Why isn't my site showing on Google?

Published 14 Oct 2026

You search for your business and your website isn't there. Before you assume the worst, work out which of two very different problems you have: Google doesn't know about the page at all, or Google knows about it and ranks other pages higher. The fixes are completely different.

Step 1: check whether Google has indexed you

Type this into Google, using your own domain:

site:yourdomain.com

If you see a list of your pages, Google has indexed at least some of them, and you can skip to step 3. If you see nothing, or only a few pages, keep reading.

For a more reliable answer, set up Google Search Console. It is free. Once you verify the site, the URL Inspection tool tells you exactly whether a page is indexed and, if not, why.

Step 2: find out what is blocking indexing

These are the usual causes, roughly in order of how often we see them.

The site is brand new

Google has to discover a site before it can index it. For a new domain with no links pointing to it, that can take anything from a few days to several weeks. Submitting a sitemap in Search Console and requesting indexing for your home page speeds this up.

A "noindex" setting is switched on

This is the most common self-inflicted problem. WordPress has a checkbox under Settings, then Reading, called "Discourage search engines from indexing this site". Developers often tick it while building the site and forget to untick it at launch. SEO plugins such as Yoast and Rank Math also have per-page noindex settings.

To check a page yourself, open it, view the source and search for noindex. If you find <meta name="robots" content="noindex">, that page is telling Google to stay away.

robots.txt is blocking Google

Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt. If you see Disallow: / under User-agent: * or User-agent: Googlebot, the whole site is blocked from crawling. That line is sometimes left over from a staging site.

The page is hard to find

Google finds pages by following links. A page that nothing links to, and that isn't in your sitemap, may never be crawled. Make sure every important page is linked from your menu or from other pages, and that your sitemap lists it.

Duplicate or thin content

Search Console may report a page as "Crawled, currently not indexed" or "Duplicate without user-selected canonical". Google has seen the page and decided not to include it, often because it is very short, nearly identical to another page, or adds little that isn't elsewhere. Make each page clearly about one thing and give it enough useful detail to stand on its own.

The site has a technical fault

Server errors, pages that only load with JavaScript, redirect loops and expired SSL certificates can all stop Google from reading your content. The Pages report in Search Console lists these under "Why pages aren't indexed".

Step 3: you are indexed, but nobody finds you

If site: shows your pages but you don't appear for the searches you care about, this is a ranking problem rather than an indexing one. A few things to check:

  • Are you targeting what people type? Your page title and main heading should use the words a customer would search, such as "plumber in George" rather than your company slogan.
  • Is each page focused? One page per service usually does better than a single page listing everything.
  • Is the site fast and usable on a phone? Our guide to Core Web Vitals covers the measurements Google looks at.
  • For local searches, is your Google Business Profile set up? The map results come largely from Business Profiles, and a complete, verified profile with accurate hours and categories matters a lot.
  • Do other sites mention you? Links from local directories, suppliers, associations and press help Google trust that you are a real business.

Ranking takes time and nobody can promise a position, because Google decides. What you can control is removing the technical problems and making each page clearly answer what the searcher wants.

A quick checklist

  1. Search site:yourdomain.com.
  2. Untick "Discourage search engines" in WordPress.
  3. Check robots.txt and the page source for blocks.
  4. Set up Search Console and submit your sitemap.
  5. Read the Pages report for the reasons Google gives.

Check it in one go

The free CrawlCare scan checks whether a page allows indexing, reads your robots.txt, title, description and headings, and flags anything that would keep Google out. If you want a quick read on the basics before opening Search Console, it is a reasonable place to start.

Further reading