The possible reasons why your website is not showing up on Google are:
- You’ve just created a new website (almost all new owners face this issue).
- Google doesn’t see your site as trustworthy or relevant enough to rank for your target keywords.
- You’ve incurred a Google penalty by not following its guidelines.
- There’s a technical issue preventing Google from crawling or indexing your site.
The website is like a digital shop where businesses can easily target a global audience. Sounds enthralling, right? That’s why most owners focus on building websites, dreaming of worldwide leads, more sales, and becoming rich.
But in reality, only a few are living the life they have dreamed of, while others are stuck wondering, “Why is my website not showing up on Google?”
According to a study shared by Forbes, there are over 2 billion websites online. Out of these, 82% are deactivated, which means only around 200 million websites are actively maintained.
To find out what the real issue might be, how to fix it, and get practical tips to help your website rank, stay with us till the end of this blog. You’ll definitely learn the causes that no one else is going to tell you.
What’s Silently Stopping Your Online Presence, And How You Will Resolve
Let’s take a look at the core issues that could be holding your business back from appearing in Google search.
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1. Check whether your website is Crawl and indexable
The first step toward getting visibility on Google is confirming your site is crawlable and indexed. Let’s quickly understand what those terms mean.
- Crawling means Google’s bots (also called spiders) visit your website to read and understand your content.
- Indexing means those pages are stored in Google’s system, ready to appear in search results when someone searches for related keywords.
Below, we’ve listed the common problems along with their solutions. Go through each point and see if it matches your issue – if it does, follow the suggested fix; if not, move on to the next one.
a. Check If Google Can Find Your Website
To check, go to Google and type:
site:yourwebsite.com
This simple trick tells you if your website is visible to Google.
If your pages appear in the search results, congratulations; Google has crawled and indexed your website!
However, if the screen displays:
“Your search – site.com – did not match any documents.”
It means Google hasn’t crawled your website yet. Don’t panic. It’s quite normal, especially if your site is new. Google’s bots take some time to discover and crawl fresh websites.
What to do:
Wait a few days to a couple of weeks; sometimes it just needs time, especially for a new website. But after waiting, if your website has not been crawled, then Google Search Console is your solution. Here, you can tell Google about your website by manually submitting a request.
Check out this step: Go to Google Search Console → URL Inspection Tool → Request Indexing to speed up the process.
b. Robots.txt File: Make Sure You’re Not Accidentally Blocking Google
Sometimes, websites unintentionally block Google with a “noindex” tag or an incorrect robots.txt setup.
How to check:
Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure you don’t see this line:
Disallow:
This blocks Google from crawling your site.
Instead, use:
User-agent: *
Allow: /
Also, check your page source (Right-click → View Page Source → Ctrl + F → search for “noindex”).
If you find <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>, remove it or ask your developer to fix it.
c. Use Google Search Console for a Deep Check
Google Search Console shows whether your site is being crawled properly.
What to do:
- Open the Pages or Coverage report.
- If you see errors like “Crawled – currently not indexed” or “Blocked by robots.txt,” that’s your clue.
- Follow the recommendations Google gives for fixing those issues.
d. Check for Slow Speed or Broken Links
If your site loads too slowly or has broken links, Google’s crawlers may leave before completing the job.
Fix it by:
Testing your site speed using PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
Repairing broken links with free tools like Broken Link Checker.
Keeping your images optimized and using good hosting.
Once your website is crawlable and indexable, you’ve cleared the first and most important SEO hurdle.
2. Google Penalty After Algorithm Updates
Google’s new updates roll out three to four times a year, and there are approximately two that are core updates. Sometimes, many websites might suddenly drop in ranking (in this case, there is no need to worry), and sometimes your website stops showing on Google (which means your website has been hit by a penalty).
The potential reason your website has been hit with a penalty by Google is that your website is optimized not with the right SEO but with Black Hat SEO, an unethical SEO practice that many agencies use to rank their websites in no time. Such practices are mentioned below:
- Buying Links
- Using Keyword Stuffing
- Cloaking
- Duplicate Content
What to do:
Step 1: Diagnose the issue
To resolve the issue, you first need to check the manual thoroughly. Generally, this is a manual penalty issued by Google for violating the Webmaster Guidelines.
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How to check:
Sign in to your Google Search Console account → go to Security & Manual Actions → select Manual Actions Report.
In the report, you will see which policy you violated and which pages or sections are affected.
On the other hand, there is another possible reason called Algorithmic Demotion.
This is not a formal penalty but an automatic ranking drop caused by changes in Google’s algorithm.
You can check this through Google Analytics. If you notice a rapid and significant decline in your organic traffic, it means your website’s content or SEO practices may not align with Google’s latest algorithm updates.
Step 2: Fix the problem
If your website has lost rankings because of a manual penalty or algorithm update, here is how to fix it step by step.
1. Clean Up Your Links
If you have too many spammy or low-quality backlinks, they can hurt your rankings.
Try to remove bad links by contacting the website owners.
If that is not possible, use the Disavow Tool in Google Search Console to tell Google to ignore them.
A clean backlink profile helps Google trust your site again.
