9 min read
You type your website’s URL in Google’s search bar and, much to your dismay, you cannot seem to find your website listed in the results. If your website is not appearing in Google search results, this can cause a moment of panic. You may be confused on why your website is not appearing in these results. In order to get organic traffic to your website, you will need to have your site indexed by Google. There are actually quite a few reasons this may be happening to your website and there are some ways that you can rectify the situation.
Your Website is Brand New
One reason that your website may not be indexed by Google is that your website is brand new. Google is a powerful search engine, but also needs time to crawl web pages and index websites properly. Google has many web pages and websites to go through on any given day, so this process does take time. It is recommended to give Google at least a few days to crawl your website. Google states that crawling may take a few days to a few weeks. They do provide users with an Index Status report, so that you can check back to see the status. If it has been past a few weeks and your website is still not indexed, there may be another reason for the delay. However, you can still send Google a request to recrawl your website. This is what an Index Status report looks like:
Your Website is Blocked
If you are wondering why Google is not indexing my site, there could be another reason. Another reason your website may not be indexed quite yet is that your website or a page is blocked. This may be the case if you utilized a third party to build out your website, such as a developer. In order to fix this, you may need to edit your robots.txt file. What is a robot.txt file? This file is one that tells search engines which pages are open for crawling. If you are utilizing a hosting site, you will most likely not view the robots.txt file. Instead, you will have access to a search engine settings page or something similar. This will allow you to edit when your website or web page is up for crawling. This page may also allow you to hide your page or certain pages from web crawling. Google provides a handy robots.txt Tester tool to help you determine whether or not your robots.txt file is the culprit to your website not being indexed. Here is an example of the robots.txt tester tool:
(Image Credit: Google Support)
Your Website has Crawling Errors
If you are wondering why your url is not on Google, it may be that you have a crawl error. Google has attempted to crawl your website or certain web pages, but it has encountered some issues. Regardless of what these issues are or how simple they are to fix, this could lead to Google not indexing certain pages of your website. However, Google will provide you a list on what these errors are and you can access them by going to Google Webmaster Tools. You will want to fetch as Google. From there, you will be able to access the settings for your website and click on “Crawl Errors”. The errors that Google encountered when attempting to crawl your website will be listed here. For instance:
(Image Credit: Moz)
Your Website has Too Much Duplicate Content
If you have a lot of content that is all similar or the same, this can cause longer indexing times. However, it can also cause Google to completely ditch attempting to index your website. This could be due to confusing and complicating the crawling process by having different URLs sending the same content to the search engine. If you notice that this is the issue that is happening, you will want to eliminate this duplicate content. This could mean eliminating entire web pages, but it will help you get indexed by Google.
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Your Website has a Long Loading Time
If you are wondering why my website is not indexed by Google, one of the most common explanations is that it has a long loading time. Long loading times are not only potentially frustrating for users that might land on your site, but also for Google when they are attempting to index. If the load times are too lengthy, Google may ditch attempting to index your website altogether.
Your Website’s Host is Down
If you are hosting your website through a third party, then you are at the mercy of that hosting site. If the hosting site has servers that are down, it is likely that this could be the cause of your indexing issue. This is because servers that are down means that Google would not be able to access your site. If you suspect this is the issue, you should get into contact with your hosting site or check their website for any updates regarding the issue.
My Website was Deindexed
If your website was deindexed, then you are experiencing a serious issue that will take some time to recover from. However, not all websites recover from deindexing. If you were removed from Google’s index, you will likely know about it. This typically happens to websites that host particularly shady practices. Deindexing could be a result of the website posting spam or even having spammy guest posts. You could have inherited a website with this history, which was unbeknownst to you. However, this penalty over your website could still be preventing it from being indexed. Trying to recover from deindexing can be a challenge. However, you should first do a heavy analysis of your website. From there, you can solve the issues that are preventing the indexing and attempt to recover. If you have been penalized by Google, the Google Search Console will send you a notification. This notification from the Google Search Console will allow you to detail the issue and your resolution. The image below shows what happens when a website is temporarily deindexed:
(Image Credit: Search Engine Land)
My Website was Experiencing an Issue
If your website was experiencing a minor issue and it has since been resolved, then your wait time will likely be a few days to a few weeks from the resolution date. This is because while the error is still at play, Google will not be able to crawl the web page or index the website. However, once this issue is resolved, then Google will be able to index your website.
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How Long Does it Take for Google to Reindex a Site?
You may be wondering, “how long does it take for Google to reindex a site?”. The answer is really that it depends. Reindexing times can depend on the severity of the issue, how quickly you resolve this issue, or if your website was deindexed. Deindexed is a severe issue and may be difficult to solve.
