How to Find Out If Google Even Knows Your Website Exists

You paid for a website. You spent time writing about what you do, choosing photos, making it look nice. And then, when you Google yourself, nothing comes up. Or even worse, something comes up from five years ago that doesn’t represent who you are anymore. That sinking feeling? You’re not imagining it. And you are absolutely not alone.

A lot of the women I work with tell me some version of the same thing: “I don’t even know if Google knows my website is there.” They say it almost apologetically, like they should already know the answer. But here’s the thing, there is no reason you would automatically know this. Nobody taught you this part. You learned how to be great at what you do, and then somewhere along the way, someone implied that having a website meant people would find it. That’s not how it works, and it’s not your fault that nobody explained that.

So let’s just figure it out together. No jargon, no judgment, and no making you feel like you missed a memo. I’m going to walk you through exactly how to check if Google knows about your website, what to do if it doesn’t, and why this matters more than you might think.

Why This Even Matters

Here’s the real-world version of this. Someone hears about you. Maybe a friend mentions your name at a dinner party, or someone sees your comment in a Facebook group and thinks, “Oh, she sounds interesting.” What do they do next? They Google you.

If your website doesn’t show up, it’s not that they think you’re not credible. It’s that they move on. They get distracted. They forget your name. The moment passes. And you never even know it happened.

Your website showing up in Google isn’t about some fancy marketing strategy. It’s about being findable when someone is already looking for you. That’s it. And that’s a huge opportunity when it’s working.

This connects to something I believe deeply: your website should fit you, and part of fitting you means actually being visible to the people who need what you offer.

The Simplest Test You Can Do Right Now

This takes about 10 seconds. Open Google (not the address bar of your browser, but actually go to google.com). Type this exactly:

site:yourdomain.com

So if your website is janedoecoaching.com, you’d type:

site:janedoecoaching.com

Hit enter.

What you see next tells you a lot.

If pages from your website show up

Google knows you exist. Take a breath. That’s good news. Now, look at what’s actually showing up. Are the pages current? Do the descriptions underneath each result make sense? Do they reflect what you actually do right now, or do they sound like a version of your business from three years ago?

This is where a lot of women I work with spot something interesting. Google might know the site exists, but it’s showing outdated information, old page titles, or descriptions that don’t match who they are anymore. That’s not a disaster. That’s an opportunity to update how you show up.

If nothing shows up

Don’t panic. Seriously, don’t. This is more common than you’d think, and it doesn’t mean anything is broken beyond repair. It usually means one of a few things happened, and all of them are fixable.

Reasons Google Might Not Know About Your Site (And What to Do About Each One)

Your site is brand new

Google doesn’t find new websites instantly. It can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for Google to discover, crawl, and list a new site. If your website just launched in the last month or so, this might just be a patience thing.

What to do: You can speed this up by submitting your site to Google directly. I’ll walk you through that in a minute.

Your site is accidentally set to “no index”

This is one of the most common things I see, and it happens to smart, capable people all the time. Most website builders, including WordPress, Squarespace, and others, have a setting somewhere that tells search engines not to index the site. It’s meant for when your site is under construction. But sometimes it gets left on after launch. Sometimes it gets accidentally toggled. And then your site just quietly disappears from Google without any warning.

What to do: Here’s how to check, depending on your platform.

• WordPress: Go to Settings > Reading. Look for a checkbox that says “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.” If it’s checked, uncheck it and save.
• Squarespace: Go to Settings > SEO. Look for a setting about search engine visibility or indexing.
• Wix: Go to Site Settings > SEO. Make sure your site is set to be visible to search engines.

If you find that box checked, honestly, just smile. Because you just found the reason, and unchecking it is the fix. That’s it.

Nobody is linking to your site

Google finds websites partly by following links from other websites. If no other website links to yours, Google has fewer ways to discover it. This doesn’t mean you need to go on some big link-building campaign. It just means there’s an opportunity to make sure your website URL shows up in the places where you already exist online.

What to do: Make sure your website URL is in your:

• Facebook business page
• Instagram bio
• LinkedIn profile
• Google Business Profile (if you have one)
• Any online directories for your industry
• Your email signature

Every one of those is a little trail of breadcrumbs that leads Google back to your site.

Your site doesn’t have enough content

Google has a harder time understanding what a website is about if there’s very little on it. If your site has just a home page with a paragraph and a contact form, Google might crawl it and essentially shrug. There’s not enough there for it to categorize or rank.

What to do: This doesn’t mean you need to start a blog tomorrow (although that can help over time). It means making sure your core pages, like your about page, your services page, and your home page, have enough real, meaningful text on them for Google to understand what you do and who you help.

