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Find the step your page is stuck on
If your website is not showing on Google, it is stuck on one of four steps: Google cannot find the address, may not or cannot fetch the page, will not store it, or picks another page when someone searches. Each step has its own causes, and looking on the wrong one costs weeks. The check above runs the first three on your page, in seven points, and tells you which one it is.
Google describes three stages itself: crawling, indexing and serving. Discovery comes before those. There is no central register of web pages, so Google finds a new address through a link from a page it already knows, or through your sitemap. And Google is clear that it does not guarantee to crawl, index or serve any page, even when everything is technically right.
What the check reads on your page
The check does what Googlebot does, from the outside, without a login. It looks up the domain, reads robots.txt, fetches the page with its redirects and reads the HTML as the server sends it, before any JavaScript runs. Then it looks for your sitemap: first in robots.txt, otherwise at /sitemap.xml, one level deep when it is a sitemap index. It does not stop at the first problem. You see all seven, with the heaviest cause on top and, under it, what to do next and how long Google takes after that.
| Step | What the check reads | What Search Console says | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crawling | Does the domain exist, does the server answer within 8 seconds | Server error (5xx) or no data | Renew the domain, switch hosting back on |
| Crawling | May Googlebot read the page under robots.txt | Blocked by robots.txt | Remove or narrow the Disallow rule |
| Crawling | Does the page answer with 200, an error or a redirect | Not found (404), Page with redirect | Restore the page or 301 it to its replacement |
| Indexing | Does the page say noindex, in the HTML or the X-Robots-Tag | Excluded by 'noindex' tag | Remove the noindex; on WordPress, the box |
| Indexing | Does the canonical point elsewhere, also in the Link header | Alternate page with proper canonical tag | Point the canonical at the page itself |
| Indexing | Are there at least 50 words in the HTML without JavaScript | Crawled, currently not indexed | Put the main text in the HTML |
| Discovery | Is the page in your sitemap, with the same address | Sitemaps: discovered pages | Add the page and submit the sitemap |
What the check cannot see: how Google weighs your page against competitors, whether it was crawled yet and what Google itself says about it. That only shows in Search Console; the rest of the technical base is in our SEO checklist. If your page is indexed but nowhere to be found, it is no longer a findability problem but a ranking question, and the SEO checker is the better start.
Google's staircase, step by step
1DiscoveryThe check looks here
Google finds the address, through a link or your sitemap.
Stops at
- no sitemap
- not a single link to the page
- Where you see it:
- Search Console, Sitemaps
- Time:
- Never, until a link or sitemap names the address; a sitemap is a hint, not a guarantee
2CrawlingThe check looks here
Googlebot fetches the page.
Stops at
- domain or hosting gone
- robots.txt with Disallow
- 404 or 500
- redirect elsewhere
- Where you see it:
- URL Inspection, live test
- Time:
- A few days to a few weeks
3IndexingThe check looks here
Google reads the page and stores it.
Stops at
- noindex
- canonical to another page
- text only in JavaScript
- thin or duplicate content
- Where you see it:
- Pages report, site:
- Time:
- After a request usually a day, sometimes two weeks
4ServingOnly in Search Console
Google picks the page that fits a search.
Stops at
- a competitor who answers the question better
- Where you see it:
- Search Console, Performance
- Time:
- Hundreds of factors; for Business Centrum from 13 to 1,593 non-brand search terms on page 1, in five weeks
A page stuck on one step never reaches the next. The check runs the first three steps; what Google picks when serving only shows in Search Console.
Not showing in one market, showing in another
A company that sells across borders often hears it from a colleague abroad: the site shows in Belgium but not in Germany, or the English pages never appear. The cause is rarely the country. Each language version is its own set of pages that Google has to discover, crawl and index, and each one can carry its own noindex, canonical or robots.txt rule. Run the check on the exact page that is missing, not on your homepage.
Two mistakes come back most. First, every language version points its canonical at the main language, so Google treats the English or German page as a copy and indexes only the original. Second, the hreflang tags are one-way: Google says each version must list itself and all others, and if two pages do not point to each other, the tags are ignored. Google does not use hreflang to detect a page's language, it reads the text. So a German page with an English title and English navigation reads as English. Building a site for several markets at once is what multilingual website development is about.
