You search for your business on Google and it is not there. It is a genuinely alarming moment, especially if you have just paid for the site. Before you panic, there is one distinction that decides everything about what you do next.
There are two completely different problems that look identical from the outside: Google does not have your site at all, or Google has it but is not showing it to you. The first is a technical fault and usually fixable in an afternoon. The second is a ranking issue and takes months of a different kind of work. Almost everyone assumes the first when it is actually the second.
Find out which one you have, in sixty seconds
Type this into Google, using your own domain:
site:yourbusiness.com
That asks Google to list only pages it holds from your site. Two possible outcomes:
- You see a list of your pages. Good news, you are indexed. Google has your site and your problem is ranking, so skip to the second half of this article.
- You see nothing at all. Your site is not in Google's index. That is a technical problem, and the list below is where to look.
One more useful check: search your exact business name. If you appear for that but not for what you actually do, you are definitely indexed, and this is a ranking question rather than a missing-site question.
If you are not indexed, these are the usual causes
- The site is simply too new. Give it days to a couple of weeks. This is by far the most common answer and it needs no action beyond the Search Console step below.
- A noindex tag was left in place. This is the big one and it catches a lot of people. Sites are often built with a noindex instruction telling search engines to stay away, and it is meant to be removed at launch. Sometimes it is not. It is invisible to visitors and completely fatal for search.
- robots.txt is blocking crawlers. A single misplaced Disallow rule can shut out Google from the whole site. Check yourbusiness.com/robots.txt and look for anything blocking everything.
- Still password protected. Staging protection left switched on after go-live means Google sees a login screen and nothing else.
- Canonical tags pointing somewhere else. If every page tells Google that the real version lives at another address, your pages get skipped in favour of that other address. This often happens after a site is copied from a development domain.
- The content only exists in JavaScript. Google can usually run JavaScript, but it is slower and less reliable than reading plain HTML. If your pages are empty until scripts run, indexing can be patchy. The fix is server-side rendering or pre-rendering, so each page arrives as real HTML. This is how our own sites are built, precisely to avoid the problem.
- No sitemap submitted. Not fatal on its own, but a sitemap plus Search Console is the fastest way to get noticed.
Set up Google Search Console, today
If you do one thing after reading this, do this. Search Console is free, it is Google's own tool, and it stops you guessing. Verify your site, submit your sitemap, then use URL Inspection on your homepage. It will tell you plainly whether the page is indexed and, if not, why not, including whether a noindex tag or a robots rule is the culprit. You can also click Request Indexing to nudge Google, which speeds things up though it does not guarantee anything.
Nearly every mystery in this article is answered in about two minutes by that one screen.
If you are indexed but still invisible
This is where most people actually are, and it is worth being honest: being in Google is the easy part, being found is the work. If you appear for your business name but not for your services, nothing is broken. You are simply competing, and you have not yet given Google reasons to prefer you.
The things that move it, in rough order of impact for a local business:
- A Google Business Profile. For local searches, the map listing outranks websites and is the fastest route to being seen. Our guide to getting found on Google covers the whole method.
- Reviews. The strongest lever most local businesses have, and the one most neglected. See how to get more Google reviews.
- Pages that match what people search. A page per service, and per town if you cover several, rather than one homepage hoping to cover everything.
- Titles that say what the page is. If your page title is just your business name, you are invisible for the thing you actually sell.
- Time and consistency. New sites rank slowly. That is not a fault, it is how it works.
Realistic timelines
Getting indexed: days to a few weeks for a new site, faster if you use Search Console. Ranking for your business name: usually quick once indexed. Ranking for competitive local searches such as your trade plus your town: expect a few months of steady work, mostly reviews, relevant pages and consistency. Anyone promising page one in a fortnight is selling something.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a new website take to appear on Google?
Usually a few days to a couple of weeks. Verifying the site in Search Console and submitting a sitemap is the quickest way to speed that up.
Do I have to pay Google to appear in search results?
No. Organic listings are free and cannot be bought. Google Ads buys advertising slots, which is a separate thing entirely and stops the moment you stop paying. Anyone telling you that you must pay Google to be listed is misinformed or worse.
Does Request Indexing in Search Console actually work?
It helps. It puts your page in a queue to be looked at sooner, which is useful for a new or newly fixed page. It does not force Google to index anything, and it will not fix an underlying problem such as a noindex tag.
Do I really need Search Console?
Yes, and it is free. Without it you are guessing at whether Google can see your site. With it you get the actual reason, plus the searches you are already appearing for, which is genuinely useful information.
Why do I appear for my business name but not for my services?
Because you are indexed but not yet competitive. Almost nobody else is trying to rank for your business name, whereas plenty of businesses want to rank for your trade in your town. That gap is closed with a Google Business Profile, reviews and pages that match what people search for.
In our experience, the majority of "my site is not on Google" problems turn out to be either a site that is two weeks old or a noindex tag nobody removed. Both are easy. If you would like someone to look at yours and tell you which it is, get in touch and we will check it for you, or see how we build websites that are indexable from day one.