The 8 most common causes, and how to check each one in a few minutes.
You built a website, you search for it on Google, and it isn’t there. It is rarely a mystery.
It is usually one of a handful of well-known causes, and most can be checked in minutes.
First, a quick test
Search Google for site:yourdomain.com. If nothing comes back, Google has not indexed it.
If pages do come back but not for the words you wanted, the issue is ranking, not indexing.
They are different problems.
The causes we see most often
The site is new. Google needs time to find it, especially if nobody links to it yet.
It was never registered in Google Search Console. Not compulsory, but it speeds up discovery a lot.
A “noindex” is hiding it. One setting (in WordPress, “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”) tells Google to ignore the page.
robots.txt blocks it. A file that says “keep out”, left over from when the site was being built.
There is no sitemap. The map that shows Google which pages you have.
The page has very little text, or says the same as other pages. Google cannot see what it offers.
The title and description are missing or generic. People see them in the results and Google uses them to understand the topic.
The page is very slow or breaks on a phone. That will not hide you, but it pushes you down.
What BeOnTop does
It checks exactly these things, and more, across more than 40 points,
measures speed with Google’s Core Web Vitals on mobile and desktop, and tells you in plain words
what to fix first. Free. Why is it free?
An honest note: nobody can promise you a place on Google, and BeOnTop does not.
It can show you what is holding you back and what is worth fixing first. See also the
Guide.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Google take to show a new website?
From a few days to several weeks, depending on the site. Registering it in Google Search Console and having a sitemap both help.
If my site does not show on Google, did I do something wrong?
Not necessarily. Often the site is simply new or unknown. A check shows which one it is.
Is BeOnTop really free?
Yes. BeOnTop is a free tool from the aQua for All Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) charity.