How do I check if Google has indexed my website?

Search Google for site:yourdomain.com (using your real domain). If pages come up, Google has indexed your site and the issue is ranking. If nothing comes up, your site likely isn’t indexed yet. For the full picture, use Google Search Console — a free Google tool where you verify your site, submit a sitemap, and see exactly which pages are indexed and any errors.

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

It varies. A brand-new site can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to be indexed, and competitive rankings take longer still. Submitting a sitemap through Google Search Console helps Google find your pages sooner, but there’s no button that makes it instant. If your site is new, waiting is often the correct answer.

Can anyone guarantee my website the top spot on Google?

No. Nobody controls Google’s ranking system — not an agency, not a consultant, not us. Anyone who guarantees you a number-one ranking or a specific position is telling you what you want to hear. Honest providers guarantee their work — a fast, technically sound, indexable site — and are straight that where you rank depends on your market, your content, and time.

Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?

Q: Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?

It’s usually one of two different problems. Either Google hasn’t indexed your site yet (it doesn’t know the page exists), or it has indexed it but ranks it low for what you searched. The most common causes are that the site is brand new and hasn’t been crawled yet, it’s accidentally blocked from search engines by a setting, no sitemap was submitted, or you’re searching a term too competitive for a young site.

July 8, 20268 min readKenneth Faulkner Jr.

The short version

“Not showing up on Google” is really two different problems: indexing (whether Google knows your page exists) and ranking (where it lands among pages it knows). Check indexing with a site: search and Google Search Console, both free. The most common causes, roughly in order: the site is brand new, it’s accidentally blocked from search engines, no sitemap was submitted, or you’re searching a term too competitive for a new site. Some of it is fixable today; some just takes time. Nobody can guarantee you a ranking — including us.

You built a website, you searched for your business, and it's nowhere. That's frustrating, and it's common. Before you blame anyone, it helps to know that there are two completely different problems hiding under “not showing up,” and they have completely different fixes.

Is it an indexing problem or a ranking problem?

Indexing is whether Google knows your page exists at all — whether it has visited, read, and filed it away. Rankingis where your page lands among all the pages Google already knows about, for a given search. If you're not indexed, you can't rank at all. If you're indexed but ranking low, you exist in Google's eyes — you're just buried. Sorting out which one you have is the whole first step, because the fixes don't overlap.

How do I check if Google has even found my site?

Two free checks, in order.

First, the quick one. Search Google for site:yourdomain.com— your real domain, no spaces after the colon. If a list of your pages comes up, you're indexed, and your issue is ranking. If nothing comes up, Google probably hasn't indexed you yet.

Second, the real tool: Google Search Console. It's free, it's Google's own, and it's the source of truth. You verify that you own the site, submit your sitemap, and then see exactly which pages are indexed, which aren't, and any errors Google ran into. If you do one thing after reading this, set that up.

What are the common causes, most likely first?

Roughly in the order we actually see them:

The site is brand new. Indexing takes time — days to weeks, sometimes longer. Nothing is broken. Submit a sitemap and wait.
It's accidentally blocked.A leftover “noindex” tag, a robots.txt rule, or the “discourage search engines” checkbox that many builders and WordPress leave switched on after launch. Common, and fixable fast once you find it.
No sitemap, or the site isn't verified. Google can find sites on its own, but a submitted sitemap in Search Console makes it far more likely your pages get found and filed.
You're searching too broad a term.A new site won't appear for “plumber” on page one. Search your actual business name, or your service plus your town, and see if it shows up there first.
Thin or missing titles and descriptions. If your pages have no real title tags, duplicate titles, or no unique content, they give Google very little to index and rank.

What's fixable now, and what just takes time?

Fixable today: unblocking the site, submitting a sitemap, writing real page titles and descriptions, and getting your business name, address, and phone consistent across your site and your Google Business Profile. Those are within your control and worth doing right away.

Just takes time:a brand-new site earning enough trust to rank, and moving up for competitive searches. There's no button for either. Anyone who tells you there is has something to sell you.

Can anyone guarantee you the top spot?

Here's the line worth holding onto: no — and that includes us.Nobody controls Google's ranking system. Not an agency, not a consultant, not a “#1 on Google, guaranteed” ad in your inbox. Anyone who guarantees you a specific ranking or a specific position is telling you what you want to hear, and it's one of the clearest red flags there is. This is also why we don't sell guaranteed rankings — it's not something anyone can honestly promise.

What an honest provider can stand behind is the work: a site that's fast, technically sound, and actually possible for Google to read and index. The rest — where you land, how fast — depends on your market, your content, and time. That same honest-versus-hopeful line runs through every quote you read; we broke it down in how to read a web-design proposal.

What's the honest first move?

Check indexing before anything else. Run the site: search, set up Search Console. If you're indexed and technically clean, the rest is content and patience. If you're not indexed, hunt for the block — it's usually one setting. Findability is one of the five places a site quietly loses customers, and it's worth understanding the whole picture: the five places a website leaks customers.

Not sure if search engines can even read your site?

The free Leak Check looks at the findability basics — whether your pages have real titles and descriptions and whether they're set up for search engines to read at all. Every measurement is something you can verify yourself. No email required for the quick look.

Run the free Leak Check

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