Indexing a site with the Yandex Metrica tag

Attention. This method is not suitable for indexing:

The Yandex robot learns about the pages on the site from different sources. One of them is the Yandex Metrica tracking tag. You can tell Yandex to crawl pages that have the tag.

If you want the robot to visit your website as soon as possible, link your Yandex Metrica tag to the website verified in Yandex Webmaster and enable the tag crawling option.

Who can request and confirm the linking
Where the request is sent from Who sends the request Who confirms the request
Yandex Metrica.

A user with tag editing rights or with representative access.

A Yandex Webmaster user with site management rights.
Yandex Webmaster. Learn more about how to send a request in Yandex Webmaster.

A user with site management rights.

A Yandex Metrica user with tag editing rights or with representative access.
Where the request is sent from Who sends the request Who confirms the request
Yandex Metrica.

A user with tag editing rights or with representative access.

A Yandex Webmaster user with site management rights.
Yandex Webmaster. Learn more about how to send a request in Yandex Webmaster.

A user with site management rights.

A Yandex Metrica user with tag editing rights or with representative access.

Once the robot crawls the pages on the site, they can appear in search results provided indexing isn't prohibited. To give the robot a better idea of the pages, use the Sitemap file.

  1. Step 1. Add the site to Yandex Webmaster
  2. Step 2. In Yandex Metrica, send a request to link the site
  3. Step 3. Confirm your request in Yandex Webmaster
  4. Step 4. Enable the tag crawling option for your website in Yandex Webmaster

Step 1. Add the site to Yandex Webmaster

Add the site with the Yandex Metrica tag to Yandex Webmaster and confirm site management rights.

Step 2. In Yandex Metrica, send a request to link the site

  1. Go to the Settings page (the Tag tab).
  2. Click Link to Yandex Webmaster next to the site address. If additional addresses are specified in the tag settings:
    • Subdomain — In Yandex Webmaster, confirm your rights using a simplified method and send a request to link the site.
    • Additional address — Add it to Yandex Webmaster and send a request to link the site.
    • Mirror — Link the tag to the primary mirror of the site (the address that should participate in the search).
After you have sent a request to confirm linking the site, a notification will be sent to the Yandex Webmaster user at the email address specified in the notification settings (if the user is subscribed to notifications for Yandex Metrica requests).

Step 3. Confirm your request in Yandex Webmaster

When the request to link the site has been sent, Webmaster starts searching for matches to the site domain. The protocol and the presence of the www prefix are ignored. If matches are found, confirm the request:

  1. Go to Settings → Link to Yandex Metrica.
  2. Click Confirm next to the appropriate tag ID.
You can track the status of linking the tag to the site:
  • in Yandex Metrica, go to Settings and open the Tag tab.
  • in Yandex Webmaster, go to Settings → Link to Yandex Metrica.
Status Description Note
“Awaiting confirmation” The request to link the site was sent. Domain verification is in progress. After the domain is found, the request is waiting for confirmation. The Yandex Webmaster user must confirm the request.
“Linked” The Yandex Webmaster user confirmed the request to link the site. The Yandex robot will begin crawling the site's pages.
“Not verified” A Yandex Metrica or Yandex Webmaster user canceled linking the site. You can re-send the request to link the tag to the site.
“Confirmation error” The tag is not linked to the site. Possible reasons:
  • The site has not been added to Yandex Webmaster.
  • Site management rights were not confirmed in Yandex Webmaster.
  • The tag ID is incorrect in Yandex Webmaster on the Settings → Link to Yandex Metrica page.
 Check for possible reasons and request confirmation again.
Status Description Note
“Awaiting confirmation” The request to link the site was sent. Domain verification is in progress. After the domain is found, the request is waiting for confirmation. The Yandex Webmaster user must confirm the request.
“Linked” The Yandex Webmaster user confirmed the request to link the site. The Yandex robot will begin crawling the site's pages.
“Not verified” A Yandex Metrica or Yandex Webmaster user canceled linking the site. You can re-send the request to link the tag to the site.
“Confirmation error” The tag is not linked to the site. Possible reasons:
  • The site has not been added to Yandex Webmaster.
  • Site management rights were not confirmed in Yandex Webmaster.
  • The tag ID is incorrect in Yandex Webmaster on the Settings → Link to Yandex Metrica page.
 Check for possible reasons and request confirmation again.

Step 4. Enable the tag crawling option for your website in Yandex Webmaster

  1. Go to Indexing → Tag crawling.
  2. Opposite the Yandex Metrica tag that you linked to the site, enable crawling.

The robot will be able to crawl pages where a tag is installed. This option will apply to all versions of the site: both HTTP and HTTPS, as well as with or without the www prefix.

During the crawl, the robot searches the site for pages that can participate in the search. In some cases, the crawl might stop so that you can check the pages. The robot may find many pages — Yandex Webmaster only shows examples. They can help you understand which page groups are allowed to participate in the search and which are not.

You may get a notification that the list is ready for verification, depending on the settings:
  • In Yandex Webmaster, on the Notifications and Diagnosis pages.
  • Sent to the email address that you specified in the notification settings.

To check the examples, go to Indexing → Tag crawling and click Examples of pages next to the tag that you linked the website to.

If you think that in the list:

  1. Analyze the list of pages — they may include, for example:
    Page type What to do
    Activity pages. For example, adding an item to the basket or comparing products. Disable indexing of the pages
    Basket with goods.
    Personal information. For example, delivery addresses and phone numbers of your customers. Restrict access to data with user authorization on the site
    Duplicate pages. For example, a URL with additional parameters (https://example.com/page?id=1). Specify the page that is preferred for participating in the search
    Page type What to do
    Activity pages. For example, adding an item to the basket or comparing products. Disable indexing of the pages
    Basket with goods.
    Personal information. For example, delivery addresses and phone numbers of your customers. Restrict access to data with user authorization on the site
    Duplicate pages. For example, a URL with additional parameters (https://example.com/page?id=1). Specify the page that is preferred for participating in the search
  2. Wait for the service to update the list — an email will be sent to the email address you entered in the notification settings.
  3. Check the sample pages again.
  4. Enable crawling.

In addition, we recommend adding pages that can participate in the search in the Sitemap file so that they are included in the search results more quickly.

You can check which pages appeared in the search results in the Pages on search section.

If this option is disabled, the robot stops receiving information about new site pages from Yandex Metrica. But it can still index pages by learning about them from other sources. Therefore we recommend blocking indexing of non-public content. You can find out whether unwanted pages are included in the search in the Pages on search section.

Disabling crawling does not remove pages from search results either. See the section How do I exclude pages from the search?.