Why isn't my website showing up on Google?
You paid for a website. You search your own business name, or worse, the thing you actually do, and you're nowhere. It's the single most common question we get, and the answer is almost never "your website is bad." It's usually one of seven specific problems, and you can work out which one is yours in about five minutes.
First, find out if Google even knows you exist
There's a difference between not being indexed (Google hasn't recorded your site at all) and not ranking (Google knows about you but puts you on page 6). The fix is completely different, so check first.
Go to Google and search this, using your real domain:
If pages come back, you're indexed and your problem is ranking. If you get nothing, Google has never properly recorded your site and that's your problem.
The seven real reasons, in order of how often we see them
| The problem | How you know | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Never submitted | The site: search returns nothing | Set up Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. Free, takes 20 minutes. |
| 2. No Google Business Profile | You don't appear on Maps or in the local pack | Claim and complete your free profile. For local searches this matters more than the website. |
| 3. The words aren't on the page | Your site says "Welcome" and "Quality Service" but never "plumber in Henderson" | Put the actual service and the actual town in your titles, headings and copy. |
| 4. The site is simply new | Launched under 3 months ago | Nothing. Google is slow with new domains. Keep publishing and collecting reviews. |
| 5. Thin content | Four pages, 80 words each | Real pages for each service, and articles that answer real customer questions. |
| 6. Competitors are just stronger | Rivals have 200 reviews and years of history | Go narrower. Rank for the suburb and the specific service first, not the whole city. |
| 7. You're blocking Google | Rare but brutal | A leftover "noindex" tag or robots.txt block from development. Check immediately. |
The one nobody expects: number seven
When a developer builds your site, they often tell Google to ignore it so the half-finished version doesn't get indexed. If they forget to remove that instruction at launch, your site is invisible forever and no amount of content will fix it.
It takes 30 seconds to check. Load yourdomain.co.nz/robots.txt and look for the word Disallow: /. Then right click your homepage, choose View Page Source, and search for noindex. If either is there, that's your entire problem.
If you're a local business, do this before anything else
For a café, a trade, a clinic, a salon or any business that serves a specific area, your Google Business Profile will bring in more customers than your website will in the first year. It's free, and most people fill in about 40% of it and stop.
- Complete every field, especially categories, services and hours
- Add real photos, and keep adding them
- Get reviews consistently. This is the single biggest lever, and it's free
- Make sure your business name, address and phone number are written identically everywhere online
How long until it actually works?
Indexing can happen within days of submitting a sitemap. Ranking is slower. For a new site in a normal category, expect 4 to 12 weeks to start showing for your own business name and long, specific searches, and several months for competitive terms like "web design Auckland" or "plumber Auckland."
Anyone promising page one in two weeks is either selling ads and calling it SEO, or lying.
Do you have to pay Google?
No. Organic listings and your Business Profile are free, permanently. Google Ads is a separate product that buys placement above the free results, and in some categories the cost per click is genuinely not worth it for a small business. Get the free foundations right first. Most businesses never need to spend a cent.
Want us to find out why, for free?
Send us your website and we'll tell you exactly which of the seven is holding you back, in plain English. No charge, no obligation.
Get a Free Check