Do you feel your website is wearing an invisibility cloak? It just doesn’t show up on Google. I know how frustrating it can be. After all, we biz owners put a lot of resources into setting up our sites. The good news is this can be fixed. You must start troubleshooting to find the issue keeping your site invisible. So, if you are wondering ‘why my website is not showing in Google searches,’ this article is for you.
In this blog, I touch on 5 key reasons that could be stopping your site from showing up on search engines. These are not the only ones, but if you are searching for how to get your website noticed, they are a great start and can truly make a difference.
The first question to ask is, does Google even know that your website exists? If not, we begin by fixing it. You have to include your website in Google’s index by submitting a sitemap. (side note: indeed, your site can still be found if linked from other sources, but letting Google know of your existence directly is the way to go).
For this, you need to create an account on Google Search Console and provide access to your web pages. That’s the start of how to get your website noticed!
Go to the Admin panel, select Sitemaps under Index, enter your URL, and click submit. It can take some time for Google to index your site, but you can always check on it by going to URL inspection and entering the site’s URL. If it’s on Google, then yay! If it’s not, you can ‘Request Indexing,’ and your site will be put in the queue.
If your website is fresh on Google, it can take weeks or even months for it to be visible on search results. Manually submitting a request for indexing, as mentioned above, is a way to speed up the process.
New websites usually have fewer pages and fewer inbound links. Google relies on inbound links when indexing websites, so until you build your website up to some extent with fresh content, be patient.
Remember that you can’t launch a website on a day and expect it to boom the next day. So, don’t worry too much about why my website is not showing in Google Search if you just launched.
From my experience with clients whom I’ve helped prepare for launch, the best strategic move I recommend is to work on their PR and link-building. Getting media exposure with links pointing back to the site is a powerful boost.
Your website is not SEO-optimized
Website visibility depends on a lot of search engine optimization. You have to equip your website with fundamental elements of SEO. It means adding new, high-quality content with appropriate keywords to help Google understand your website’s topic and authority.
Consider adding inbound links for easy navigation and getting outbound links to build credibility. Pay attention to domain authority to achieve a higher ranking.
(side note: I could write a book on Domain Authority. To give you a hint, the higher your Domain Authority, the better. You can check it here: MOZ Domain Authority Checker).
Overall, you have to build links to your main pages because that’s how to get your website noticed by Google consistently.
There’s always controversy around this in the SEO world. Websites owners live under the fear of getting a penalty – even though I’ve seen the shadiest sites rank first on Google! Still, we want to do our best to avoid this scenario.
There are basically two types of penalties:
Manual
Algorithmic
If Google has analyzed and identified your website as a violation of its guidelines, then the site is not going to appear in search results. My travel blog had what I believe to be an “algorithmic penalty” around May 2022. The funny thing is I didn’t do one thing to fix it (and haven’t posted content there for over a year), and it’s made somewhat of a recovery.
I’m in many FB groups for bloggers and can assure you people even give up blogging because of these crazy swings. And fair enough, it is a hard hit to see your work gone to the lost ark of the Googs.
If it’s a manual penalty, you can go to Google Search Console and check it. You can rectify the issues mentioned and resubmit for indexation, although may not be simple as it sounds – also, it’s not as common.
I say this with love. Sometimes a site’s keywords make no sense. What do you mean, Martina? I mean, sometimes they don’t.
No one blames you – this is a judgment-free zone for sustainable business growth! Honestly, why would someone launching a brick-and-mortar or online business know how many keywords to use and a buyer’s journey vs. keyword intent?
There is an amazing component of DIY in SEO, which also leads to confusion – even amongst marketers! However, not targetting the right keywords and aligning your content for topical relevancy may confuse Google and its users. So much that your website may end up not ranking at all. Yikes!
In this article, I touched on a pressing topic I see a lot come up amongst my clients: why my website is not showing in Google Search? If you are struggling to get your website noticed, then join our SEO Coaching sessions, where we’ll look into all this in detail.
I suggest checking and trying to apply all the tips above and keep track of progress. You can also check and sign up for my SEO Packages. Why Joyful SEO? We have a knack for distilling SEO concepts that help my clients grow their sites feeling empowered at the same time. Get in touch and book a discovery call!
