If you have recently launched a new website or your first website into the world wide web, and the next day you Google yourself to see if it comes up but it doesn't?
Don't hit the panic button - here's the main reasons why your site isn't YET appearing in search results:
1. Google hasn't yet crawled your website
Just because you published your website live 5 minutes ago, 5 days ago, 5 weeks ago, even 5 months ago, that doesn't mean Google has actually crawled your website yet. This can take time and there's no way to know how long it could take.
But you can give Google a nudge to let them know you exist by submitting your sitemap to Google via your Google Search Console account.
What's Google Search Console?
Search Console provides information on how Google crawls, indexes, and serves websites. This can help website owners to monitor and optimise Search performance. There is no need to log in to the tool every day. If new issues are found by Google on your site, you'll receive an email from Search Console alerting you. But you might want to check your account around once every month, or when you make changes to the site's content, to make sure the data is stable*
2. There aren't any clicks to your website yet
Add your URL to your social media pages, your email signature, to the online directories you're a part of, any online profile that you have.
Then start promoting! People won't magically find your website that you published live a week ago, you need to consistently and regularly nudge people to click through to it.
Once you start getting click throughs, Google will start paying more attention.
3. Your website isn't optimised for your keywords
You either don't have any keywords in your website, or the right keywords, or you may have good keywords but they're not where they're meant to be...
Keywords are how Google matches you with the exact person/people that are searching for you, so without the best keywords? Google can't match you properly. This leads to the wrong type of people coming to your website, lower click-through rates, lower or no website conversions.
If you want to do your own keyword research but don't know where to start, check out my free guide here.
Or check out my Keyword Strategy service if you want me to handle this for you.
4. Your content isn't hitting the mark
If your website content doesn't meet your target audiences needs or wants, then you'll struggle to rank in Google. Besides, content is the reason Google exists!
Here's a few tips on how to write great and valuable website content
Write for your audience, not for you.
Think about the type of content your audience or target audience would like to engage with most - do they like to watch instructional videos, read blogs, complete quizzes? Check your website analytics to see what content your website users engage with most
Don't forget your keywords - create FAQ's and blog posts around your best keywords, and add your keywords to the first 100 words of your website pages
Ask your audience what type of content they like or want from you
Don't be afraid to change it up - if you haven't updated your website content in the last 12 months and some of the information is outdated or needs refreshing, make it a priority to work on it and let your followers, email subscribers, clients, customers etc know (they won't just magically know or find your updated content!)
5. Your site has crawl issues that need to be fixed
When you sign up for Google Search Console, you'll be alerted to any crawl issues (like the email above) that need to be fixed - don't ignore this!
Ignoring these alerts leads to Google not indexing your website, meaning you won't show up in Google. Sometimes we ignore these alerts because they can be confusing and use very technical language - I implore you to seek the help of a professional and get any crawl issues fixed immediately if you want Google to love you again.
Got a question about your website and not showing up on Google? Add it in the comments!