Have you ever heard of the concept of “If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist”? While it can be applied to a wide variety of topics, one that’s especially applicable is having an online presence.
For businesses to succeed today, they need to be able to reach people where they are… which is online—and just having a website isn’t enough. Your site needs to be findable and provide a good user experience for your customers.
One major roadblock for many website creators/owners is the struggle to be found and then decently ranked on Google (more later).
There may be several reasons your website isn’t showing up on Google.
Why Isn’t My Site Showing Up on Google?
Most Common: Your site is too new
First, one of the most common reasons your site isn’t showing up on Google is because your website is new and needs to be indexed by Google. To index web pages, Google employs computer programs known as “bots” or “spiders” that crawl your website to gather information from and about your site so it can be added to the list of sites on Google.
To check if your website is indexed, you can do a site search by entering “site:yourwebsite.com” into the Google search bar.
Moderately Common: Technical Problems
Next, another couple of reasons your site isn’t showing up on Google are technical issues like a robot.txt or meta tag issue, or is poorly optimized.
There is a way to hide certain pages and their links/content on your site from being indexed by search engines like Google.
By putting a special HTML meta tag, <META NAME=”ROBOTS”>, in the Head section of the HTML for a webpage, you are telling bots not to crawl that page. To prevent the bots from following the links on a certain page, NOFOLLOW is used, and to tell it not to crawl web page content, use NOINDEX.
So if there is a ROBOTS meta tag on certain pages you want to have indexed, remove it so the pages can be indexed and then shown in search results.
Or another one more reason your site isn’t showing up on Google (or shows up very low in search results) is poor website optimization. This means that Google is having difficulties understanding what your website is about and where to rank it in search results. Common SEO issues include poorly written content, lack of keywords, slow page speed, broken links, and improper use of meta tags.
Less Common: Google Thinks You’re Sketchy
A less likely scenario for your site not showing up on Google is if your site has been hacked. In this case, hackers may have introduced harmful code into your website, which could lead to spam or redirects to other sites. Google is committed to protecting the privacy and security of its users, and it will take down any websites that do so.
And finally, the last reason is if your site has been penalized by Google. A few common reasons include using sketchy SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques, spamming, and having a lack of original content or duplicated content. If the site is found to have violated Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, penalties can range from a decrease in rankings to complete removal from search results.
So My Website is New… How Do I Add it to Google?
Adding your site to Google requires a few manageable but essential steps.
To start, make a Google account if you don’t already have one. Follow the directions on the Google account creation page to create one. This account will allow you to access various Google services, including Google Search Console, which is necessary to add your website to Google.
Next, you’ll need to verify that you own the site you intend to put on Google. There are a few ways to do this, but it’s most commonly done by adding a verification code to your website’s HTML code. Follow the Google Search Console instructions to add and verify your website.
After this, you’ll need to submit your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console.
What is a Sitemap?
A sitemap is a list of all the pages inside a domain of a website. There are two common types of sitemaps: HTML and XML (Extensible Markup Language).
HTML: An HTML sitemap is a webpage created specifically for human website visitors. It includes a list of all the pages on a website and is laid out in a manner that makes it simple for people to navigate the site. To assist users in finding the material they’re looking for, HTML sitemaps are frequently linked to a website’s header or footer.
XML: An XML sitemap is a file created expressly for search engines and written in XML format. It includes a list of every page on a website, along with other details like the date the page was most recently updated and how significant the page is compared to other pages on the website.
It’s better to use an XML sitemap in this situation because it is created especially for search engines and offers details that can make search engines crawl and index a website more successfully
How to Get a Sitemap and Add It to Google
Most current websites will have a sitemap automatically generated for them by the site’s Content Management System (CMS). If your site’s CMS doesn’t do this automatically, one of many XML sitemap generator plugins can be added to your site.
Now that you have a sitemap, you can add it to Google Search Console. To add your sitemap, go to the Sitemaps section of Google Search Console and follow the instructions to add and submit your sitemap.
Congrats! Your site has been submitted to Google.
It’s important to note that registering your website with Google does not mean it will appear immediately. The website crawling and indexing process can take some time, but if you do the steps and are proactive in improving your website, you can be sure that, in time, your website will appear in Google search results and draw more visitors.
So I’ve Done All This Stuff, but How Can I Rank High on Google?
Just because your site is now indexed properly and can be found on Google doesn’t mean your work is over. You can and should, use Google Search Console to monitor your website’s performance. Use the performance report to track your website’s impressions, clicks, and rankings in search results.
Using this (and other) data, you should begin work to optimize your site so it will show up (rank) higher when a potential customer types in a query relating to your business and the services you offer.
As mentioned above, SEO is a method of both improving your user’s experience on your website and showing Google what your site is about so it can serve it to people who are interested.
One of the first ways to show Google your site is relevant is to regularly create content pertaining to your business. In addition to this, it’s also a good idea to promote the content you’ve made on your social media platforms to get more interested users to your site.
Internal linking (any link from one page on your site to another page on your site) can also improve how your site ranks. By having Google bots follow links on your website from one internal page to another, you are strengthening Google’s knowledge of your site’s layout and what it’s about. This enables Google to display your site more favorably if users are looking for exactly what you offer.
Also, Google wants to provide searchers with the most relevant content and a good website experience. This means it’s critical to make sure your site works on all devices and is user-friendly for all—so don’t forget to make your site secure and as easy as possible to navigate for people from all walks of life.
By adding relevant content and dialing in user experience on your site, it’s almost guaranteed that Google will find your site and rank it in a favorable position for your business and the people you aim to reach!
To Wrap Up
We hope to have answered your questions regarding how to add your site to Google as well as ideas to improve your site’s ranking once you get it there. If you still have issues with this, please get in touch with us any time; we’d be happy to help.
As always, if you want to add or discuss anything regarding this article, feel free to drop us a comment below, and we’ll respond soon!
Sources:
- How to Submit Your Website to Google (And Why It Matters)
- How Do I Get My WordPress Site Listed on Google? (Beginner’s Guide)
- Manage your sitemaps using the Sitemaps report – Search Console Help
- Build and Submit a Sitemap | Google Search Central | Documentation
- Controlling how search engines access and index your website
- SEO: HTML, XML Sitemaps Explained – Practical EcommerceInternal linking for SEO: Why and how? • Yoast