Why is my website not showing on Google? Nine reasons and fixes

Step 1: check whether Google has your pages

• Type site:yourdomain.com into Google, with your own address. If pages appear, Google has them. If nothing appears, they aren't indexed.
• Open Google Search Console, which is free, and paste a page address into the inspection bar at the top. It tells you whether the page is on Google and, if not, gives a reason.
• Check the Pages report in Search Console. It lists pages that aren't indexed and the reason for each one.
• If you haven't set up Search Console, do that first. It is the only reliable way to see what Google thinks of your site.

Nine common reasons a website doesn't show up

• The site is new. Google has to find, crawl and decide to index every page, and that can take days or weeks. New sites with no links pointing to them are often slow to be discovered.
• The page is set to noindex. A setting or a plugin can tell Google not to index a page. WordPress has a "discourage search engines" option that people forget to turn off after launch.
• robots.txt blocks the page. This small file can stop Google from crawling parts of your site, or all of it, by mistake.
• There is no sitemap, or it's wrong. A sitemap lists your pages for Google. Submit it in Search Console and make sure it only contains pages you want indexed.
• Google can't see your content. If the text appears only after JavaScript runs, or sits inside images, Google may struggle to read it.
• The pages are thin or copied. Very short pages, or text copied from other sites or repeated across many pages, give Google little reason to index them.
• The site is slow or broken on mobile. Google judges the mobile version of your pages. If it fails, rankings suffer.
• Nothing links to the page. Pages that aren't linked from your own menu or other pages are hard to find, and links from other websites tell Google your site matters.
• You rank, but far down. If your pages are indexed, the problem is competition and relevance, not visibility. That needs better content and more links over time.

What to fix first

• Make sure the site isn't blocked: check the noindex setting, robots.txt and the WordPress search engine visibility option.
• Submit your sitemap in Search Console and request indexing for your most important pages.
• Link to every important page from your menu or another page on your site.
• Fix mobile problems and slow pages. Test on a real phone.
• Give each page a clear title, a heading that says what it's about and enough useful text to answer the visitor's question.

Why searching for your business name can still fail

If your business name is common, or shared with larger companies, your site may not appear first even when it's indexed. Add your name and city to your title and headings where it is true, set up your Google Business Profile if you meet customers in person, and make your name consistent across your website and social profiles.

Don't rely on one search from your own phone. Results change by location and by what you've searched before, so check in a private window and ask a friend in another area to try.

How long does it take?

Nobody can give you a date. A page can be indexed within days or take weeks, and ranking well for competitive searches usually takes months of steady work. Be wary of anyone who promises a first-page result by a certain date.

What doesn't work

• Buying links or using link farms. Google may treat them as spam.
• Stuffing keywords into text. It reads badly and doesn't help.
• Hiding text or copying other sites.
• Paying for "guaranteed first page" services.

Want someone to look at it?

I offer a free website check. Send me your address and I'll look at indexing basics, mobile layout, speed and on-page SEO, then send you a short report in plain English. If you want help fixing what I find, I can quote that separately.