Short answer: search Google for site:yourdomain.com. If nothing appears, Google hasn’t indexed the site, usually because of a leftover noindex tag, a robots.txt block or a missing sitemap. If pages appear but you can’t find them for your services, the problem is ranking, not indexing, and needs different fixes.

That one search splits the problem in two, and the fixes are completely different. Below are the nine causes we see most, roughly in the order worth checking them.

The 30-second test: indexing or ranking?

Type this into Google, with your own domain and no spaces:

site:yourdomain.com

No results at all: Google hasn’t indexed your site. Start with causes 1 to 5.
Some pages, but not the important ones: some pages are blocked, duplicated or seen as too thin. Causes 1, 4, 5 and 6.
All your pages appear, but you can’t find yourself for “plumber in [town]”: you’re indexed, you’re just not ranking. Causes 6 to 9.

The site: search is a rough guide and doesn’t list every indexed page. For the full picture, use Google Search Console, which is free. Its Page indexing report lists every page Google knows about and, for the excluded ones, the reason.

1. A noindex tag left over from development

Developers often hide a site from search engines while it’s being built, with a noindex tag or the WordPress setting “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. If nobody switches it off at launch, Google obeys and leaves the site out.

Check: in WordPress, look under Settings → Reading. On any site, open a page, view the page source and search for “noindex”. In Search Console, the URL Inspection tool tells you directly.

Fix: remove it, then request indexing for your main pages in Search Console.

2. robots.txt is blocking Google

The file at yourdomain.com/robots.txt tells crawlers what they may visit. A single line, Disallow: /, blocks the whole site.

There’s a trap here. Blocking a page in robots.txt stops Google from crawling it, but doesn’t reliably keep it out of results, and it also stops Google from seeing a noindex tag on that page. Google’s own guidance is to use noindex, not robots.txt, to keep a page out of search.

Fix: allow crawling of everything you want found, and use noindex only on pages you deliberately want hidden.

3. The site is new and nothing links to it

Google finds pages by following links. A brand-new domain with no links from anywhere can sit undiscovered for a while. Google’s documentation says crawling and indexing can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Fix: add the site to Google Search Console and request indexing of the home page. Then get a few genuine links: your Google Business Profile, the directories in your trade, your social profiles, suppliers and partners.

4. No sitemap, or one Google can’t read

An XML sitemap lists every page you want found. Submitting it in Search Console tells Google exactly what exists.

We learned how much this matters on our own site. Our sitemap was valid, our server logs showed Google fetching it successfully, and yet Search Console reported “Couldn’t fetch” for twelve days. The cause was that the server sent the sitemap in a pre-compressed form. When we switched that off, the error cleared at once. The lesson: when Search Console reports a problem, test it rather than assume it’s a delay.

Fix: submit your sitemap (often yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) under Sitemaps in Search Console and check its status a day later. Submit it to Bing Webmaster Tools too.

5. The wrong canonical or duplicate addresses

A canonical tag tells Google which version of a page is the “real” one. Badly configured themes and plugins sometimes point every page’s canonical at the home page, or at the old domain after a move. Google then drops the pages it thinks are copies.

Duplicates also come from the same page being reachable at several addresses: with and without www, http and https, with and without a trailing slash.

Check: URL Inspection in Search Console shows the canonical you declared and the one Google chose. Fix: one version of each address, with the others redirecting to it, and canonicals pointing to the page itself.

6. The content only appears after JavaScript runs

If the text on your page is loaded by scripts after the page opens, search engines have more work to do before they can see it, and some crawlers never do. View the page source in your browser and search for a sentence from your main text. If it isn’t there, your developer should render it into the HTML.

7. Your site is one page, or every page says the same thing

A one-page site can be indexed, but it gives Google one page to rank for every service, in every town you cover. You’ll rarely win “emergency plumber in Leeds” with a home page that also covers boilers, bathrooms and drains.

Fix: a page for each main service, with its own title, a clear first paragraph and real detail. Our pages on websites for plumbers, electricians and roofers show what those pages need for each trade.

8. Your Google Business Profile isn’t verified

For “near me” and “[service] in [town]” searches, Google shows the map results first, and those come from Google Business Profiles, not websites. An unverified or incomplete profile won’t show there, however good your website is.

Fix: verify the profile, choose the right primary category, add your services, hours, service area and real photos, and link it to your website.

9. A manual action, a security problem, or simply strong competition

Manual actions are penalties applied by a Google reviewer, for example for spam. They’re rare for small businesses, but Search Console shows them under Security & Manual Actions.
Hacked sites sometimes have spam pages added, or get flagged with a warning. The same report shows security issues.
Competition. If everything above is fine, the honest answer may be that other pages answer the search better, are faster or are better known. That’s a ranking problem, solved with better pages, reviews and links over months, not a quick technical fix.

Ranking, not indexing? Check speed and AI answers too

Two more checks once you’re indexed:

Speed on phones. A slow site isn’t excluded, but it loses visitors and doesn’t help rankings. Our free website check tests the mobile speed and the SEO basics of any page in about 30 seconds, with no sign-up.
AI answers. More customers ask ChatGPT or Copilot instead of Google. Our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT covers Bing indexing and the other steps.

How B63 helps

Every site we build launches with indexing in place: no leftover noindex, a sitemap submitted to Google and Bing, clean canonicals and content delivered as HTML. On our monthly plan (€0 upfront, then €150 per month excl. VAT for 24 months), setting up Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, your Google Business Profile and analytics is included. For one-time builds and existing sites, it’s priced on request. More on our SEO and page speed page. What the setup itself involves, with a short how-to for doing Search Console yourself, is on our search and analytics setup page.

FAQ

How long does it take for a new website to appear on Google?

Usually a few days to a few weeks for indexing, if nothing is blocking it and the sitemap is submitted. Ranking well for competitive searches takes longer, often months.

Can I pay Google to index my site faster?

No. Indexing is free and can’t be bought. Google Ads puts an advert above the results, but it doesn’t affect whether or where your site appears in the ordinary results.

My business shows on Google Maps but not my website. Why?

The map results come from your Google Business Profile, which is separate from your website. Make sure the profile links to your site, then check the site itself with the steps above.

Do I need Search Console if my site already shows up?

Yes. It’s free and it’s the only place Google tells you about indexing problems, the searches you appear for, and security issues, often before you’d notice them yourself.

Stuck after working through the list? Send us your address and we’ll tell you what we see.

Why isn't my website showing up on Google? 9 causes and fixes