Not appearing on Google is two completely different problems with different fixes. Either Google does not have your pages, or it has them and does not rank them. Establish which before changing anything.
First check whether you are indexed by searching site:yourdomain.com. If nothing appears, the problem is technical: a noindex tag, a robots.txt block, or a site too new to be crawled. If pages appear but you cannot find them for your terms, you are indexed and not ranking, which is a competition and content problem rather than a technical one.
Step one: are you indexed at all?
Search site:yourdomain.com in Google. This lists pages Google has indexed from your site.
- Nothing appears. You have a technical or age problem. Continue to the next section.
- Some pages appear. Partial indexing, usually a crawl or quality issue on the missing pages.
- Everything appears. You are indexed. This is a ranking problem, not a visibility bug.
If you are not indexed
- Check for a noindex tag. View source and search for robots noindex. This is the most common cause, and it usually arrived with the site from staging.
- Check robots.txt. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and look for Disallow: / which blocks everything.
- Check the site is new. A brand new domain can take days to weeks to be crawled. Submit a sitemap in Search Console and request indexing to speed it up.
- Check for a manual action. Search Console will tell you under Security and Manual Actions.
- Check the pages are reachable. Pages nothing links to and that are absent from the sitemap may simply never have been found.
If you are indexed but not ranking
This is the more common situation and it is not a bug. Being indexed means eligible, not ranked.
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Ranking for your brand name only | No content targeting your service terms |
| Pages 5 to 10 for your terms | Content exists but competitors are stronger on links and depth |
| Ranking for irrelevant terms | Page topic is unclear, often several topics on one page |
| Was ranking, now not | Core update, a redesign that broke redirects, or lost links |
| Ranking on desktop not mobile | Mobile version differs from desktop |
What to do about not ranking
- Confirm you have a dedicated page for each term you want to rank for. One services page cannot rank for eight services.
- Look at who does rank and read their pages. Usually they answer more thoroughly.
- Check your internal linking. Pages nothing points to rarely rank.
- Check your Google Business Profile if the search is local. Without one you cannot appear in the local pack at all.
- Be honest about authority. New sites in competitive markets take months, and links are usually the constraint.
How long it should take
Indexing: hours to a few weeks for a new site. Ranking: three to six months for low competition terms with good content, considerably longer for competitive commercial terms.
If you are two weeks in and not ranking for a competitive term, nothing is broken. That is simply how long it takes.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take for a new website to appear on Google?
Indexing usually takes a few days to a few weeks. Submitting a sitemap in Search Console and requesting indexing for key pages speeds it up. Ranking for competitive terms takes months regardless of how fast indexing happens.
Why is my site indexed but not ranking?
Being indexed means eligible, not ranked. The usual causes are no dedicated page for the term, thinner content than competitors, weak internal linking, or insufficient authority. For local searches, a missing Google Business Profile is often the whole answer.
What does noindex mean and how do I find it?
It is a directive telling search engines not to include a page. View the page source and search for noindex. It most often arrives when a staging site's settings carry over to production, and it silently keeps the whole site out of search.
Does submitting to Google help?
Requesting indexing in Search Console gets pages crawled faster, which helps with new or updated pages. It does not affect ranking. Paid submission services offer nothing you cannot do free in Search Console.
Why did my traffic suddenly drop?
The usual causes are a Google core update, a redesign that lost redirects, an accidental noindex, or lost backlinks. Check Search Console for coverage errors and manual actions first, then compare the drop date against known update dates.