Reasons Why You Content is Not Showing Up in Google

Feb 7, 2023 Reading time : 4 min

It might feel like you’ve done everything right, but you can’t move the needle when it comes to organic ranking. There could be a couple of things that are preventing your website from appearing in the SERPs. The only way you can know what is ailing your website is by doing an SEO audit. It should be noted that for your website to appear on Google, the search engine will need to know that it exists in the first place. Here are some of the reasons why your website might not be showing up in Google and what you can do about it.

Website is Too New

It takes a while before Google can discover new sites and crawl pages. Sometimes it is just a matter of patience, and there isn’t a lot you can do when you’re just starting out. Even if you’re searching for search engine optimization service, you should be patient as you wouldn’t expect the rankings to happen overnight. The first thing you’d want to make sure of is that your website has been indexed. You can do so by going to Google and searching for “site:yourwebsite.com” If there is at least one result, you shouldn’t be worried because it shows that Google is aware of your website’s existence.

You’ve Blocked Indexing

Google index pages before it can show them as results. When you block the pages from being indexed, it will be possible for the search engine to know that your website exists in the first place. It could be a mistake when setting up your website, and some WordPress plugins will discourage search engines from indexing your pages with the click of a button. Make sure that you’re careful when setting up the website so that you’re not having any indexation issues in the future.

Lack of Quality Backlinks

Imagine a scenario where 10 sites are competing for the first page of Google. All of them have high-quality content, and the on-page optimization is spot on. How will Google identify the website to rank one and the one to rank 10? The quality of backlinks plays an important role in ranking. There are a lot of factors that play a part in the ranking of a page, but the number of links happens to be the strong one. Google discourages webmasters from actively building links. John Muller, in a recent Twitter discussion, discounted the effectiveness of guest posts when it comes to ranking. If the websites that are above you have more links, it is going to be hard to compete for the top spots. You’ll also have no other option but to build quality links.

Lack of Authority

Google’s ranking algorithm has been heavily skewed towards something called RankBrain. A page with authority is likely to rank higher than one without, if all the factors that are to be held constant. There are tools like Ahrefs that can be used to check the URL rating of a page. However, it doesn’t always mean higher ranking all the time. There is a strong correlation given the data that has been published.

Not Aligning With Search Intent

It won’t be easy to rank your website if it is not aligning with search intent. The goal of Google is to provide results that match the search intent of the queries from the users. You don’t want to try and rank for a sales page when people are searching for information. It doesn’t matter the number of links you build; it will be impossible to rank.

Duplicate Content

The duplicate content problem will arise when the same content is available on multiple URLs. Google algorithm has gotten smarter over the years and will skip duplicate indexing content because it takes up unnecessary crawling resources. Even if the URLs manage to index, the page authority will be split based on the number of pages. Some tools can be used to find duplicate pages on your website.

You Have a Penalty

When you have a penalty, there is no amount of link building that will help you rank. The penalty could be page-specific or site-wide. Google, in most cases, will give a reason for the penalty. If you suspect you have a penalty, go to Google Webmaster and check for the manual actions. Make sure that you’re taking the necessary steps to correct the issue before you can apply for a reconsideration request. If the issue is technical in nature, it might be a good idea to reach out to an expert.