Website Not Showing on Google? 12 Fixes That Work

If your website is not showing on Google, the cause is almost always one of two things: Google hasn't indexed your pages yet, or it has indexed them but they don't rank for the searches you care about. A two-minute check tells you which one you have, and the fix is very different for each. Below: that check, 12 causes in the order we'd look at them, platform settings for WordPress, Wix, Shopify, GoDaddy and Canva, and how long it takes to appear.

First check: is your website indexed or just not ranking?

Open Google and search site:yourdomain.com (your own domain, with no space after the colon). Google's own guide to getting your site on Google recommends this check, with one caveat: it doesn't always list every indexed page.

• No results at all: Google hasn't indexed your site. This is an indexing problem, and causes 1–12 below are where to look.
• Some pages appear, others don't: Google has indexed part of your site. Check the missing pages one by one in Search Console.
• All your pages appear, but not when you search your services: your site is indexed but not ranking. Skip to the section on ranking further down.

Next, set up Google Search Console if you haven't already. It's free, and two reports do most of the diagnosis. URL Inspection tells you whether a single page is on Google and why not. The Page indexing report lists every page Google knows about and the reason any of them were left out.

Why is my website not showing on Google? 12 causes and fixes

Work through these roughly in order. The first five are the quickest to check and fix.

1. The site is brand new

Google finds most sites on its own, but not instantly. Google says it can take a few weeks to notice a new site or changes to an existing one, and its Page indexing report help says a new page can take about a week to start being crawled. If you launched in the last few days, wait, then submit your sitemap and request indexing for your homepage.

2. A setting is telling search engines to stay away

Most website builders have a 'hide from search engines' switch, often left on from when the site was being built. This is the first thing to check on any newly launched site. Platform-by-platform steps are in the next section.

3. A noindex tag on your pages

A noindex tag tells Google not to show a page in results. Developers often add it to a staging site and forget to remove it at launch. In the Page indexing report this shows as a page marked 'noindex'. Remove the tag from every page you want found, then request indexing.

4. robots.txt is blocking Google

Your robots.txt file (yourdomain.com/robots.txt) controls what Google can crawl. A single line, 'Disallow: /', blocks the whole site. Look for 'Blocked by robots.txt' in the Page indexing report and remove any rule that blocks pages you want in search.

5. The site is password-protected or still a 'coming soon' page

Google can't index what it can't see. A password page, a login wall or a maintenance screen keeps your real pages out of search. Test this by opening your site in an incognito window.

6. No sitemap, and no Search Console account

A sitemap is a list of the pages you want Google to find. Submit it once in Search Console under Sitemaps. Most platforms create one automatically, usually at /sitemap.xml.

7. Nothing links to your site

Google lists having few or no links from other sites as one reason a site gets missed. Get your first links from places that genuinely know you: your Google Business Profile, industry associations, suppliers, partners and listings such as Justdial or IndiaMART that point to your website.

8. Google crawled the page but chose not to index it

Two statuses confuse people. 'Discovered – currently not indexed' means Google knows the URL but hasn't crawled it yet; it often reschedules the crawl so it doesn't overload your server. 'Crawled – currently not indexed' means Google looked and decided not to include the page for now. Google says neither needs action, but if an important page stays here, make it genuinely useful and link to it from your menu.

9. Duplicate versions of the same page

If your site loads at both http and https, or with and without www, Google may treat them as duplicates and pick a version you didn't intend. Redirect every variant to one version and mark your preferred page with a canonical tag.

10. Server errors, broken pages and redirect loops

Pages that return 5xx server errors, 404 'not found' errors or endless redirects can't be indexed. The Page indexing report lists each one.

11. Your content is locked inside images

Google needs readable text. Google names sites built mostly from images or video, with little text, as harder to crawl. Sites designed as one big graphic, which is easy to do in Canva-style builders, often carry this problem. Put your business name, services, area and contact details in real text.

12. A manual action from Google

Rare, but check it. In Search Console, open the Manual actions report. Google explains that a manual action means a human reviewer found pages breaking its spam policies, and its manual actions guide says reviews can take several days or weeks after you fix everything and request one.

WordPress, Wix, Shopify, GoDaddy and Canva: settings to check

• WordPress: go to Settings, then Reading, and make sure 'Discourage search engines from indexing this site' is unticked. According to the WordPress documentation, ticking it adds a noindex, nofollow tag to your pages. If you use an SEO plugin, also check that important pages aren't set to noindex.
• Wix: in your dashboard, open SEO & GEO, then Tools and settings, then SEO Settings, and turn on 'Let search engines index your site'.
• Shopify: Shopify says that while password protection is on, your store's pages are hidden from visitors and search engines. Remove the password when you launch.
• GoDaddy: first confirm your domain actually points to your live website. A domain bought on GoDaddy but never connected shows a parked page, which won't rank for your business. If you use GoDaddy's website builder, check its SEO and visibility settings, then verify the site in Search Console.
• Canva: check your site's publish settings for a search engine visibility option and switch password protection off. Then make sure your main text is real text rather than part of an image.

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

Expect a few days to a few weeks for a new site. Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, that requesting a recrawl several times won't make it faster, and that there is a limit on how many single URLs you can submit. So request indexing once for your homepage and key service pages, submit your sitemap, and give it time.

Being indexed is not the same as ranking, though. Showing up for searches like 'interior designer in Powai' takes far longer: we explain the realistic timeline in how long SEO takes to show results.

Indexed but not ranking? What to fix next

If site: search shows your pages but customers still can't find you, the problem is competition and relevance, not access. The usual fixes:

• One page per service: a single 'Services' page can't rank for six different searches. Give each service its own page with a clear title.
• Use the words customers search: 'CA firm in Thane' rather than 'financial excellence partners'.
• Local signals: a complete Google Business Profile and genuine reviews decide who appears in the map results. Our local SEO guide for Mumbai businesses covers this step by step.
• Speed and mobile: many customers search on their phones, so a slow, clumsy mobile site loses both rankings and enquiries.
• Authority: genuine links and mentions from relevant sites, built steadily over months.

If your logo (favicon) isn't showing next to your result, Google's favicon guidelines ask for a square icon, ideally larger than 48x48 pixels, linked from your homepage and not blocked from crawling. It can take weeks to update.

A 15-minute checklist before you call anyone

1. Search site:yourdomain.com and note what appears.

2. Open your site in an incognito window. Is there a password, login or 'coming soon' page?

3. Check your platform's search visibility setting (see the list above).

4. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and look for 'Disallow: /'.

5. Add your site to Search Console and submit your sitemap.

6. Run URL Inspection on your homepage and click Request indexing if it isn't on Google.

7. Check the Page indexing and Manual actions reports.

8. Note the date, then check again in two weeks before changing anything else.

How Markadding fixes websites that don't show on Google

Every project under our SEO service starts with a technical audit that covers crawl errors, speed, mobile usability and indexing, before we touch keywords or content. When we build a site through our website development service, titles, meta descriptions, schema, the sitemap and Search Console are set up from launch, so a new site isn't left invisible. We have built and managed 100+ websites. If you're still deciding on a rebuild, our guide to website development costs in India explains what a properly built site should include.

Bottom line

A website not showing on Google is usually a settings or indexing problem, and most of those can be fixed in an afternoon. Start with a site: search, check your platform's visibility setting, noindex tags and robots.txt, then submit a sitemap in Search Console and wait a couple of weeks. If you're indexed but still invisible for your services, that's a ranking job. Get a free growth audit to find out exactly what's holding your site back, or book a strategy call.

Related reading: how much SEO costs in India in 2026, local SEO for Mumbai businesses and how long SEO takes to show results.