Your website is live, you search for your business, and nothing comes up. Or it shows up for your business name but never for the thing you actually sell. These are two different problems with two different fixes.
The first job is getting Google to find and store your pages, which is called indexing. That part is free, mostly technical, and you can check it yourself in ten minutes. The second job is ranking: showing up when a customer searches “electrician Gosford” or “kids physio Adelaide” without knowing your name. That part takes pages that match real searches, a Google Business Profile if you serve a local area, reviews, links and time.
Most “my website isn’t on Google” problems are the first job. Most “my website is on Google but nobody finds it” problems are the second. Work out which one you have, then fix it in order.
Key Takeaways
- Getting on Google (indexing) and ranking well are separate jobs. Check indexing first with a
site:yourdomain.com.ausearch.- Google Search Console is free and shows exactly which pages are indexed and why others are not.
- The most common blockers are a leftover “noindex” setting, a robots.txt block, a password-protected or staging site, and a brand new domain that Google has not crawled yet.
- Google does not accept payment to index or rank a site, and no one can guarantee a number one spot.
- Local businesses should set up a free Google Business Profile and collect reviews, because Google’s local results are ranked on relevance, distance and prominence.
Job 1 or job 2: which problem do you have?
Run one search to find out. Type site: followed by your domain into Google, with no space, for example site:yourbusiness.com.au.
- No results at all: Google has not indexed your site. That is job 1, and the rest of the next section is for you.
- Some pages, but not all: Google has found you but is skipping some pages. Still job 1, page by page.
- Your pages show up, but not for searches like “plumber Wyong”: you are indexed. Your problem is ranking, which is job 2.
Google’s own SEO Starter Guide puts it simply: “If you see results pointing to your site, you’re in the index”. Google’s Get on Google page also warns that the site: operator “doesn’t necessarily return all the URLs that are indexed,” so treat it as a quick check and use Search Console for the full picture.
Job 1: get your website indexed by Google
Google usually finds new sites on its own, but a few free steps make it faster and tell you when something is wrong. Google’s guidance is that you “usually don’t even need to do anything except post your site on the web”. In practice, small business sites often have one setting stopping that from happening.
Step 1: verify your site in Google Search Console
Search Console is Google’s free tool for site owners, and it is the single most useful thing you can set up. It tells you which pages are indexed, which are not, and the reason for each.
Sign in at search.google.com/search-console with a Google account and add your site. You have two choices:
- Domain property (yourbusiness.com.au): covers every version of your site, including http, https, www and any subdomains. It is verified by adding a DNS record at your domain provider, which Google’s verification help page says is the only method for a Domain property.
- URL-prefix property (https://www.yourbusiness.com.au): covers one exact version. It can be verified by uploading an HTML file, adding a meta tag to your homepage, or through Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager if you already use them.
Pick the Domain property if you can log in to your domain registrar. If someone else manages your domain, the URL-prefix property with a Google Analytics or Tag Manager connection is often the quickest path.
Step 2: submit your sitemap
A sitemap is a file that lists the pages you want Google to know about. WordPress SEO plugins such as Rank Math and Yoast create one automatically, usually at yourdomain.com.au/sitemap_index.xml. Wix, Squarespace and Shopify also generate one.
In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste the sitemap address and submit. You can also add a line pointing to it in your robots.txt file, as Google’s sitemap guide explains.
Keep expectations realistic. That guide also says “submitting a sitemap is merely a hint: it doesn’t guarantee that Google will download the sitemap”. It helps Google find pages. It does not force them into results.
Step 3: use URL Inspection on your key pages
URL Inspection shows the status of a single page and lets you request indexing. Paste your homepage address into the search bar at the top of Search Console, check the result, then click Request indexing if the page is not indexed yet.
Do this for your homepage and your main service pages, not every page. Google limits how many you can submit, and resubmitting the same address does not speed anything up. Google’s recrawl guide says “Crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks” and that a request “does not guarantee that inclusion in search results will happen instantly or even at all”.
