Why Is My Website Not Showing Up on Google? 7 Reasons and How to Fix It for Local Businesses in Tampa Florida
Have you ever asked yourself this crucial question, Why is my website not showing up on google?. Imagine your business as a beacon in the night; without the proper lighting, how will your customers find you? Google acts as that light, making you visible to potential customers searching for your services online. However, sometimes, despite all your efforts and long hours of preparation, a website might not show up in Google searches whatsoever. This could be due to several reasons, but do not fret, there is a solution and a fix for this.
Understanding Google's Indexing Process
Google's ability to discover and index websites is the same thing as a librarian organizing the book in a library. Firstly Google's bots, known as "spiders," crawl the web to find new and updated pages every few days. These pages are then analyzed and added to Google's index, a massive database where they're made searchable to users. Sitemaps are a key player to the process as it makes the analysis process smoother. Think of a sitemap as a map you give to Google's spiders, highlighting the important sections of your website. It's a way to say, "Hey, look here! This is what my site's about." By submitting a sitemap via Google Search Console, you're essentially guiding these spiders through your website, ensuring they don't miss out on the content you've worked hard to create.
Before we proceed, if you recently built/created a website and have requested it to be indexed, it will take google time before they can properly show your website to the world. So if this is the case, please allow at the very least 1 or 2 weeks before starting showing your website.
7 Common Issues causing your website not to show on google and how to fix
There are a number of reasons your website might be playing hide and seek, leaving you scratching your head and asking yourself “ Why isn't my website on google?” Let's break down some of the usual reasons and find solutions so you can be ranking in no time!
Newly Launched Websites
Just like new stars take time to be noticed in the sky, new websites take some time to be recognized by Google and start showing up on searches. The most common reason is, google hasn't discovered it yet.
Here is a quick and easy way to find out if your website is being found in search. Just go to google and type the following in search: site:yourwebsite.com
If you see at least one of your website pages, that means google knows about you and is already ranking you in their search engine! However, if you do not see any results whatsoever, this means google has yet to find you yet.
Quick Fix:
If you see no results on google when you search for your website, head over to Google Search Console and submit your sitemap to speed up the indexing process. A sitemap will let Google know which pages on your website are important as well as where they are located.
Here is how to submit that sitemap:
Log in to Google Search Console
Navigate your way to Sitemaps
Enter sitemap URL
Click Submit and you are done!
“No Index” Tags are found on your website
Sometimes, your website tells Google to look away and doesn't show to anyone. This generally happens when a certain piece of HTML code is present on your website which prompts Google to not index or rank your content in search.
The best course of action is to always check your pages and make sure there are no “ No Index” Tags. You might not have added it but it's best to just check and be safe.
When creating a website, make sure your current CMS (Content Management System) does not have a setting that adds this tag automatically, preventing your website from being indexed by google.
Quick Fix
Head over to Google Search Console and check to see which of your website pages have the “No Index” Tag attached to them.
Inside the console, make your way to the Pages section on the left menu and check which pages in the report have a reason “why your website/pages isn't indexed”
Once you have identified which pages have the tag, simply head back into your CMS and remove the tag manually from any that shouldn't have it.
For reference the tag might look something like this code: <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
Crawling isn't being performed by Google
This one is pretty straight forward. If Google, for any reason, is being blocked from crawling your website, it cannot show it to anyone. Basically If Google can't crawl, it can't index.
Almost all of the websites have a piece of code called “Robot.txt” which tells google or any search engine where they can and cannot go. This will prevent Google from completely crawling any and all URLs from your website.
Quick Fix
Use Google Search Console to identify crawl errors and ensure your robots.txt file is not blocking important pages. Head over to the Pages section on the menu and find any reports that have an error displaying “Submitted URL blocked by Robots.txt”.
Once you identify what URL has this issue, you will need to remove any instance of the Robot.txt from the URL in order for Google to start accepting and indexing your pages. Be mindful though, that “robots.txt” can be very tricky to get rid of. So if any doubt arises, go ahead and find an expert like RCF Systems, that can fix it for you.
