A website or a specific website page might not be appearing in Google for a lot of reasons.
Start by running this FREE Google search check by adding a site: in front of the domain such as the site:https://meanit.ie/. This will bring back a list of all the pages that are being indexed by Google. You can even check if an individual page is indexed by doing the same with an individual page site:https://meanit.ie/what-is-seo/
Google may see your website or a specific page, but not be in a rush to crawl then index it or rank it. Initially, it crawls and then indexes the page, then it ranks it in the SERPs search engine results pages. Over time the ranking may improve or not.
Here are the common reasons why a page or a website may not be showing
- The Website has just been launched and is too new, as Google may not have indexed it yet. You need to submit a new sitemap to Google to let them know that you have launched a new website or added new pages
- The metatags are set to No index or No follow – check-in Yoast advanced settings, to ensure that your website is not blocking Google from indexing and ranking the pages
- Your site is too small, perhaps a one-page website of some sort or it is on some small page builder or content management platform
- The website is not ‘mobile-friendly and Google expects this at a minimum in 2024
- Your website is delivering too slowly, which could be a content or a hosting issue – check the speed.
- Google had a look and determined that you have a poor website structure
- Google had a look and determined that you have low-quality content
- Google had a look and determined that you have poor domain authority DA so your site is not to be trusted
- Google does not see your robots.txt file which tells its search engine crawlers which URLs the crawler can access on your website
- Google does not see your XML sitemap, which is a file that lists a website’s important pages, making sure Google can find and crawl them all
- Google Search Console domain property is not configured or configured correctly
- Google thinks you have too many broken links as in 404 errors
- Google thinks you have too many ‘orphan’ pages as in pages that are buried within the site without any obvious navigation to get to them
- Google thinks you have duplicated a website or its content
- Google thinks you have used outdated code
- Google thinks you have used image files or photos that are way too big, possibly with a poor naming convention, maybe even huge video files
- Google thinks you have failed Core Web Vitals numbers, so it may rank the site poorly when it does show it
- Google thinks you have some spammy backlinks or maybe not enough backlinks
- Google had a look and determined that you have failed some qualifications in one of its many algorithms, so you need to check Google’s Quality Raters Guideline
Issues such as missing robots.txt or XML sitemap files, broken links, orphan pages, duplicated content, outdated code, large image or video files, and failing Core Web Vitals can affect search visibility. Google’s assessment of spammy backlinks or not enough backlinks, along with failing to meet specific algorithm qualifications, can impact a website’s ranking. Referencing Google’s Quality Raters Guideline can provide insights into addressing these issues effectively.
How well did your web developers optimise your website?
Obviously, you want to turn up at the top of page 1 when someone searches your business name. And, much more importantly, you want to turn up on page 1 when someone does a search for a firm that offers the services you offer.
If this is not happening then your website does not sound like it is well-optimised. It does not matter how well it looks if it is never seen. And every page should be indexed, ranking, and therefore visible.
Google may be a robot, using multiple hundreds of algorithms to assess websites and individual pages, however, it will still not want to over-exert itself. It will attempt to use the lowest number of resources. So if it deems your website to be poor, it might move on and come back later. Or it might only crawl a bit of the website at a time, so it takes longer for some pages to get crawled, indexed, and then ranked in SERPs. Even when it crawls and indexes the pages, it may not actually rank them for some time.
To request a crawl of individual URLs, use the URL Inspection tool. You must be an owner or full user of the Google Search Console property to be able to request indexing in the URL Inspection tool. Then wait a week or so before submitting again, if there is still no site/page.
Troubleshooting steps:
- Check Google Search Console: Configure Google Search Console for your website to monitor indexing status, identify errors, and request indexing of specific URLs if needed.
- Technical SEO audit: Conduct a technical SEO audit to identify and fix any technical issues impacting crawling, indexing, and ranking.
- Content review: Analyse the website’s content for quality, relevance, and user engagement. Consider creating informative and valuable content optimized for relevant keywords.
If you need help with SEO you can read our guides here in the blog or check out our SEO services.
