You launched a website, searched for your business name and found nothing. It is one of the most common problems we are asked to fix. Over the last few years we have got dozens of client sites indexed, including Positive Zen Energy, Green Solar Systems, M10 News and OneFlytt. The good news: the cause is almost always one of the eleven below, and most are quick to fix once you know where to look.
First, check whether Google knows your site exists
Type site:yourdomain.com into Google. If you see no results at all, Google has not indexed any pages. If you see some pages but not the important ones, you have a partial indexing problem. Then open Google Search Console and look at the Pages (Page indexing) report, which tells you exactly why each URL is not indexed.
1. A noindex tag is telling Google to stay away
This is the number one cause we find. A noindex meta tag or HTTP header tells Google not to index a page. It often gets left behind from development.
Fix: In WordPress, go to Settings › Reading and make sure “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” is unticked. Check your SEO plugin’s settings for pages or post types set to noindex. On Wix and Squarespace, check each page’s SEO settings for the “hide from search engines” option.
2. robots.txt is blocking crawlers
A single line such as Disallow: / in robots.txt blocks the whole site. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and read it.
Fix: Remove rules that block important sections, and keep robots.txt for genuinely private areas only.
3. There is no XML sitemap, or it is broken
Sitemaps help Google discover pages quickly. We regularly find sitemaps that list deleted pages, redirecting URLs or the wrong domain.
Fix: Generate a clean sitemap (Rank Math, Yoast, Wix and Squarespace all create one automatically) and submit it in Search Console under Sitemaps.
4. The site was never added to Search Console
Google can find sites on its own, but new sites with no links can wait a long time. Search Console lets you submit your sitemap and request indexing directly.
Fix: Verify your domain property, submit the sitemap and use URL Inspection › Request indexing on your key pages.
5. Canonical tags point somewhere else
A canonical tag says “the real version of this page is over there”. If it points to another URL, a staging site or the http version, Google will index that instead of your page.
Fix: Make sure every page’s canonical points to itself on the correct https domain.
6. http, https, www and non-www are all live
Four versions of the same site split signals and confuse Google.
Fix: Choose one version (normally https without or with www), redirect the others with 301 redirects and set the same version in your CMS settings.
7. “Crawled – currently not indexed”
Google visited the page and decided it was not worth indexing yet. This is a quality signal, not a technical block. We cover it in detail in our guide to fixing Crawled – currently not indexed.
8. Thin or duplicate content
Pages with a few lines of text, or pages that repeat the same content with a different town name, are often skipped.
Fix: Merge weak pages, and give each important page unique, genuinely useful content.
9. Important pages have no internal links
If a page is only reachable through the sitemap, Google assumes it is not important.
Fix: Link to key pages from your menu, homepage and related pages using descriptive anchor text.
10. JavaScript or site speed problems
Very slow servers and pages that only render content with JavaScript can make crawling harder.
Fix: Use caching and good hosting, and make sure your main content is present in the HTML. Test the page with the URL Inspection tool’s live test.
11. A manual action or security issue
Hacked sites and spam can lead Google to remove pages. Check Security & Manual Actions in Search Console. If your site was hacked, clean it first; see how we handled this for TORX Racing.
How long does indexing take after a fix?
Usually days to a few weeks. Request indexing for your most important pages, keep publishing useful content and watch the Page indexing report.
Need it fixed for you?
We fix indexing on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and custom HTML. See our Google indexing fix service, or browse more indexing projects such as Durofy, Claricast and Heather Elizabeth Photography.
FAQ
Why does my website not show up on Google when I search the name?
Usually because it is not indexed yet or is blocked by noindex, robots.txt or canonical settings. Check with a site: search and Search Console.
Can I pay Google to index my site faster?
No. Google Ads does not affect organic indexing. Submitting a sitemap and requesting indexing in Search Console is free.
Does a new domain take longer to index?
Often, yes, especially with no links pointing to it. Search Console submission and a few quality links from relevant sites help.
