Why isn't my website showing up on Google? A plain-English checklist

You paid for a website. It is live, it looks good, and you can open it on your phone. But type what you do into Google and it is nowhere to be seen. Sometimes it does not even appear when you search for your own business name.

In short: before a page can appear in Google, Google has to discover it, crawl it, decide it is worth keeping (indexing), and only then rank it against everyone else. A website that is missing from Google is almost always stuck at one of those four steps, and each step has a different fix. This checklist walks through them in plain English.

First, find out whether Google knows your site exists

Go to Google and search for site:yourdomain.co.uk, using your own web address. This lists the pages from your site that Google has kept. If nothing comes back, Google has not indexed your site at all. If only your homepage comes back, the rest of your pages are stuck somewhere along the way.

For the real answer, set up Google Search Console. It is free, and it is Google telling you directly what it thinks of your site. Paste any page address into the search bar at the top (the URL Inspection tool) and it will show one of these:

• URL is on Google: the page is indexed. Your problem is ranking, not visibility, so skip to reason 8 below.

• Discovered - currently not indexed: Google knows the address exists but has not visited it yet. Common on new websites.

• Crawled - currently not indexed: Google visited the page and decided not to keep it, for now. Usually a content or quality signal.

• Excluded by noindex tag or Blocked by robots.txt: something on your own website is telling Google to stay away.

• URL is unknown to Google: Google has never come across the page at all.

Search Console works without adding any tracking to your visitors' browsers, so it has no effect on whether you need a cookie banner.

The nine most common reasons, and how to fix each one

1. The website is brand new

Google does not rush to crawl a new domain. With no history and few links pointing to it, a new website can wait anywhere from a few days to several weeks before its inner pages are crawled. Nothing is broken; it is simply low in the queue.

The fix: submit your sitemap, use "Request indexing" in Search Console once for your most important pages, and get a handful of links from places Google already visits often. Requesting indexing again and again does not move you up the queue.

2. Something is telling Google to stay out

This happens more than you would think. Websites are often built with a "noindex" setting switched on so the unfinished version does not appear in search results, and nobody switches it off at launch. Others carry a robots.txt file that blocks the whole site, or the live site is still behind a password.

The fix: open yourdomain.co.uk/robots.txt and check it does not say Disallow: / under User-agent: *. Then use URL Inspection on a few pages; it will tell you plainly if a noindex tag is in the way.

3. There is no sitemap, or it is out of date

A sitemap is a simple file that lists every page you want Google to know about. Without one, Google relies on finding links, which is slow for a small or new site. An out-of-date sitemap that lists old pages and misses new ones is almost as unhelpful.

The fix: make sure your site generates a sitemap automatically (most modern websites can), then submit it in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing matters more than people expect, because its index also feeds AI assistants such as Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT search.

4. Nothing links to your pages

Google finds pages by following links. A service page that is only reachable through a drop-down menu deep in the site, or a page with no links pointing to it from anywhere else on the web, is easy to miss and easy to treat as unimportant.

The fix: link to every important page from your homepage or main menu, and link related pages to each other. Then earn a few genuine links from outside: your Google Business Profile, trusted directories, local organisations and partners. Our SEO services in Leeds start with exactly this kind of crawl and linking check.

5. Pages are too thin or too similar

"Crawled - currently not indexed" often means Google read the page and did not think it added anything new. Template websites are the usual culprit: six service pages sharing the same paragraphs with only the heading changed, or pages with a hundred words and a stock photo.

The fix: give every page its own job. Each service page should answer the questions a real customer asks about that service, in your own words, with your own examples. If your current site was built from a template, it is worth reading how to choose a developer before you pay for another one.

6. The site is slow or awkward on phones

Google looks at the mobile version of your website first. If pages take ages to load on a phone, text needs zooming, or buttons sit on top of each other, Google is less inclined to show them, and visitors leave anyway.

The fix: test your key pages on an actual phone over mobile data, not just on office wifi. Search Console's Core Web Vitals report shows which pages Google considers slow. A well-built website should be fast and comfortable on a phone without anyone having to think about it.

7. The site moved, and the old addresses were never redirected

Rebuilding a website or changing domain often changes every page address. If the old addresses are not redirected to the new ones, Google keeps visiting pages that no longer exist, and any reputation the old pages had is thrown away. Mixed versions of the same site, such as with and without "www" or "https", cause similar confusion.

The fix: set up permanent (301) redirects from every old address to its new equivalent, and make sure the site always resolves to one version of your domain. A website health check will find broken redirects and duplicate versions quickly.

8. You are indexed, but not ranking

If your site appears when you search for your business name but not for what you do, Google can see you; it just ranks other pages above yours. For local searches such as "web designer Leeds" or "plumber Bradford", you are competing with businesses that have years of history, plenty of reviews and many links.

The fix: make it obvious what you do and where. Mention the towns you serve naturally, give each service its own detailed page, answer common questions on your site, and collect reviews steadily. Ranking for competitive local searches takes months rather than weeks, but it does build.

9. A security problem or a penalty

Less common, but serious. A hacked website can quietly fill up with spam pages, and Google may warn visitors away or drop the site altogether. Rarely, Google applies a manual penalty for breaking its guidelines.

The fix: check the "Security and Manual Actions" section in Search Console. If anything is listed there, the site needs cleaning and securing before you ask Google to review it again. A proper website security audit finds how the attacker got in, so it does not happen twice.

Not showing on Google Maps? That is a separate system

The map results, with the pins and star ratings, do not come from your website. They come from your Google Business Profile. A business can rank well in the normal results and not at all on the map, or the other way round.

For the map, what matters is choosing the right categories, listing your services and service areas, keeping your details consistent everywhere, adding real photos, and collecting reviews. Distance also matters: Google favours businesses close to the person searching, or to the town they typed.

How long should it take?

As a rough guide: a new page on an established website is usually picked up within a few days. A brand new website can take one to four weeks before most of its pages are indexed. Ranking well for competitive local searches typically takes three to six months of steady work. If a page is still not crawled after a month, it is time to look for one of the problems above.

Your quick checklist

1. Search site:yourdomain.co.uk to see what Google has kept.

2. Set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

3. Submit your sitemap to both.

4. Inspect your five most important pages and note their status.

5. Check robots.txt and remove any leftover noindex settings.

6. Link every important page from your homepage or main menu.

7. Rewrite thin or duplicated pages so each one has its own purpose.

8. Test the site on a real phone over mobile data.

9. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if my website is on Google?

Search site: followed by your web address, or inspect a page in Google Search Console. Search Console is more reliable and tells you why a page is missing.

How long does it take Google to index a new website?

Usually somewhere between a few days and a few weeks. New domains with few links pointing to them sit at the slower end.

Will paying for Google Ads get my website indexed?

No. Ads and the normal search results are completely separate. Paying for ads does not help your pages get indexed or ranked.

Does submitting my site to Google again speed things up?

No. Once a page is in the queue, requesting it again does not move it forward. Links from other websites and good, original content make far more difference.

Want a second pair of eyes?

If your website still is not showing up, we will run a technical SEO check and tell you exactly what is wrong, in plain English, before anyone spends money fixing it. We work with businesses across Leeds and West Yorkshire and throughout the UK. Get in touch for a clear, honest view within one working day.