Why isn’t my new website showing up in Google?

For new website owners, seeing their website show up in Google’s search engine is highly anticipated. But sadly, for brand new websites, it takes a while.

Here’s why.

Creating a new website does not in itself mean it will ever show up in any search engine. Search engines first have to ‘know’ about it, or find it by traversing a link from another website they already know about.

As part of our new website package, we submit new websites to all the main search engines, Google, Yahoo, Bing etc and we include a link from our website to your new one, giving search engines several ‘pointers’ to the new website.

Search engines use automated programs called “crawlers” to find and rank web pages, but even when a search engine has been notified of a new site, it may take weeks for the crawlers to check the new pages and then index them. See Google own explanation.

After the search engines have indexed your new website pages, it still does not mean that your website will show up in Google for search terms you would like it to. This is where SEO or Search Engine Optimisation plays its part. There is more information on SEO on our SEO page. As part of all our new website packages we build each new site with basic SEO built in, but this only ensures that your website is accurately described so that search engines can index it correctly. Getting your website ranking for certain search terms will usually involve further work.

Some search terms are highly competitive, meaning many websites are trying to rank for them. If established websites with lots of content and backlinks are already ranking for that term, it can be difficult for a new or less authoritative site to appear on the first page of search results.

Another factor is the content (text) on your website. Google tries to show the most relevant results for a search term. If your website doesn’t have enough content related to the term you’re targeting, it’s less likely to show up in search results. Make sure your site has clear, detailed, and useful content about the term you want to rank for.

We always recommend websites include a blog as standard as this enables website owners to post regular new information easily. Adding extra useful and relevant information to your website can improve its rankings over time.

In summary, expecting your new website to show Google is not a given. It takes initial work by your web developer to even get it noticed, by initial search engine submission and basic SEO work. Then patience is required as no-one has control over when or how search engines will index and rank your pages. If it’s important that your website shows up for certain search terms, then most likely further SEO work will be required, and this is usually an ongoing process over the first year.

At Deal Web Design we offer a range of SEO services, see our SEO page. for more info. If you’d like to find out more, contact us today.