Possible Website Penalties
Falling out of Google's good graces due to penalties can make your site invisible. So the question being “Why is my website not showing up on Google” if your website has been up for some time and you have fixed all your other issues.
If Google feels you do not meet their requirements, they will intentionally remove your website from the index and search all together until you can meet those standards again.
There are 3 penalties Google takes:
Deindexing: This is when Google completely removes your website from all result searches.
Penalized: This is a weird one, because your domain is still indexed, however, you are not showing up at all in searches. Either Google manually applied this penalty or there may have been an algorithm update that imposed new regulations.
Sandboxed: If you see a decline in traffic, or worse a full stop this is the reason. Your website was not Penalized or Deindexed in this situation.
Quick Fix:
Go into Google Search Console yet again and see if you have any penalties added to your website. If such a penalty exists then you need to take the necessary steps mentioned by Google in order for you to comply and have the opportunity to submit your website for reconsideration and have your website indexed once again.
Lack of High-Quality Backlinks
If you are searching for the question, “Why is my website not showing up on Google” then backlinks are a huge help. As Google has many ranking factors to consider, Backlinks is one of the top ranking factors it will use.
Backlinks are the internet's way of saying, "This site is trustworthy." So if you are not ranking on Google but your competitor is above you, most likely they have more and better quality backlinks
Quick Fix:
Using tools like AHREFS or Ubersuggest to view your websites backlinks and compare them to your competitors. If you fall shy of these quality backlinks, then it's time to build more.
So how can you earn more backlinks? Here are a few tips:
Have any partners? Ask them to feature and link back to your website.
Have a social media following? Ask people to mention your brand on social media to link to your website.
Are you creating content? Create helpful content that people will want to share and link to
Are you active in forums or blogs? Participate in both forums and blogs in order to create more links that go to your website.
Create valuable content that others want to link to and consider reaching out to relevant sites for backlink opportunities.
Highly Competitive Keywords
Have you ever told yourself, “My content is fantastic, but why isn't it showing up on google?” If so then I think it is time to rethink the keywords you are using.
One of the biggest mistakes many people make is to target very competitive keywords that big brands use. As a result your content is getting buried deep in a sea of websites with much higher Authority.
What you want to do is start using “Long-tail keywords” that have lower money volume (visits) as well as less competitive giving you much more chance to rank at the top of the search results. Long-tail Keywords typically have a very specific search intent.
Let's pretend for a second we are searching for something specific, let's say “kayak”, Google is not sure what to send you so they give you all the content with the highest authority for that specific word.
But what if you search for something more specific? For example, “How to ride a kayak”, then Google has no problem sending content related to that long-tail keyword, because it knows exactly what you are searching for. And this is exactly what we need to do for your content.
Quick Fix:
Focus on long-tail keywords and local SEO strategies to target specific keywords and audience. Always begin with keyword research. Use tools like: Google keyword planner, AHREFS, Keywords Everywhere, to begin identifying what keywords have the least amount of competition and start creating content around that. Be mindful that these keywords should have some form of volume in search or else it won't get very far.
Your Website is providing Poor User Experience (UX):
The final problem to the age old question, “Why is my website not showing up” is Poor user Experience. If this is the case then say bye bye to your ranking. Google as well as other search engines want to rank only websites and content that proved the best page experience possible.
Anyone who goes into your website or page and finds it extremely difficult to navigate, they will have no problems hitting that back button and leaving. This will trigger Google to not rank your page at all.
Improving UX on your website will greatly reduce the chance anyone will want to leave. Engaged visitors who want to learn more about your business and what you provide is the best bet for growing your website rank higher in search.
Quick Fix:
There are a few quick fixes we can apply to your website quickly.
Enhance site speed - Optimize your page loading times.
Mobile-friendliness - Make it easy for customers to navigate your website.
Visual Elements - break up content and make it more engaging for visitors.
Improve your websites ranking with RCF Systems
Visibility on Google is essential for local businesses aiming to thrive on the web. Recognizing and addressing the barriers your website may face when showing up on Google searches is the first step towards improving your online presence.
When you partner up with RCF Systems, you will get personalized SEO strategies tailored to you. Schedule a demo today and find out how we can help you.
