Why a website does not appear in search results is a common question clients ask an SEO specialist. Let’s look at the main reasons why this happens.
You have created a website, but no matter which search queries you try, it does not appear in Google search results. There are several reasons for this, described below.
The website is not indexed by a search engine
The most common reason why a website does not appear in Google search results is that Google simply does not know about it yet and has not had time to index it. This applies to new websites. Another reason is that the search engine does not consider the website’s content useful and has removed it from the search index. This applies to older websites.
To find out whether a website appears in search results, you can use the site: search operator. For example:
site:korzunov.com.ua
As you can see from the example of my website, the search engine has indexed and displays 24 pages in search results.
What should you do if your website is not visible in search results using the site: operator?
If you see the following result when checking your website’s indexing:
You need to check whether your website is accessible to the search engine at all and which server response code the search bot receives. To check whether a website is accessible to a search engine, use the robots.txt validation tool from TechnicalSEO – https://technicalseo.com/tools/robots-txt/
How to use the service correctly
- Paste your website URL into the URL field;
- Select Googlebot from the User Agent list;
- Check the box next to Check Resources;
- Click the TEST button.
When the results appear, scroll down to the list of tested URLs. There you can see which server response code the search bot receives and whether the page you are checking is available for crawling by that search bot. Example:
As you can see from the example of my website, the search bot receives a 200 OK status, which means that the page is available. The Allowed status in the Result column also confirms that the page is available for crawling. If your results are different, you can request a consultation to resolve the issues.
Adding a website to Google Search Console
Another important step for making a website appear in search results faster is adding it to Google Search Console (GSC). If there are no links to your website from external websites and it has not been added to Google’s tools, Google will not discover it.
Adding a website to GSC is very simple and consists of several steps:
- Open the service website – https://search.google.com/search-console/about;
- Click the Start Now button;
- Sign in using your Google account;
- After opening the service, select the URL prefix property type and enter the link to your website’s home page;
- Choose a convenient website ownership verification method and follow the instructions.
After adding your website to Google Search Console, it should appear in search results within a few days. If you have difficulties adding your website to this service or with indexing, you can message me on Telegram for a consultation.
The website does not rank in the top 100
If your website appears in search results using the site: operator but you cannot find it for your keywords, it does not rank in the top results for those queries.
This may be caused by a large number of errors in the website’s internal and external optimization. The website may also be completely unoptimized for search engines. As a result, the search engine may consider its pages low-quality and unsuitable for the top 10 because there are slightly better websites. In this case, you need to order SEO specialist services to bring your website to the top.
If you want to check whether a website has any keyword rankings in search results, you can use Ahrefs’ free website traffic checker – https://ahrefs.com/traffic-checker
Enter your domain, click the Check traffic button, and you will receive traffic estimation data from the service, as well as some current ranking positions. Example:
Finding a website using personalized search results
If you cannot find your website in search results at the positions shown in Ahrefs, you have personalized search results. You need to check the website’s position in search using your browser’s incognito mode.
The search engine remembers a user’s query and preference history. Therefore, when you search from your personal browser window, the search engine will tailor search results to your history and preferences.