Why is Indexing Important?
If you are concerned and thinking, “Google not indexing my site”, then you likely already know the importance of indexing. Your website not showing in Google search is a huge issue because this is how someone would be able to access your website and how you will receive your organic traffic. Without it, you might as well not have a website at all. Without indexing, think of your website as sitting out in the void. Users are not able to find it. However, once it is indexed, users will be able to access it.
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Indexing and Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization and indexing go hand-in-hand, affecting one another. If you have poor search engine optimization, you could run into indexing issues. Similarly, if you are experiencing indexing issues, then your search engine optimization plan will suffer. So, what is search engine optimization and how does it play a role in indexing?
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is how a web page or website appeals to a search engine in order to satisfy user intent. The primary search engine that SEO refers to is Google. Google operates with a specific algorithm that allows Google to crawl web pages, fetch as Google, index pages, and rank pages when users enter in a search query. For instance, a user may want to find a specific answer to a question that they have. They will type this question into the search bar in Google. Within a matter of seconds, Google will scour web pages that they have indexed in order to find the content that best satisfies that search query.
Quality Content is Key
If you are planning to help not only your search engine optimization, but your indexing, then you will need to have a heavy focus on quality content. This means eliminating weak sourced material, spammy posts, and shady links. Eliminating these will help boost your search engine optimization and may help you to increase your search engine results page rankings. This could, in turn, lead to a bump in your organic traffic.
If you have a blog, you will want to diversify your content. Do not just post the same post over and over again, as this can be mistaken for spam, could slow down your website, and may even prevent indexing. Instead, you will want to find different content ideas for your blog that will resonate with your audience. Competitive analysis often helps with this. However, you want to make sure that you are not copying blogs or information, as this could lead to serious issues with your website. Instead, brainstorming sessions are often helpful.
Provide your users with helpful, engaging, and quality content. One way to do this is to focus each of your posts on a specific topic. For instance, you may make a post about a specific recipe, location, or provide an answer to a particular question. This helps to hone in on your intended audience and allows you to appeal to that audience. Your audience will view your content and see your website as a reputable source of information. This will allow your website to build a solid reputation and a foundation of trust with users. Take a look at Diib’s blog. Diib has many different topics with a variety of articles:
Speed Up Your Loading Time
Nobody likes to wait and that fact is especially true when it comes to finding information online. Everyone wants the best answer as fast as they can. Often, people are searching while they are on their way somewhere or while they are planning something. This means that they want information quickly. If your page has a long load time, this not only affects your indexing but can also affect your SEO. Users that land on your page will make up their minds about your website within the first few seconds. So, you will want to make sure that you make the best first impression you can and keep them on your website.
There are many different things that can slow down a website. One of the most common things that can slow down a website is a slow hosting website. Some hosting sites have a lot of information running in the background, which may slow down your website. Installing videos or multiple widgets onto your website can also affect loading times. Talking with an experienced website developer can help you determine which aspects of your website are the culprit for your long loading times, as the average person may not be familiar with all the background aspects. This image shows a website with many widgets that can slow loading time:
(Image Credit: Xpra)
How to Index My Website on Google
If your url is not on Google, there are a few different things you can do, as discussed above. A website not showing in Google search can be frustrating and confusing, but learning how to correct the issue does not have to be challenging. Below, we will outline additional tips for you on how to get Google to index your website.
Check Your Loading Speed
If you are wondering why my website is not indexed by google, then you will want to first check your loading speed. There are many different ways that you can do this. However, the easiest way is to test the website yourself by entering in your url. You will want to check both the mobile and desktop versions of the website to make sure both are running well. If your website load time is good, then you can move on to testing other methods to getting your website indexed.
Check Your Host’s Servers
If you are wondering how to index my website on Google, then you will want to check your host’s servers. When the servers are down, this means that Google will not be able to index your website. So, you will want to check with the host of your website. This is generally an easy fix, as you will just have to wait for the servers to come back online.
Eliminate Spam and Duplicate Content
You will want to have a quality and trusted website, so this means that you will need to get rid of spam and any duplicate content that is on your website. Cleaning up your website can take time, but it is well worth the rewards. Replace duplicate content with new and engaging content to help appeal to your audience.
Experiencing an indexing issue can be confusing at first, but going through these steps and figuring out what issue you are dealing with can help you get back on track to indexing your website. Without indexing your website, you will miss out on organic traffic being able to find your website. By utilizing these tips and tricks, you will not have to worry about your website being lost in the masses and can figure out what issue you are experiencing.
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