SEO check · Free · No sign-up
Why doesn’t my website
show up properly on Google?
Check for free whether your website has technical blocks that could stop Google from indexing it properly.
Last updated: · By the Wakaris team
Possible results
- We didn’t find any blocks
robots.txt lets Google in, the page has no noindex and it responds properly. Nothing technical stops Google from storing it, although that doesn’t ensure it’s already on Google.
- We found something that could stop it
A block in robots.txt, a noindex, or an error or redirect response. The result tells you which one came up.
- Inconclusive
We couldn’t read the page or one of its signals, for example because it doesn’t respond or doesn’t let automated visits through.
Why doesn’t my website show up on Google?
Before showing a page, Google has to be able to do two things: crawl it, that is, get in and read it, and index it, store it in its index. If something technical stops either of them, the page doesn’t appear, however good it is.
The most common technical causes are few and almost never intentional: a robots.txt that shuts Google out, often copied from the test version; a noindex left behind after a redesign or a migration, in the code or in a header the server adds out of sight; or an address that responds with an error or a chain of redirects.
And there are others that aren’t technical: the page is new and Google hasn’t visited it yet, hardly anything links to it, or many pages are competing for the same thing. Those can’t be seen from outside with any check.
What does Wakaris check?
It looks, the way Googlebot would, at the three technical signals that decide whether Google can get into your page and store it:
robots.txt
We read your website’s robots.txt file and check whether its rules let Googlebot into the address you typed. If there are rules specifically for Googlebot, those are the ones that count.
noindex
We look for the instruction not to store the page in both places it can be: the meta robots tag in the code and the X-Robots-Tag header the server sends.
The page’s response
We look at the code the address responds with: a 200 if it loads fine, a redirect if it sends you elsewhere, or a 4xx or 5xx error if it can’t be found or the server is failing.
What to do if Google can’t index my website?
You don’t need to know anything about websites. What matters is knowing which of the three things came up, because each one is fixed in a different place.
Look at what came up
The result shows one line for each thing we look at: whether robots.txt lets Google in, whether the page has a noindex and which code it responds with. Take a screenshot or copy what comes up.
If someone else or an agency runs your website
You don’t have to touch anything: copy the message below, paste what came up and send it to whoever built or maintains your website.
Hi. I checked my website with Wakaris’s indexing checker (https://indexacion.wakaris.com/en) and it shows something that could stop Google from storing the page: a block in robots.txt, a noindex (in the meta robots tag or in the X-Robots-Tag header) or an error response. Could you look into it so that:
1. robots.txt lets Google into the pages I want to appear.
2. Those pages carry no noindex, neither in the code nor in the server headers.
3. They respond with a 200, without errors or redirect chains.
Once it’s done, let me know and I’ll check it again on the same page. Thanks.
What came up in the check:
If you don’t want that page on Google on purpose (a private area, a test version), there’s nothing to change. If you run the website yourself, carry on with the next steps.
If robots.txt is blocking
robots.txt is a text file at the root of your website (yourwebsite.com/robots.txt). Look for a “Disallow: /” line under “User-agent: *” or “User-agent: Googlebot” and remove it, or change it so it only closes off what you don’t want on Google, such as a private area. On WordPress, untick “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” in Settings › Reading; with Yoast or Rank Math, robots.txt is edited from their tools.
If a noindex comes up
The page is asking Google not to store it. On WordPress, check that same box in Settings › Reading and, in your SEO plugin, that the page isn’t marked as “noindex”. On Wix or Shopify, look at the page’s SEO settings (on Shopify, a password-protected store isn’t indexed either). If the noindex comes in the X-Robots-Tag header, the server adds it: ask your hosting provider.
If the page responds with an error or redirects
A 404 means Google can’t find the page, and a 5xx that the server is failing: check the address is right and, if it’s a 5xx, tell your host. If it redirects, it should go to the final address in a single hop, and that should be the one you link to and put in the sitemap.
Ask Google to come back
Once it’s fixed, in Google Search Console use “Inspect URL” and then “Request indexing”. And check it again here: each address’s result is kept for 24 hours, so if you check right after the change you’ll see the old one.
If you don’t find any blocks, does that mean Google has indexed my website?
No. Not seeing any block means there’s nothing technical stopping Google from getting into your page and storing it. It doesn’t mean it has already stored it, or that it will rank well: Google decides that based on the content, the links it gets and the competition, and it can’t be seen from outside.
To find out what Google really sees, use Google Search Console, its free tool: “Inspect URL” tells you whether a page is on Google and, if not, why.
Learn more
Frequently asked questions about Google indexing
Why doesn’t my page show up on Google?
The most common technical causes are three, and they’re what this check looks at: a robots.txt that won’t let Google in, a forgotten noindex (in the meta robots tag or in the X-Robots-Tag header) and an address that responds with an error. If none of them comes up, the reason is usually something else: the page is new and Google hasn’t visited it yet, hardly any other page links to it, or many pages are competing for the same thing.
How do I know if my website has a noindex?
Type its address above: we look at the meta robots tag in the page’s code and also at the X-Robots-Tag header the server may add, which doesn’t show in the code. To look by hand, open “View page source” in your browser and search for “noindex”; the header can only be seen with the browser’s developer tools or in Search Console.
What happens if I block Googlebot in robots.txt?
Google doesn’t go in to read the page. If it was already on Google, it may keep showing for a while, but without a description and without being updated. And if what you want is to take it off Google, blocking it in robots.txt doesn’t work: since Google can’t get in, it never sees the noindex. To keep it from appearing, let Google in and add a noindex.
How long does Google take to index a page?
There’s no fixed time: it can range from a few hours to several weeks. It helps if pages Google already knows link to it, if it’s in the sitemap and if the website gets updated. In Search Console you can ask Google to look at it sooner, although that doesn’t guarantee it will store it.
Does an indexable page necessarily appear in the results?
No. Being indexable only means there’s nothing technical stopping Google from storing it. Google then decides whether to store it and where to show it, based on how useful it finds the content, the links it gets and the competition. This check can’t know any of that.
How can I check real indexing with Search Console?
Search Console is Google’s free tool for website owners. With your website added and verified, type the page’s address into the “Inspect URL” bar at the top: it will tell you whether it’s on Google and, if not, why. The “Pages” report shows every page that hasn’t been indexed and the reason for each one.
This is one check. Wakaris runs 135.
Whether Google can index your website is just one of the things the SEO specialty looks at. Wakaris analyzes your website across nine specialties (security, performance, accessibility, legal, SEO and more) and explains it clearly, without jargon. Free and without signing up.
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