Quivermark
Website not showing on Google? What to check
There are two different problems here: Google does not have your site at all, or it has your site and ranks it low. They have different fixes, so start by finding out which one you have.
Last updated: 4 November 2026
Find out which problem you have
Search Google for site:yourdomain.com, with your own address and no space after the colon.
- Nothing comes up: Google has not listed your site. Carry on below.
- Your pages come up: Google has them, and the question is ranking, which is covered further down.
The leftover settings that hide a site
Sites are often hidden on purpose while they are being built, and the setting is forgotten at launch or switched back on by a redesign. Look for:
- WordPress: Settings, then Reading, then “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. It should be unticked.
- A noindex tag: a line in the page’s code saying
noindex. SEO plugins can set this page by page. - robots.txt: open
yourdomain.com/robots.txt. A line readingDisallow: /underUser-agent: *tells every search engine to stay out. - A header from the server:
X-Robots-Tag: noindex. You cannot see this on the page, so ask your web person or use the tool below. - A site builder’s privacy setting: a password, or a “coming soon” page that was never switched off.
If it is simply new
New sites can take days or weeks to appear, and Google does not promise to list every page. You can help it along with Google Search Console, which is free. Add your site, submit your sitemap, then paste your address into URL Inspection and choose “Request indexing”. That same tool tells you why any page has been left out.
If you were listed and then disappeared
Think about what changed. A redesign or a move to a new host often brings the settings above back with it. Addresses that changed without redirects lose their place. In Search Console, also open Security & Manual Actions: a hacked site can be flagged or dropped, and Google says so there.
If Google has you but you rank low
That is a slower job, with no quick fix. Say plainly on your pages what you do and where. Earn links from other real sites, such as suppliers, local groups and directories in your trade. If customers come to a physical place, a Google Business Profile often matters more than the website does for local searches.
How to catch it next time
Quivermark looks for these leftover settings every time it checks your site, and emails you if one appears, so a redesign cannot hide you for months before anyone notices. It cannot make you rank, and nobody can honestly promise that.
Check your site now, free
The free check looks for the settings that tell Google to stay away, including the header you cannot see on the page, along with the rest of your site.