Why isn’t my page / website being indexed in google?

If your webpages aren’t being indexed / included in Google search results it is not a reason to panic. Firstly Google say that they index and crawl billions of websites. BILLIONS. Google also say that they do not guarantee that they crawl a whole website and it is perfectly normal to not have all of your webpages indexed in search results.

What is Google crawling and indexing?

Google uses something called the Google bot, what this does is it crawls the web and websites, once found it then indexes them in the Google search results. During the crawling process the Google bot will follow most links included in a website such as a websites navigation or social media links, during this process Google bot finds new pages and indexes them also. If Google bot sees your content as legit and not in breach of the Google quality guidelines it will index your website, which simple means include it in Google search results.

Why isn’t my website appearing in Google search results?

• Google doesn’t index ALL pages – no reason to panic if your other pages are there
• Results can take time, especially for a new website, give it a few weeks
• You have been penalised/banned form Google search results – login to Google webmasters and run the diagnostics, Google will often tell you if there is a problem and why you aren’t included in their search engine results
• Your page is “orphaned” – your webpage is not linked to anywhere from your website and has been built for the sole purpose of being indexed and feeding content to Google – Google hates this ensure all your pages are linked to from your main site and NOT just a sitemap
• Google cant crawl your website – ensure Google has permission to crawl your website, this means ensuring that a file such as robots.txt isn’t stopping Google and other search bots from crawling your website. You can deny access to all search bots to your whole website or certain pages through a robots.txt file
• You have denied Google permission to index – using a “no index – no follow” this is a line of text that is placed in the header of your html it stops the Google bot from indexing your webpage and basically tells it to leave your website without looking for other pages to index

The best way to overcome any issues is to use Google webmaster Google.com/webmaster

If you add your site there and check the diagnostics section it will tell you any issues Google has with indexing your website. You can then act upon these and ensure your website gets indexed. Additionally, ALT Agency can provide cutting-edge SEO support with over 10 years’ experience.