How to Tell Google Your Website Exists (Manually)

If Google doesn’t seem to know about your site, you can introduce yourself. Think of it like walking up and saying, “Hi, I’m here.”

Step 1: Go to Google Search Console

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one for free. It doesn’t have to be a Gmail address you use every day. It just needs to exist.

Step 2: Add your website

Google will ask you to verify that you own the site. There are a few ways to do this, and the easiest one depends on your platform. For most website builders, there’s a simple option to paste a small piece of code into your site’s settings, or to connect through your domain provider. Google walks you through it step by step.

If this part feels overwhelming, that’s completely okay. This is one of those things that sounds more technical than it actually is, but I also understand that “sounds more technical than it is” still might feel like a lot. You can always reach out and get some help with this.

Step 3: Submit your sitemap

Once you’re verified, look for the “Sitemaps” section in the left menu. Your sitemap is basically a list of all the pages on your website, packaged in a way Google can read. Most platforms generate one automatically.

Try submitting one of these:

• yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
• yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml

If it works, Google will confirm it. If it doesn’t, your platform might use a slightly different format, and a quick search for “sitemap URL for [your platform]” will usually give you the answer.

Step 4: Request indexing for your most important pages

In Google Search Console, there’s a tool at the top called the URL Inspection tool. Paste in the full URL of your home page and hit enter. Google will tell you whether it’s indexed or not. If it’s not, you’ll see a button that says “Request Indexing.” Click it.

You can do this for your most important pages, like your home page, about page, and services page. It’s like tapping Google on the shoulder and saying, “Hey, would you mind taking a look at these?”

What to Do After Google Finds You

Getting indexed is the first step. But here’s where the real opportunity lives: making sure what Google shows about your site actually represents you well.

When your site shows up in search results, Google displays a title and a short description for each page. These come from your page titles and meta descriptions. If you’ve never set those intentionally, Google just pulls whatever it can find, which sometimes means your search result looks like this:

Home | Jane Doe
Jane Doe is a coach who helps people achieve their goals…

That’s not terrible, but it’s also not doing you any favors. A lot of the women I work with have never touched their meta descriptions, and that’s completely understandable. Nobody tells you this stuff. But once you know about it, updating it is surprisingly straightforward, and it makes a real difference in how you show up when someone searches for you.

Your page title should be clear about what you do and who you help. Your meta description should sound like you, not like a robot wrote it. This is one more place where your website should sound like you and sell what you sell.

A Quick Sanity Check You Can Do Every Few Months

You don’t need to obsess over this. But every couple of months, it’s worth doing a quick check:

• Google your own name. Does your website show up? Does the information look current?
• Google your business name. Same questions.
• Do the site: search again. Are your important pages showing up? Are old or irrelevant pages cluttering the results?
• Check Google Search Console. Are there any errors or warnings? (Google will show you these in plain language.)

Think of it like glancing in the mirror before you leave the house. You’re not spending an hour on it. You’re just making sure everything looks the way you want it to.

The Bigger Picture Here

I talk to women every week who have been in business for years. They’re great at what they do. They have clients who love them. And their website is this quiet source of low-grade stress because they’re not sure it’s actually doing anything.

Finding out whether Google knows your site exists is one of those small, concrete steps that can shift that feeling. It’s not about mastering SEO or becoming a tech person. It’s about making sure the front door to your business is actually visible from the street.

And if you find out that things need a little attention? That’s not a failure. That’s just information. Information you can actually do something about.

I always say, no stupid questions. Tech is a language. Nobody was born speaking it. And figuring out whether Google can see your website is one of the most practical, empowering things you can learn about your online presence. It takes the mystery out of it. And once the mystery is gone, it’s a whole lot less scary.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take for Google to find a new website?

It can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks. Submitting your site through Google Search Console and making sure your URL is on your social media profiles can speed things up. There’s no exact timeline, but most sites start showing up within a couple of weeks after being submitted.

Do I need to pay for Google to list my website?

No. Google’s regular search results are completely free. You never have to pay to be included. What you might see advertised as “paid” are Google Ads, which are a separate thing entirely. Your organic listing, the one that shows up naturally, costs nothing.

I checked and my site is set to “no index.” Did I lose all my Google history?

Not permanently. Once you uncheck that setting and save it, Google will start crawling your site again. It might take a little time for your pages to reappear in search results, but you haven’t lost anything for good. Think of it as Google just took a break from looking at your site, and now you’re inviting it back.

What if I did all of this and my site still isn’t showing up?

There could be a technical issue that needs a closer look, something with your domain settings, your hosting, or the way your site is built. This is a great reason to have someone who knows their way around these things take a peek. Sometimes it’s something really simple that just needs a trained eye to spot.

If your website no longer feels like you, let’s talk about it – Book a Free Website Clarity Call with Beth →