Site Not on Google? The Indexing Checklist (Search Console)

Searched your own domain and found nothing? That's an indexing problem, not a ranking one - and no keyword tweak fixes it until Google actually knows your pages exist. Here's the checklist.

Step 0: Are you even indexed?

Search site:yourdomain.com. Pages show = indexed (ranking problem). Nothing = not indexed (fixes below).

The usual causes

• Too new - submit in Search Console, request indexing, wait days to weeks.
• noindex tag - WordPress: uncheck "Discourage search engines" (Settings → Reading). Check per-page SEO settings.
• robots.txt block - make sure it isn't disallowing your pages.
• No sitemap - submit /sitemap_index.xml in Search Console.
• Thin content - Google won't index empty pages.

The fastest nudge

Google Search Console → URL Inspection → Request Indexing. It also tells you exactly why a page isn't indexed.

Starting fresh? A fast, SEO-ready base helps — see DesignToCodes templates.

What kept your site out of the index the longest? Mine was a stray noindex 👇