Step 4: check for the common blockers
If your site still is not indexed after a few weeks, one of these is almost always the reason. Search Console’s Pages report names the exact problem for each page.
A leftover “noindex” setting. This is one we see often on small business sites. WordPress has a box under Settings, Reading called “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.” Developers tick it while building, and it sometimes stays ticked after launch. SEO plugins have similar page-level switches. As Google’s noindex documentation puts it, a noindex rule tells Google to “drop that page entirely from Google Search results”. In Search Console this shows as “URL marked ‘noindex’.”
A robots.txt block. The robots.txt file at yourdomain.com.au/robots.txt tells Google what it may crawl. A line reading Disallow: / blocks the whole site. Google’s introduction to robots.txt notes it “is not a mechanism for keeping a web page out of Google,” and a blocked page can still appear with no description. It can also stop Google from seeing a noindex rule because, as the noindex guide explains, the crawler “will never see the noindex rule” on a page it is blocked from.
A password-protected or staging site. If your site sits behind a login, a “coming soon” plugin, or on a staging address, Google cannot read it. Search Console’s Page indexing report lists these as “Blocked due to unauthorized request (401)” or a 403 error. Check that the live domain is the one you submitted, not the developer’s test address.
A brand new domain. New sites need time. Google’s getting started advice says “It can take a few weeks for Google to notice a new site, or any changes in your existing site”. Links from other sites help Google find you sooner, which is why a Google Business Profile and a few local directory listings are worth doing in week one.
Pages Google chose not to index. “Crawled, currently not indexed” and “Discovered, currently not indexed” mean Google found the page but decided it was not worth storing yet. Thin pages with a few lines of text, or near-copies of other pages, often land here. The fix is better content, which is job 2.
Job 2: rank for what your customers search
Being indexed only means Google has your pages on file. Ranking means Google picks your page as one of the best answers for a search. Google’s starter guide is upfront that “There are no secrets here that’ll automatically rank your site first in Google”. What works is a set of plain, steady jobs.
Build a page for each thing people search
Google can only rank a page for a search if a page on your site is clearly about that thing. A single “Services” page listing ten services in one paragraph rarely ranks for any of them.
Write down the five to ten searches your best customers would type. For a Central Coast electrician that might be “switchboard upgrade Central Coast,” “emergency electrician Gosford” and “solar installer Tuggerah.” Each core service, and each main area you serve, should have its own page that answers what that customer needs to know: what you do, where, how it works, what it costs or what affects the price, and how to get in touch.
This is one of the most common changes we make on small business sites. Advoltage Electrical in Brisbane, for example, has separate pages for switchboard upgrades, safety switches, solar repairs and other services, plus location pages, rather than one long services list. Our guide to writing website copy that brings in enquiries covers how to write those pages.
Write clear page titles and descriptions
Your page title is the blue link people click in Google, so it should say what the page is and where. Google’s advice is that “a good title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and accurately describes the contents of the page”.
A homepage title of “Home” wastes the most valuable words on the page. Compare these two:
- Before: Home | Smith Electrical
- After: Electrician Gosford & Central Coast | Smith Electrical
The meta description sits under the title. The same guide says a good one is “short, unique to one particular page, and includes the most relevant points of the page”. Google may rewrite it, but a good one still gives searchers a reason to click.
Set up your Google Business Profile (local businesses)
If you serve customers in a local area, your Google Business Profile matters as much as your website. It is the listing that appears in the map results and on Google Maps. Creating one is free: Google’s Business Profile page states “creating a Business Profile and listing your business on Google is free”.
Google ranks local results on three things, according to its tips to improve your local ranking:
- Relevance: “how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.”
- Distance: “how far each business is from the customer who’s searching.”
- Prominence: “how well-known a business is.”
You cannot change distance, so work on the other two. Choose the most accurate primary category, list your services, add real photos, keep hours current, and link the profile to the matching page on your website.
Ask for reviews, every job
Reviews help both customers and rankings. Google’s Business Profile help says “More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking”. Build asking into your process: a text with your review link after each job, a QR code on the invoice, a reminder at the end of a visit. Reply to every review, good or bad. Never buy reviews or offer rewards for them.
