitter/X Strategy
Tag relevant accounts, use industry hashtags, and post during peak hours (9am-12pm). Retweet from different angles over several days.
LinkedIn Approach
Share in relevant groups, tag colleagues, and write a brief commentary explaining why the content matters. Professional networks drive quality traffic.
Reddit Tactics
Find relevant subreddits (avoid spamming), contribute to discussions genuinely, and share when it adds value. Reddit traffic can trigger fast crawls.
Community Forums
Participate in niche forums where your audience hangs out. Build reputation first, then share valuable content. Forum links can help discovery.
The traffic spike from social shares signals to Google that the page is worth crawling. Even if social links are nofollow, they create visibility and can lead to natural backlinks from people who discover the content. You can also amplify social signals to boost discovery rates further.
Use Internal Links on Your Own Site
Here's a move most people miss: link to the page containing your backlink from your own website. When Google crawls your site, it follows outbound links too. This creates a direct path from your domain to the backlink page.
Write a blog post, add a resources page, or include relevant external links in your content. Natural outbound linking helps Google discover and index those pages faster.
How to Implement This
Add a dedicated section to your blog posts or a standalone resources page. Link to quality external content, including pages where you have backlinks.
Publish articles where citing the backlink source makes sense. For example, if you have a backlink on an industry study, reference that study in your content.
Update older content to include relevant outbound links to pages with your backlinks. Google re-crawls updated content faster.
Don't overdo it—link naturally and only when it adds value for your readers. Google can tell the difference between manipulative linking patterns and genuine editorial links. Understanding proper link architecture helps you structure internal linking effectively.
Submit URLs to Google Search Console
Google Search Console lets you manually request indexing for specific URLs. It's free and takes 30 seconds. Just paste the URL of the page with your backlink and hit "Request Indexing."
There's a catch: you can only submit a limited number of URLs per day, and Google doesn't guarantee fast indexing. But it's worth doing for your most important backlinks.
Limitations to Know
- •Daily quota limits (varies by site)
- •No guarantee of fast indexing
- •Can take days or weeks to process
- •Must verify site ownership first
Best Practices
- •Prioritize high-value backlinks
- •Submit fresh content first
- •Check for crawl errors before submitting
- •Track submission status in GSC
Use Search Console strategically for your tier-1 backlinks—the ones from high-authority sites that matter most to your rankings. Save your daily quota for backlinks worth prioritizing.
Use a Professional Indexing Service
The fastest, most reliable way to get backlinks indexed is to use a service built specifically for it. Professional indexing tools use organic methods to signal Google that pages need crawling—no sketchy tactics, just efficient processes.
Instead of waiting weeks or months and hoping for the best, you get confirmation and tracking. Most services achieve 90%+ indexing rates. If you're serious about SEO and don't want to gamble on Google's schedule, this is the move.
| Factor | DIY Methods | Indexing Service |
|---|---|---|
| Success Rate | 40-60% | 90%+ |
| Time to Index | 2-6 weeks (variable) | 3-7 days (predictable) |
| Manual Effort | High (ongoing) | Minimal (automated) |
| Tracking & Reporting | Manual checks | Real-time dashboard |
| Cost | Free (time investment) | $0.001/link |
For agencies managing dozens or hundreds of backlinks monthly, manual methods don't scale. A professional service pays for itself in time saved and guaranteed results. You pay only for successfully indexed links, so there's no risk of wasting budget on links that never get found.
Which Strategy Should You Use?
Use DIY Methods (1-4) If:
- •You're building fewer than 20 backlinks per month
- •You have time to manually track and optimize
- •Your backlinks are primarily on high-authority sites that crawl frequently
- •You're comfortable with unpredictable indexing timelines
Use an Indexing Service (#5) If:
- •You're building 20+ backlinks per month
- •You need predictable, fast results
- •You're managing links for clients or multiple projects
- •Your time is worth more than $0.001 per link to automate
- •You want tracking and reporting built in
The Bottom Line
You can try all five strategies and see some improvement. Combining methods 1-4 gives you the best shot at natural indexing without spending money. But if you're building links at scale, manually tracking dozens of URLs and troubleshooting indexing issues becomes a bottleneck.
Professional services exist because they solve a real problem: guaranteeing your investment in backlinks actually pays off. Don't just build backlinks and hope they work—make sure Google actually finds them.