Why your website isn't showing on Google: the usual causes explained

If your website is live but you can't find it on Google, it is almost always one of a few fixable problems. Here is what is usually going on, and when it is worth getting someone to look.

The short answer: either Google doesn't know your site exists yet, Google has been told to ignore it, or Google knows about it but doesn't think it is the best answer for what people are searching. Each of those has a different fix, so the first job is working out which one you are dealing with.

Google doesn't know about it yet

A new website can take days or weeks to appear. Google has to find it, visit it and decide what to do with it. Nobody can promise an exact timescale, so be wary of anyone who does. A quick search for your own business name is a good first test, because a site that is properly indexed will normally show up for its own name.

Google has been told to ignore it

This one catches out more people than you would expect. Sites are often built with settings that ask search engines to stay away, and sometimes nobody switches them off at launch. If a site has been live for a month or more and is still invisible, this is the first thing I would suspect.

Google knows about it but doesn't rank it

Being indexed only means Google has stored your pages. Ranking is a separate question, and this is where most established small business sites struggle. The usual causes are pages that say very little, services that don't have a clear home on the site, a site that is awkward on a phone, and competitors who have simply done more.

For a search like "electrician in Stoke-on-Trent", you are up against established businesses with years of content, reviews and links from other websites. That is not a reason to give up, but it does mean a few small tweaks won't leapfrog everyone. Steady, consistent work on your pages and your reputation is what moves things.

Don't forget your Google Business Profile

For local searches, many of the results people see first come from the map listings rather than the normal website results. If your profile is unclaimed or out of date, you can be missing from the part of the page that matters most to a local customer. I cover this in how to get your business found on Google Maps.

How long should you wait before worrying?

If the site launched in the last couple of weeks, a little patience is reasonable. If it has been live for a month or more and still isn't showing, something is almost certainly stopping Google, and waiting longer won't fix it. If you are showing up but not ranking, expect improvement to be gradual. Small, steady changes beat a frantic rewrite every few days.

If you want a hand finding the cause, that is what my SEO service covers, and if the site itself needs rebuilding properly, take a look at web design.