Earn links from real local sources
Links from other websites help Google find and trust your pages. As Google’s SEO guide notes, “the vast majority of the new pages Google finds every day are through links”.
For a small business, good links come from places you already have relationships with: suppliers, industry associations, the local chamber of commerce, sports clubs you sponsor, and local news when you do something worth covering. Avoid paid link packages. Google warns that buying links “could be considered a violation of Google’s spam policies”.
Make the site quick and easy on a phone
Speed and usability help, but they come after relevance. Google’s page experience guide confirms “Core Web Vitals are used by our ranking systems,” and also says “Google Search always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is sub-par”. A fast site with the wrong content will not rank. A slow site with the right content loses customers who give up waiting.
Check your pages on PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev), compress large images, and make sure your phone number and enquiry button are easy to tap on a phone. If your hosting is slow or your plugins are out of date, website care and hosting is often the cheapest speed fix.
What this looks like in practice
Doing both jobs in order works, even for businesses that started with nothing.
Blakk Sportswear, an Indigenous-owned teamwear business, came to us with no website and no search presence. We built the website and then ran the SEO, working through both jobs above in order. The site now ranks number one for “Indigenous sportswear.”
Our SEO work for Booms Up Civil Group lifted website conversions by 510% in six months, from 19 to 116. Results like that start with the two jobs above done in order, then steady work on pages, reviews and links.
How long it takes depends on your industry, your area and your competition. Google’s SEO Starter Guide says “Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months”. For local service businesses, we typically see first page-one rankings within three to six months.
A 30-minute checklist you can do today
Most of the indexing work is free and quick. Work through this list in order.
- Search
site:yourdomain.com.auand note what shows up. - Set up Google Search Console and verify your site.
- Submit your sitemap in the Sitemaps report.
- Run URL Inspection on your homepage and top three service pages, and request indexing if needed.
- In WordPress, check Settings, Reading and make sure “Discourage search engines” is unticked.
- Open yourdomain.com.au/robots.txt and check it does not say
Disallow: /. - Claim or create your Google Business Profile and link it to your website.
- Change your homepage title from “Home” to what you do and where.
- Send a review request to your last five happy customers.
If you run a trade business, our page on websites for tradies shows how we structure service and suburb pages. If you want to see how other Australian small businesses set their sites up, see our small business website examples.
Frequently asked questions
Can I do SEO for my website myself?
Yes, much of it. Google’s own guide on whether you need an SEO says “If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself”. Search Console setup, your Business Profile, page titles and asking for reviews are all owner-friendly jobs. Hiring help makes sense when you have tried the basics and still are not ranking, when your market is competitive, or when your time is worth more running the business.
Is it free to put your website on Google?
Yes. Getting indexed and appearing in normal search results costs nothing. Google’s explanation of how Search works says it “doesn’t accept payment to crawl a site more frequently, or rank it higher”. Search Console and a Business Profile are free too. You only pay if you choose to run Google Ads, which appear in the sponsored spots, or if you hire someone to do the work.
Can a beginner do SEO?
A beginner can handle the indexing basics and most local SEO. The steps in the checklist above need no coding. The harder parts are working out which searches are worth targeting, writing pages that beat competitors, and fixing technical problems on larger sites. Be wary of anyone who promises results: Google states “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google”.
Why is my website not showing up on Google?
The usual reasons are that the site is too new, a “noindex” setting is still switched on, robots.txt is blocking Google, the site is behind a password or still on a staging address, or the pages are too thin for Google to bother indexing. If your site does show up for your business name but not for your services, it is indexed but not ranking, which means you need clearer service pages, a Business Profile, reviews and links. Search Console’s Pages report tells you which case applies.
Need a hand getting found?
If you have worked through the checklist and your site still is not showing up, or it is indexed but customers are not finding it, we can take a look. Keener’s SEO service picks up where the checklist stops, and for local businesses on the Coast, here is how we approach SEO on the Central Coast. Ask us for a free SEO check and we will show you what is holding your site back.