If your website doesn't appear in Google search results at all, it's usually down to one of the following. Work through the steps in order.
Check these things, step by step
1. Is the website new?
A new website can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before Google finds it. Search for site:mycompany.com on Google. If you get no results, Google hasn't indexed anything yet. Add your website to Google Search Console and submit a sitemap to speed things up.
2. Is WordPress telling search engines to stay away?
This is the most common cause. The option is often ticked while the site is being built and then forgotten about.
- Log in to WordPress.
- Go to Settings and then Reading.
- Make sure Discourage search engines from indexing this site is not ticked.
- Click Save Changes.
3. Does the page have a noindex tag?
SEO plugins such as Yoast and Rank Math can set noindex on individual pages. Open the page in the editor and check the SEO settings at the bottom, under the advanced tab. It should say that search engines are allowed to show the page.
4. Is robots.txt blocking Google?
Open mycompany.com/robots.txt in your browser. If it says Disallow: / under User-agent: *, all search engines are being blocked from the entire website. Read how to edit the file in Create and edit robots.txt.
5. Does the website work over https?
If your website shows a certificate warning, Google may ignore it. Check that SSL is enabled — see Add SSL to my web hosting — and that all visitors are redirected to https. See Force https and choose www or without www.
6. What does Search Console say?
In Google Search Console, under Pages, you can see why a page isn't indexed. You can also paste a URL into the search bar at the top to inspect a specific page and request indexing.
How to check in other publishing platforms
Joomla
- Go to System and Global Configuration.
- On the Site tab, under Metadata, make sure Robots is set to index, follow.
- Also check individual menu items: open the menu item under Menus and go to the Metadata tab. Robots should be set to Use Global or index, follow.
- Make sure Site Offline is turned off on the Site tab.
Drupal
- Check that the content is published: open the page and confirm that Published is ticked.
- If you're using the Metatag module, go to Configuration, Search and metadata, and Metatag. Make sure Robots is not set to noindex.
- Check that the website is not in maintenance mode under Configuration, Development, and Maintenance mode.
Wix, Squarespace and Shopify
- Wix: the website must be published. Under the SEO settings, search engines must be allowed to index the site.
- Squarespace: under the site visibility settings, the site must be set to Public, not password-protected or private.
- Shopify: your store won't appear on Google as long as the password page is enabled. Turn off password protection in your store settings when you're ready to launch.
Wix, Squarespace and Shopify run on their respective providers' own servers, not on your web hosting. Menu names occasionally change, so check their help centres if you can't find a particular setting.
Menus in Joomla and Drupal are usually the same in both English and Swedish. If your control panel looks different, it may be due to the version you're running.
If your website appears when you search for your company name but not for what you sell, this is no longer a technical issue — it's about search engine optimisation. Read more in Why doesn't my website show up on Google? or find out about our SEO services.