Search visibility
Why is my business not showing on Google?
Searching for your own business and finding nothing is frustrating. Before rewriting every page, establish which problem you have: Google may not have indexed the website, may be using a different version of a page, or may be showing other results ahead of yours.
Use the checks below to record evidence and choose the next action. Keep your main website address, the pages you inspect and the date of each check together so you can compare progress.
1. Check the address customers actually use
Open your domain both with and without www. Both should reach the same business website. A parking page, expired certificate or unrelated landing page is a concrete issue to resolve with your hosting or domain provider.
Choose one primary address and permanently redirect the other version to it. Check a service-page address as well as the homepage: a redirect should take visitors to the equivalent page, not send every visitor to the front page.
2. Read Google’s indexing evidence
In the correct Search Console property, inspect the complete homepage URL. Record its indexing status, crawl information and Google-selected canonical. The canonical is the version Google has chosen to represent the page.
An inspection of the indexed version describes Google’s stored information. A live test checks current accessibility; it does not prove the page has entered the index or predict which canonical Google will select.
| Finding | Next action |
|---|---|
| Google cannot fetch the page | Investigate the reported access or server error with your host. |
| The public page has a noindex instruction | Confirm it is intended to be public before removing that instruction. Keep private account pages excluded. |
| Google selected another canonical | Compare that URL with your intended primary address and check redirects and canonical tags. |
| The page is indexed but hard to find | Review the actual searches, competing results and clarity of your business identity. |
3. Make the useful pages easy to discover
Submit your sitemap in Search Console and check that it was processed successfully. For individual corrected pages, use URL Inspection to request indexing. Repeated requests do not speed up the process, and submission is not a guarantee of inclusion.
Check that customers can reach important service pages through ordinary navigation links. An address that exists only in a spreadsheet gives visitors no practical route to it.
4. Make your business easy to distinguish
A short business name can be shared with a dictionary word or another organisation. Explain the product or service alongside the name in natural language. Your homepage, About page and genuine company profiles should describe the same business and link to the same website.
Use real evidence: a clear product demonstration, accurate company information and case studies you have permission to publish. Do not invent reviews or customer outcomes. A software example should be labelled as an example, not presented as a client result.
5. Measure progress against a useful baseline
Record whether your priority pages are indexed, which searches bring impressions, and whether relevant visitors enquire or buy. Keep branded searches separate from searches for your services: these answer different business questions.
If the site is accessible and indexed, improve the pages that answer your customers’ real questions. Add original detail about what you offer, who it suits and how to take the next step. More pages are not automatically more useful.
Common questions
Does an empty site: search prove my website is not indexed?
No. Google says these results are not exhaustive. Use Search Console URL Inspection to check a specific page.
How quickly will Google show a corrected page?
Google says crawling can take days to weeks. There is no guaranteed indexing date or ranking position; monitor the inspection evidence after making changes.
Is this the same as not appearing on Google Maps?
No. This guide concerns website results. Business Profile and Maps visibility are separate checks, with their own eligibility and setup requirements.
Find the next improvement for your website
Astride helps review your pages, research relevant keywords and prepare a monthly growth plan. Website findings help prioritise work; Google decides what it indexes and ranks.
Explore Astride website audits