Is your website not showing up on Google right now? This shouldn’t necessarily come as a huge surprise.
There are, after all, almost 2 billion websites on the World Wide Web. Not all of them are going to show up in Google searches.
You shouldn’t just throw up your hands and accept defeat when you don’t see your website on Google, though. Instead, you should try to figure out how to get your website on Google pronto.
If you’re wondering, “Why is my website not showing up on Google?”, we’re going to run through some of the reasons why this might be. It’ll help you make adjustments to your site as you set out to determine how to rank your website on Google.
Check out some of the issues that might be stopping your site from appearing in Google searches below.
Your Website Is Still Very New
Did you just push your website live within the last few days or even weeks? If so, the newness of it might be why your website is not showing up on Google.
Google will get around to finding every new website that goes up eventually. But it can take some time for the search engine to recognize a website when it first appears.
With this in mind, you should give Google some time to realize that your website exists when you first set it up. It’ll happen even if takes a little while for Google to come through for you.
You’ve Prevented Google From Crawling Your Website
When you create a new website from scratch, you’re going to have a robots.txt file on it. This file will communicate with Google and tell it which aspects of your website it can visit and which it should stay away from.
Ideally, you want to set things up so that Google can crawl as much of your website as possible. But you might inadvertently stop Google from crawling certain parts of your site and hurt your site as a whole in the process.
Your website designer should be able to help you create a site that will be as Google-friendly as it gets. Don’t be shy about double-checking with them to make sure Google will be able to crawl your website so that it starts to show up in searches.
Your Website Contains Duplicate Content Found Elsewhere
Adding content to your website is going to turn into a top priority for you at all times. Google will want to see that you’re taking the time to put up new content on it since that’ll show that it adds some value to those who visit it.
That being said, it’s not enough to just stick a bunch of content up on your site. The key is to incorporate original content into it. If you just copy and paste content from another site, Google is going to ding you for that and refuse to show your site in Google searches.
You can create original content on your own or hire a content marketing company to help you out. Either way, publishing original content to your site will be of the utmost importance.
You Don’t Have Enough Backlinks for Your Website
If your website is not showing up on Google, it might not have much to do with your actual site at all. Instead, it might be a byproduct of you not having enough backlinks on other sites.
Backlinks are links to your site that appear on other sites. These backlinks appear to be very important to Google since they suggest that your site is recommended by those who run sites elsewhere.
This free backlink checker will show you how many backlinks your site has at the moment. If you don’t have enough backlinks, you should do your best to earn them so that Google begins to look at your site more favorably.
Your Website Isn’t Seen as an “Authority”
Google has become the most trusted search engine in the world because people know they can rely on it to provide them with the best search results. They don’t have to worry about Google sending them to sites that don’t know what they’re talking about.
This is something that you should remember when you’re first setting up your site. You’re going to need to prove that you’re an “authority” in your specific field to get into Google’s good graces.
How can you do this? Well, adding original content to your site and getting backlinks is one way to do it. But at the end of the day, marketing your site—whether on your own or through a marketing company—and getting people to come to it will be a start.
Once Google sees that your site is getting a lot of organic traffic, it’s going to lead to better results for it. You shouldn’t have to worry about your website not showing up on Google anymore after that.
You’ve Earned a Google Penalty for Your Website
Google has put together a long list of penalties that they will impose on websites when necessary. You can get penalized for doing everything from copying content from other sites to posting hateful content on your site.
If you’re ever penalized by Google, it’s not going to be the end of the world. You can regroup and get Google back on your side. But you are going to have to live with not showing up in Google searches for at least a little while.
Website Not Showing Up on Google? Aim to Change That ASAP
If you own a website not showing up on Google, that’s obviously going to be a problem. It’s almost not worth having a website at all if Google isn’t going to recognize it.
You should take the time to see why Google isn’t showcasing your site at every turn. It’ll help you make important changes to it so that it starts getting more traffic.
Browse through our other blog articles for more tips on improving your website.