Topic

How do I get my website found on Google?

How Google indexes a site, which address version to keep, what a move does to rankings, and the free steps that fix each.

Google has to discover the site, index it and then rank it, and each stage has a free check in Search Console that shows where a page stalled. In Theo's audit of 5,974 small business websites, 48 percent of the 4,027 sites with search data got an estimated zero visitors a month from Google search, so being live is not the same as being found. The guides below cover the reasons a site does not show up, the steps that get it indexed, which address version to keep and what a move does to rankings; on Starter and Pro, Theo submits the pages through Search Console and does the ongoing search work.

5 guides

Guides on this topic

Theo robot sliding a webpage card into a large search bar with a green check above it

How to Get Google to Index My Site: 6 Free Steps, in Order

The free steps that put a website in Google's index, what each Search Console screen shows, how long each step takes and how long Google says the crawl takes, the meaning of the Page indexing statuses an owner meets most, and the two shortcuts that do not work.

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Theo robot beside a tablet on a stand showing a search results list with a storefront card on top

How to Get My Website on Google: 12 Steps, With What Each Screen Shows and How Long It Takes

The twelve steps that put a small business website on Google, in order: what each Search Console screen shows, how long each step usually takes, with Google's own ranges for crawling and indexing, how to show up in AI answers, the mistakes that stall a new site, and which steps the owner does and which Theo does on Starter and Pro.

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Theo robot pointing at two paths merging into one road that leads to a laptop

WWW vs Non-WWW: Which Version Your Website Should Use, and How to Redirect the Other

Google ranks www.yourbusiness.com and yourbusiness.com the same. Here are the three differences that are real, a decision rule for new and existing sites, the 301 redirect step by step on the hosts small businesses use, and the Search Console check that shows which version Google kept.

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Puzzled Theo robot holding a magnifying glass over a laptop with an empty search results screen

Why Is My Website Not Showing Up on Google? 15 Reasons, Each With a Check and a Fix

Your site is either missing from Google's index or listed and outranked, and the fix is different for each. Run the 60-second check, then work through the reasons that match what you see.

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Theo robot pushing a moving cart with a boxed website card from a small old house to a new one

Website Migration SEO: What Happens to Your Rankings When You Move, and the Checklist That Keeps the Dip Short

The owner's guide to website migration SEO: what a move changes for Google, why traffic dips for a few weeks and then recovers, what to do before, during and after the switch, a redirect map to copy, a 24-item checklist, and what Theo does at each step of a move.

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