2. Fix Your Content Issues
Content is a crucial factor that can either rank your website or destroy your online presence. Don’t publish content that is duplicate, copied, or low quality. Make sure your content is unique, fulfills user intent, and meets the criteria of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
- Remove any duplicate or auto-generated content.
- Add more value to thin pages by writing helpful, original content that actually answers users’ questions.
- Also, remove hidden text or links because they look manipulative to search engines.
3. Submit a Reconsideration Request (For Manual Penalties)
- Once you have fixed all the issues, go to the Manual Actions section in Google Search Console and submit a Reconsideration Request.
- Be honest and clear. Explain what caused the problem, what you have fixed, and what steps you will take to avoid it in the future.
If your cleanup is genuine, Google will review and lift the penalty in a few weeks or months.
If It Is an Algorithmic Drop
This type does not come with a direct message from Google, but you can recover by improving your overall site quality.
1. Audit and Improve Your Content
Outdated, shallow, or irrelevant content can drag your site down.
Update old articles.
Delete useless pages.
Focus on creating content that provides real value to your readers.
2. Strengthen E E A T
Show Google that your site is managed by real experts.
- Add author names and short bios.
- Link to reliable sources.
- Include case studies, reviews, or testimonials that prove your credibility.
3. Fix Technical and User Experience Issues
Even small technical errors can stop your website from ranking well.
- Speed up your website.
- Make it mobile-friendly.
- Fix broken links and crawl errors.
- Regularly run a technical audit using Google Search Console or other SEO tools.
4. Build Quality Backlinks
- Focus on earning natural and relevant links from trusted websites in your industry.
- Avoid spammy directories or paid link schemes because they can harm your website in the long run.
Step 3: Monitor Your Recovery and Stay Patient
Recovery takes time, especially after a major update.
Manual penalties: Once you submit your reconsideration request, Google may take several weeks to review it. You will get an email once the process is complete.
Algorithmic drops: There is no direct notification. Improvements happen gradually after Google recrawls and reassesses your site. Sometimes it can take a few months or until the next algorithm update to see full recovery.
Key to Success: Keep Tracking Your Progress
Monitor your site performance using Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Watch your traffic, rankings, and technical health to make sure the same issues do not return.
Fixing a penalty or algorithm drop is not about shortcuts. It is about proving to Google that your site deserves trust again. Stay consistent, and recovery will follow.
3. User Experience
Search Intent
Google is a medium that connects businesses with potential customers. Also, provide the user’s queries while providing the best website, like in its AI overview. Ranking your website can be quite challenging, but if your content includes the queries or specific keywords that users are searching for, you can achieve higher rankings more easily.
How to Do:
The first thing you should do is identify which keywords you want your website to rank for. Then, search for those keywords on Google and analyze the top results. This will help you understand the user’s intent.
Next, find the content gap. In other words, look for related queries that users are searching for but are not fully covered in the top-ranking pages.
Finally, structure your content based on the format of the top-ranking blogs while filling in the gaps you have found. Doing this will increase your chances of ranking for your target keywords.
Mobile and Desktop Friendly
Another silent reason your website might not be performing well online is that it is not properly optimized for mobile and desktop devices.
Today, most people use their phones to browse and buy, so if your site does not open smoothly or looks broken on mobile, visitors will leave instantly. Google also follows a mobile-first indexing approach, which means it primarily looks at the mobile version of your website to decide rankings.
How to fix it:
Check Mobile Compatibility: Use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool to see if your website works well on mobile.
Responsive Design: Make sure your website design automatically adjusts to different screen sizes without cutting off images or text.
Improve Page Speed: Compress large images, remove unnecessary scripts, and use caching to make your website load faster on both desktop and mobile.
Test Regularly: Open your website on multiple devices (phones, tablets, laptops) to check the user experience and ensure everything loads correctly.
When your website looks great and performs well on both mobile and desktop, you not only improve user experience but also boost your chances of ranking higher on Google.
Simple Yet Smart Ways to Get Your Website Ranked
- Make sure your website provides the best user experience with fast loading speed, easy-to-read content, and an optimized design.
- To improve your website’s authority, get backlinks from reputable and relevant websites. This signals to search engines that your site is reliable and trustworthy.
- Instead of focusing only on short keywords, use long-tail keywords. You can also check keyword tools to find what people are searching for and include those keywords naturally in your content. Make sure to use low KD (keyword difficulty) and high search volume keywords to help your website rank faster.
- Do proper internal linking so search engines can easily understand your website’s structure and content hierarchy. This also helps distribute page authority effectively.
- Make your content voice search-friendly to improve online visibility, reach a wider audience, and stay ahead of competitors who have not yet optimized for voice assistants.
- Keep both your on-page SEO and off-page SEO strong. Try new strategies, track results, and continue improving what works best for your website.
- Improve your Core Web Vitals that focus on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability for better user experience and higher rankings.
- Register your business on Google My Business and strengthen your social media presence on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. This helps build brand trust and boosts local visibility.
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We’ve done our best to answer your question, “Why is my website not showing up on Google search?” All the above methods are the same strategies our SEO experts use to help businesses rank higher.
Even though we’ve mentioned the common problems and their solutions, fixing these issues on your own can be a tedious task. That’s why you need professionals like us. So why wait? Take your chance to rise above your competitors and get the visibility your business deserves.
