Why your website isn’t showing up on Google.
You have a website. You search for what you do in your town, and it is not there. Here is why that happens, why it is so common with template sites, and what it is costing you.
Your site is online, but Google is not sure what it is, or does not trust it enough to show it. That is very common with template and builder sites. It is not one broken thing. It is a stack of small things, and none of them show up on the screen you see.
Online and on Google are not the same thing
Most owners think of it like a sign. You put the site up, so it is up. Google does not work that way. Google keeps its own list of sites it knows and trusts. If you are not on that list, you do not show up, no matter how good the site looks.
Getting on the list is a job. Staying near the top of it is a bigger one. A site can be live for three years and still not be on the list at all. We see it every week.
What Google is checking
Google sends a program through your site and asks a set of questions. Plain ones, really. But every one of them has to come back with the right answer.
- Can I read this? A lot of template sites are mostly pictures and buttons. Google cannot read a picture. To Google, a page like that is close to blank.
- Do I know what this business is? Google wants to be sure what you do, where you are, and how to call you. Well built sites tell it, in a way it reads directly. Template sites almost never do.
- Does it match the search? Nobody types “Excellence in every detail.” They type “ceramic coating Foley.” If your site does not speak the way your customers search, Google has no reason to show it to them.
- Is it fast on a phone? Google grades the phone version and times it. Slow sites get moved down. Templates tend to be heavy.
- Does everything line up? Google checks your site against your Google listing and the rest of the web. One wrong phone number or a name spelled two ways, and it trusts all of it a little less.
- Is anyone keeping this up? A site nobody has touched in a year reads as abandoned. Google notices.
It asks these questions over and over, and it changes the questions. Google makes thousands of changes to how search works every year. A site that passed in the spring can fail by the fall.
Why builder sites fall behind
There is nothing wrong with Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy as tools. They are good at getting something that looks finished onto the internet in an afternoon. The problem is what “finished” means. The design is finished. The Google half is not. The builder leaves that to you, and it is not a switch you flip once. It is a list of things that have to be set right, checked, and kept right as Google moves. Most template sites go live with none of it. The ones that get some of it slip a little more every year, because nobody is watching.
The part that stings
Every day, people in your town search for exactly what you sell. Google shows them three shops in the map and a few more under it. If you are not there, they call somebody who is. That is not a customer you missed. That is a customer who was looking for you, got handed to the shop down the road, and you never heard about it.
That happens quietly. There is no bounced call, no empty chair you can point to. The phone just rings a little less than it should, and you get used to it.
We built the same lawn company’s website three ways to show what that looks like. The before and after is worth five minutes.
Can I fix it myself
Some of it, for a while. There are guides out there and some of them are fine. Here is the honest problem. The fixes are not a switch. They are a list, and Google keeps changing the list.
Most owners who try it get a small bump, feel done, and slide back within a few months, because nobody is watching. It is less like fixing a flat tire and more like changing the oil. It has to keep happening, and it has to be done by somebody who knows what to look for.
You did not open your shop to learn how Google thinks. That is fair. It is our whole job.
How to find out where you stand
Send us your web address. We will look at it the way Google does and tell you straight, usually the same day. No charge, no pitch. If your site is doing its job, we will say so and leave you alone. If it is not, we will show you what it is costing you and what we would do about it.
Every site we build is made to pass Google’s questions from day one, and we keep checking after launch. That is what the $150 a month is for. You can see some of the sites we have built if you want proof first.
- Does a Wix or Squarespace site hurt my Google ranking?
- The tool is not the problem. The problem is what comes with it. A builder gives you the design. The part that makes Google trust the site is left to you, and it is not a one time switch. It is upkeep. Most template sites go live without it and slip further every year.
- How long does it take a new website to show up on Google?
- Google usually finds a new site within a few weeks. Showing up for real searches, like your trade plus your town, takes longer. Often one to three months, and only if the site was built for those searches and is being looked after.
- Is my Facebook page enough instead of a website?
- For a very small business it can be. But Google shows Facebook pages far less than real websites for local searches. If your Facebook page shows up above your own site, that is a sign Google trusts Facebook more than it trusts your site.
- Can I fix my website’s Google problems myself?
- Some of it, for a while. The catch is that the fixes are not a switch. They are a list, and Google changes the list all the time. Most owners who try get a small bump, feel done, and slide back within a few months because nobody is watching the site. It is less like fixing a flat and more like changing the oil. It has to keep happening.