SEO
Why is your website not showing on Google? Check these first
Find out whether your website has a publishing, indexing or ranking problem, then work through practical checks before rewriting all your content.
You search for your company and see an old page, the wrong description or nothing useful. It is frustrating, especially after investing in a new website. But these symptoms do not all have the same cause.
Start by separating three questions: is the right website live, can Google index the relevant page, and does that page compete for the search you care about? Rewriting every headline before answering those questions can waste time.
1. Confirm the correct website is actually live
Open the exact domain in a private browser window and check the homepage, service pages and contact page. Compare them with the version you expect. A GitHub commit or a successful local build does not by itself confirm that your hosting account is serving that version.
Check important pages on both a phone and a desktop. Look for old template content, broken links or a different site on a domain variation. If the live content is wrong, investigate the deployment, hosting directory, domain settings or caching with your hosting provider before treating it as a writing problem.
2. Inspect the individual URL in Search Console
Use Google Search Console’s URL inspection information for the page you want found. Record the reported indexing status and any relevant issue. An indexed page that ranks poorly needs a different investigation from a page Google cannot access.
A search using your brand or a site search can provide clues, but it is not a complete audit. Work from specific URLs and the available Search Console evidence rather than assuming the whole website has one shared problem.
3. Check access and indexing settings
Google’s technical requirements include allowing access to Googlebot, serving a successful HTTP response and providing indexable content. Meeting those minimum requirements does not guarantee indexing.
Ask your developer or hosting provider to check any unexpected access blocks, server errors or login requirements. Check for accidental noindex instructions on pages intended for search, and review canonical URLs if Google is identifying a different page as the main version.
Do not remove every restriction indiscriminately. Admin areas, private information and internal confirmation pages may correctly stay out of search. The goal is to make the intended public content accessible.
4. Give important pages a clear route through the website
A service page should be reachable from relevant navigation or contextual links. A new article should be linked from the blog and, where useful, from related content. Check that those links resolve to the intended page rather than a redirect loop or missing page.
Maintain a sitemap containing the public URLs you want considered for indexing. Treat it as a discovery aid, not a promise that every listed page will appear in search.
If you replaced an older website, map useful old URLs to their closest relevant replacements. Sending every removed page to the homepage can leave visitors without the information they expected.
5. Improve the page for a specific search need
Once access is working, assess whether the page answers a useful question. A service page should explain the service and buying decision. An article should resolve the question its title promises to answer.
Write distinct titles and descriptions that accurately summarise each page. Avoid repeating a list of keywords across every heading. Add original details you can support: your process, real project scope, relevant examples and clear limits.
Google may display different title or snippet text, so a metadata edit should not be treated as an instant or guaranteed change to the search result.
6. Measure the next step, not a daily position
After a meaningful fix, record what changed and monitor the affected URLs. Look at indexing, impressions, relevant queries, clicks and qualified enquiries over time. Compare similar periods and account for seasonality and other changes.
If an agency reports improvement, ask which pages and queries changed and how the evidence relates to your business goal. A single screenshot is not enough to explain a trend.
See Roovox’s SEO services or send us the exact page and search you are concerned about. That makes the first investigation more useful than a general request to “fix SEO.”