The WordPress box, and three rules that clash
On WordPress, look under Settings, Reading first. 'Discourage search engines from indexing this site' is ticked while building, and since WordPress 5.3 it puts a meta robots noindex, nofollow on every page. Left on after launch, your whole site asks Google to leave it out. The check recognises WordPress from the HTML and says so. After unticking, check that no SEO plugin sets its own noindex, and never remove a noindex with JavaScript: when the HTML says noindex, Google may skip running JavaScript at all. Why WordPress sites also tend to be slow is in why WordPress is so slow.
robots.txt stops reading, not indexing: a blocked page can still show, without a description, when other sites link to it. To keep a page out, use noindex and let Google read it. A canonical is a strong signal, not an order; a sitemap is a weak one. Let all three name the same address, with the same trailing slash, and check your titles at the same time in the SERP preview. And a robots.txt that answers with a server error is worse than none: Google then stops crawling for 12 hours and works from the last good copy for up to 30 days. Whether yours also shuts out AI search engines, you see in the AI crawler checker.
How long it takes, per situation
Google gives ranges, not promises. A site: search shows whether Google knows a page, but Google itself says it does not list every indexed page: use it for a first look, not to count. For a local business, the fastest known page that points to you is often your Google Business Profile; when that profile itself does not appear, read Google Business Profile not showing.
| Situation | What Google does | How long, according to Google | What speeds it up |
|---|---|---|---|
| New domain, no links | Has to discover the domain first | Crawling: a few days to a few weeks | Search Console, a submitted sitemap, links from known pages |
| New page on a known site | Finds it through your own links | After a request usually a day, sometimes a week or two | A link from your homepage, a request in URL Inspection |
| Noindex just removed | Has to read the page again | Without a request it can take months | Request indexing once |
| New domain per country or a move | Follows every 301 | A few weeks for most pages | A 301 per page, kept for at least a year, Change of Address |
| Crawled, not indexed | Read the page and did not pick it | No term: it depends on the content | Unique content, links from strong pages |
Requesting again does not help: Google says a second request for the same URL is not faster, and there is a daily quota. A move to a new domain or host is planned beforehand, with a list of old and new addresses: see moving a website to a new host. How long it then takes to be found for your search terms is in how long until my website shows on Google.
Getting a new market indexed
- Check the missing pageRun the check above on the exact address that does not show, and fix the cause on top first.
- One property per versionAdd each domain or language folder to Search Console, so you see its own Pages report.
- Canonical and hreflangEach version points its canonical at itself and lists all others with hreflang, plus an x-default.
- Sitemap and requestsSubmit a sitemap per version and request indexing for its five most important pages, once each.
- Links that lead inLink the new version from pages Google already knows: your main site, your Google Business Profile, local partners.
- Read the reasonsAfter a week, open the Pages report and read the reason Google gives for every page it left out.
Missing from Google: what people ask us
How do I know if my website is on Google?
Type site:yourdomain.com into Google for a first look. Google itself says that search does not list every indexed page. Certainty per page comes from URL Inspection in Search Console: it tells you whether the page is indexed and, if not, why.
Why is my new website still not on Google after two weeks?
Google says crawling takes a few days to a few weeks, and a new domain without links is discovered late. If the check finds no cause, submit your sitemap, request indexing for your key pages and link the site from your Google Business Profile.
My site shows in Belgium but not in Germany. Why?
Usually the German pages are not indexed, not filtered out. Run the check on a German page: a canonical that points at the Dutch or English original, or hreflang that only points one way, are the common causes. Then look at the German pages in the Pages report.
Search Console says 'Crawled, currently not indexed'. Now what?
Google read the page and chose not to store it. The technical causes are then usually fine; it is about the content. Make the page unique, answer the question in the first sentences and link to it from your strongest pages, then request indexing once more.
Does robots.txt keep my page out of Google?
Not entirely. robots.txt stops crawling, not indexing: a blocked page can still appear, without a description. To keep a page out, use noindex and let Google crawl it, or it never sees the noindex.
Why does the check say the site refused our test, and is my address stored?
Some sites block test tools with bot protection while Googlebot still gets in. Use the live test in URL Inspection to see what Google sees. We do not store your address; we only count how many checks run per day.