Why is my website not found on Google?

Check first: is the site in the index at all?

Enter site:your-domain.com in Google, with your own address. If results appear, Google knows your pages – then it is more about rankings than findability. If nothing appears, the site is probably not in the index. More reliable than this query is Google Search Console: its URL Inspection shows for every address whether it is indexed and, if not, why.

Technical causes

• New site: Google first has to discover and visit it. That does not happen on launch day.
• noindex or robots.txt: a noindex directive or a blocking robots.txt keeps Google out of the index. Often this is a leftover from the development phase – in WordPress, for example, the option to discourage search engines from indexing the site.
• No sitemap and no Search Console: without both, Google finds new pages more slowly, especially without internal and external links.
• Slow or poor on mobile: very long loading times and an unusable mobile view make evaluation harder and put visitors off.
• Faulty redirects or server errors: if pages cannot be reached, Google cannot include them.

Content causes

• Too little content: pages with only a few sentences give Google little to recognise relevance from.
• Duplicate content: the same text on several pages or addresses blurs which page should be shown.
• Wrong terms: the page describes your service in words your customers never search for.
• No clear purpose: if it is not recognisable which question a page answers, it is hard to classify.

Missing signals from outside

Google does not only assess your site, but also whether others point to it. A website that is linked nowhere and mentioned nowhere has a harder time than one that appears in directories, with partners or in reports. For local offers, local signals come on top: a maintained Google Business Profile, a clearly stated location and consistent company details. More on the basics is in the article SEO explained simply.

How to check it step by step

• Set up Google Search Console for your domain. It is free.
• Use URL Inspection to check whether the most important pages are indexed.
• Look in the page indexing report to see why pages are excluded.
• Submit your sitemap if you have not done so yet.
• Check whether noindex appears in the source code or robots.txt blocks something.
• Test loading speed with PageSpeed Insights.

You also get a first automatic assessment with the free Website Check.

How long does it realistically take?

After launch or after submitting a sitemap, it can take a few days to weeks for new pages to appear in the index. A good ranking for competitive terms takes considerably longer and cannot be guaranteed – nobody serious promises that. What is realistic: first get indexed, then become visible with patience and better content.

When support is worthwhile

If the site is indexed but brings hardly any visitors, or if you cannot find the cause, the problem often lies in how the website itself is built. Then a new structure with a clean foundation can make sense. The services available for that are under Have a website built.