Why is my website not showing up on Google?

The most common causes are technical: noindex tags, robots.txt blocks, missing sitemaps, wrong canonicals, redirect chains, or pages Google hasn’t discovered yet. A technical audit finds these in minutes.

How long does it take Google to index a new website?

Typically a few days to a few weeks. You can speed it up by submitting a sitemap in Search Console, requesting indexing for key URLs, and building internal links.

How do I check if my site is indexed?

Search Google for site:yourdomain.com, or check Google Search Console → Pages to see exactly which URLs are indexed and which are excluded (with reasons).

My Website Doesn't Appear on Google: 12 Technical Errors Scanly Detects in 60 Seconds

You launched your site, waited weeks… and Google still shows nothing. Before you blame your content or backlinks, check the technical foundation: in our experience, 9 out of 10 "invisible" sites are blocked by a technical error, not a content problem. The good news? A free Scanly audit surfaces all of these in about 60 seconds.

First: confirm you're actually not indexed

Search Google for site:yourdomain.com — zero results means zero indexed pages.
Open Google Search Console → Pages: it lists indexed vs. excluded URLs with reasons.
New sites need days to weeks — but if it's been over a month, something below is almost certainly wrong.

The 12 technical errors

1. Accidental noindex tag

What happens: A <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> left over from staging tells Google to ignore the page entirely.

Fix: Remove the noindex tag on pages you want indexed. In WordPress, check Settings → Reading ("Discourage search engines") and your SEO plugin.

2. Blocked by robots.txt

What happens: A Disallow: / rule (or a blocked folder) prevents crawlers from ever reaching your content.

Fix: Open /robots.txt, remove overbroad Disallow rules, and test with Google Search Console’s robots.txt tester.

3. Missing or broken XML sitemap

What happens: No sitemap — or a sitemap returning 404/500 — means Google discovers your pages slowly or not at all.

Fix: Generate a sitemap with your SEO plugin, submit it in Search Console → Sitemaps, and confirm status "Success".

4. Pages not in the sitemap

What happens: Key pages excluded from the sitemap get crawled last, especially on large or new sites.

Fix: Include all canonical, indexable URLs under 50,000 per sitemap file and resubmit.

5. Wrong canonical tags

What happens: A canonical pointing to another URL (or a staging domain) tells Google your page is a duplicate.

Fix: Every indexable page should self-canonicalize. Audit for canonicals pointing to dev/staging URLs.

6. Soft 404s and broken pages

What happens: "Page not found" content served with a 200 status confuses crawlers — Google drops these pages.

Fix: Return a real 404 (or 410 for removed pages) and fix internal links pointing to dead URLs.

7. Redirect chains and loops

What happens: Chains of 3+ redirects (or http/https, www/non-www loops) waste crawl budget and break indexing.

Fix: Flatten chains to a single 301 hop. Decide one canonical host (https + www or non-www) and stick to it.

8. Duplicate title tags and thin content

What happens: Dozens of pages sharing the same title (or under ~300 words of unique content) look low-value to Google.

Fix: Write unique titles per page and expand thin pages with genuinely useful content.

9. Missing meta descriptions / titles

What happens: Pages without titles or descriptions earn fewer clicks and can be deprioritized in the index.

Fix: Add a unique, keyword-aware title (under ~60 chars) and description (under ~155 chars) to every key page.

10. Orphan pages (no internal links)

What happens: Pages with zero internal links are nearly invisible to crawlers — Google finds pages by following links.

Fix: Link every important page from navigation, related-posts blocks, or hub/category pages.

11. Slow pages failing Core Web Vitals

What happens: Extremely slow pages can time out during crawls and rank worse even when indexed.

Fix: Compress images, enable caching, and fix LCP/CLS/INP — see our Core Web Vitals guide.

12. HTTPS / mixed-content problems

What happens: Mixed http/https resources and certificate errors make Google distrust the page.

Fix: Force HTTPS everywhere, fix mixed-content warnings, and renew your certificate before expiry.

Find all 12 in one 60-second scan

Checking these manually means digging through source code, robots.txt, Search Console, and redirect testers. Scanly automates it: enter your URL and get a prioritized report covering indexability, sitemaps, canonicals, redirects, titles, speed, and security — with plain-language fixes. Then verify progress with our technical SEO audit guide and Search Console error fixes.

🔍 Scan My Site Free (60s)

Frequently Asked Questions

I submitted my sitemap — why am I still not indexed?

A sitemap is a suggestion, not a guarantee. If pages carry noindex tags, canonical to other URLs, or return errors, Google will list them as "excluded". Fix the underlying error first, then re-request indexing.

Can a slow site keep me off Google?

Extreme slowness can cause crawl timeouts, and poor Core Web Vitals hurt rankings once indexed. Speed alone rarely blocks indexing entirely — but combined with other errors it compounds the problem.

Conclusion

Not appearing on Google is almost never a mystery — it's one (or more) of these 12 technical blockers. Work through them top-down, re-request indexing in Search Console, and keep a monthly audit routine with our technical SEO audit guide. Most sites go from invisible to indexed within days of fixing the root cause.