Why isn’t my site showing up on Google?

There is a difference between not being found and not being there. Search your own business name first: if the site comes up, Google knows about it and the problem is ranking. If nothing comes up at all, it is something else, and that is usually quicker to fix.

First: is it in the index at all?

Type your domain into Google with 'site:' in front of it — site:yourfirm.co.uk. If pages are listed, you are in. If nothing comes back, Google has not got you.

The usual causes are a site that went live with the 'discourage search engines' setting still on, a robots file blocking everything, or a site so new nobody has linked to it. Set up Google Search Console, add the site and submit it — that is the fastest way in and it is free.

Second: does the page say what people type?

Plenty of trade sites open with 'Welcome to our website' and never say the trade or the town. If the words 'electrician' and 'Derby' are not on the page, it will not come up for electrician in Derby.

That is not keyword stuffing. It is putting on the page what you actually do and where you actually do it, in the words your customers use rather than the ones in your trade.

Third: for local searches, the map beats the website

For 'plumber near me' the results at the top are the map pack, and getting into it is about your Google Business Profile, not your site. Complete the profile, get the category right, and collect reviews.

This is where most local visibility actually comes from, and it is free.

Fourth: the boring things that hold a site back

• Every page with the same title. The title is the biggest single signal you control.
• One page for everything. Five services on one page compete with each other. Five pages, one each, do not.
• Slow on a phone. Usually enormous photographs.
• Nobody links to you. A trade body, a supplier, the local football club you sponsored — those count.

How long it takes

Getting indexed: days. Ranking for your own name: a couple of weeks. Ranking for 'roofer in Chesterfield': months, and it depends on how many people are already there.

Anybody promising faster is either talking about ads — which are instant and which you pay for — or making it up.

Common questions