Imagine you’ve spent hours building your WordPress site. Everything looks great. You hit publish. Then you search your site on Google… and it’s not there. You try again with different keywords, even scroll through pages. Still nothing. It feels disappointing and confusing.
This doesn’t mean your site is broken or you’ve made a big mistake. It usually means your site hasn’t been picked up by Google yet. And yes, this is a very common issue for new website owners. The good news? It’s easy to fix once you know what to look for.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the most common reasons why your WordPress site isn’t showing up on Google and how to fix them step by step. These are beginner-friendly tips that don’t require any coding or technical knowledge.
Let’s dive in.
How to Fix WordPress Site Not Showing Up in Google (Step by Step)
There’s no single formula by which you can fix the problem instantly. Instead, you have to try a series of steps one by one until it’s solved. Let’s explore the steps below.
Step 01: Make Sure Search Engines Are Allowed to Index Your Site
Sometimes, your WordPress site might be hidden from search engines without you even realizing it. This often happens if you built your site in private and forgot to change one small setting later.
Here’s how to check and fix it:
- Go to your WordPress Dashboard
- Click on Settings > Reading
- Look for the option that says ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site‘
- If that box is checked, uncheck it
- Click Save Changes
This setting tells Google whether or not it should crawl your site. If it’s turned on, Google will skip your site completely. So make sure it’s turned off.
Step 02: Check If Your Site Is Already in Google’s Index
Now, let’s see if your site is actually on Google yet. You can do this with a simple search. Go to Google and type:
site:yourdomain.com
Replace yourdomain.com with your actual website link.
If Google shows some results, that means your site is already indexed. If nothing appears, don’t worry, we’ll help you get it indexed.
Step 03: Connect Your Site to Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool by Google. It helps you monitor how your site is doing in search results. It also lets you submit your site for indexing directly.
Here’s how to get started:
- Go to Google Search Console
- Sign in with your Google account
- Click + Add property to add your website to the search console
After that, you’ll be asked to verify the ownership of your account. (You can see that my property is already added to the search console).
Note: If the verification process seems irritating, using a plugin like Google Site Kit could be extremely useful to you.
Once your site is verified, submit your sitemap. A sitemap helps Google understand the structure of your website.
The format of your sitemap will be as follows.
yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
Copy the sitemap URL and paste it into the respective place of your search console. Google will begin crawling your pages right away.
You can also use the URL Inspection Tool to request indexing of important pages like your homepage or blog.
Step 04: Use an SEO Plugin Like All in One SEO
If you’re new to SEO, using a good plugin will save you time and energy. All in One SEO is one of the best plugins for WordPress beginners. Explore the best WordPress SEO plugins.
Here’s why it’s useful:
- It helps you add titles and meta descriptions (these are important for search results)
- It automatically generates and updates your sitemap
- It checks your content and gives SEO suggestions as you write
- It helps you set focus keywords to target the right search terms
Install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard and go through the basic setup wizard. It does most of the work for you.
Step 05: Write Valuable and Search-Friendly Content
Google wants to show helpful content to users, not just random words or short posts. So, if your site doesn’t have enough good content, it won’t rank well.
Here are some easy tips:
- Make each page or post at least 500 to 1500 words long
- Focus on topics you know well or care about
- Use keywords naturally in your content (think: what would someone type in Google to find your page?)
- Break your content into sections using H1, H2, and H3 headings
- Avoid vague titles like “Welcome to My Site”—instead, use clear and specific headings like “How to Bake a Chocolate Cake at Home”
Your goal is to create content that’s helpful, detailed, and easy to read. Google loves that. Check how to start blogging and sharing valuable content on your website.
Step 06: Get Backlinks to Build Site Authority
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours. Google sees backlinks as a sign of trust. If other sites link to you, it means your content is valuable.
Here’s how to get started with backlinks:
- Share your site on social media platforms
- Add your site to your Google Business Profile if you have one
- Submit your site to free online directories
- Ask friends, colleagues, or bloggers to link to your best posts
- Write guest blog posts for other websites in your niche and include a link back to your site
You don’t need hundreds of backlinks. Just a few quality ones can make a big difference.
Step 07: Speed Up Your WordPress Site
Google prefers fast websites—and so do your visitors. A slow site can hurt your rankings and make people leave quickly.
Here’s how to make your site faster:
- Use a caching plugin like WP Rocket
- Compress your images with plugins like Smush or ShortPixel
- Choose a lightweight theme like Astra or Sydney
- Avoid installing too many heavy plugins
You can test your site speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
Final Thoughts
Not seeing your website on Google can feel disappointing, but it’s also very normal for beginners. The good news is that you’re not stuck. You just need to take a few right steps to help Google find and understand your site.
With the tips above, your WordPress website will soon be visible in search results. Be patient. Sometimes Google takes a little time to crawl and index new sites. But if you follow these steps, you’re on the right track.
Keep creating good content. Keep improving your site. And if you found this post helpful, feel free to bookmark it and come back later as a checklist. Good luck!
