You have launched your website. You search for your business name, and nothing appears. It is a worrying moment, but it is very common, and it is usually easy to fix.
Search engines do not know a new website exists until something points them to it. This guide shows you how to check where you stand, and the seven free steps that help Google and Bing find your pages.
The short answer: most new websites appear on Google within a few days to a few weeks. Add your site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap, and make sure no setting is hiding the site from search engines. That is usually enough.
How long does it take for a new website to appear on Google?
Usually a few days to a few weeks. Google's own guidance says it can take a few weeks to notice a new site, and that crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
Crawling means a search engine's program visits your page and reads it. Indexing means the page is added to the search engine's list of pages it can show. Your page can only appear in results after both have happened.
If nothing has appeared after four weeks, something is probably in the way. The steps below will help you find it.
How do you check whether Google has found your website?
Type site:yourbusiness.com into Google, using your own domain name.
Google shows the pages it has indexed from your site. If you see none, Google has not
indexed your site yet.
This quick check is not a complete count. For an exact answer on one page, use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console, explained in step 4.
What are the seven steps to get your website on Google?
Work through them in order. The first step fixes the most common problem, and the whole list takes about an hour.
1. Make sure nothing is blocking search engines
Many website builders have a setting that hides a site while you work on it. It may be called "discourage search engines", "hide from search" or "coming soon mode". Check it is switched off after launch.
Two other blocks are worth checking. A noindex tag is a hidden line
of code that tells Google not to show a page. A robots.txt file,
found at yourbusiness.com/robots.txt, tells crawlers which pages they may read. If it
says Disallow: /, it blocks everything.
Our guide to blocking AI crawlers explains how to read a robots.txt file in two minutes.
2. Add your website to Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google. It shows whether your pages are indexed, which searches bring visitors, and any problems Google finds.
To use it, you prove that you own the website. The most reliable way is a short text record added where your domain name is managed. Your website provider can do this for you in a few minutes.
3. Submit your sitemap
A sitemap is a file that lists every page you want search engines to find. It usually lives at yourbusiness.com/sitemap.xml. Most website builders create one for you.
In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste the address and press submit. When you add a new page later, make sure it appears in the sitemap too.
4. Ask Google to index your most important pages
In Search Console, paste a page address into the URL Inspection box at the top. It tells you whether that page is on Google. If it is not, press Request indexing.
Do this for your home page, your main service pages and your contact page. There is a daily limit, and Google says asking again for the same page does not make it faster. Ask once, then wait.
5. Add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools is Bing's free version of Search Console. Bing results also appear in Microsoft Copilot, so this step helps with an AI assistant as well as a search engine.
If you already use Google Search Console, Bing can import your site from it in a few clicks. Bing also supports IndexNow, a simple way for a website to tell search engines straight away when a page is added or changed.
6. Link to your website from places you already control
Search engines find new pages by following links. Give them a few paths to your site from places they already visit.
- Google Business Profile: add your website address to your free business listing.
- Social media pages: put the link in your Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn details.
- Industry directories: update your listing with a trade body or local business directory.
Keep your name, phone number and address the same everywhere. Our guide to where AI tools get their facts explains why that matters.
7. Give each page something worth indexing
Google does not index every page it finds. A page with a few words, or the same text as another page, may be read and then left out.
In Search Console, this may show as Crawled – currently not indexed. The fix is better content, not another request. Give each service its own page, and write out who it is for, where you work, what is included and how to book.
Why does Google show my business name but not my services?
Because being indexed and ranking are different things. Once indexed, your site can appear when someone searches your exact name. To appear for "plumber in Hamilton", your page has to be one of the most useful answers to that search.
That usually means one clear page per service, with your area and prices written out. We explain the common gaps in why a website does not get traffic and service pages that AI tools understand.
If your site is indexed but still quiet, our xEO optimisation service improves the pages you already have, for search engines and AI assistants together.
Does this help with ChatGPT and other AI assistants?
Partly. AI assistants that search the web need to find and read your pages too. The same basics help: pages that are not blocked, a clear sitemap and plain answers.
Some assistants use their own crawlers. Check that your robots.txt does not block them, then try our 10-minute ChatGPT test to see what an assistant says about you today.
Starting from scratch? Green Kauri's website plan costs USD 99 a year and is built with clear page titles, headings and structure for search engines and AI tools from day one.
Which official sources support this guidance?
- Google Search Central: get your website on Google — how Google finds new sites, and why it can take a few weeks.
- Google Search Central: ask Google to recrawl your URLs — crawling takes days to weeks, and repeated requests do not speed it up.
- Google Search Central: build and submit a sitemap — what a sitemap is and how to submit it.
- Google Search Central: block indexing with noindex — how a noindex rule keeps a page out of Google.
- Google Search Central: the site: search operator — how to see which pages Google has indexed.
- Google Search Central: how Google Search works — Google does not accept payment to crawl a site more often or rank it higher.
- IndexNow — the protocol Bing and other search engines use to hear about new and changed pages.
New website on Google FAQs
Why is my new website not showing on Google?
Usually because Google has not found or indexed it yet, which can take a few days to a few weeks. Other common causes are a "hide from search engines" setting left on, a noindex tag, or a robots.txt file that blocks crawlers. Google Search Console shows which of these applies.
Can I pay Google to index my website faster?
No. Google does not accept payment to crawl, index or rank a website in its normal results. Paid ads appear in a separate, labelled section. The free steps work best: add your site to Search Console, submit a sitemap and request indexing for your most important pages once.
How do I know if Google has indexed my website?
Search Google for site: followed by your domain name, for example site:yourbusiness.com. If pages appear, Google has indexed them. For an exact answer about one page, paste its address into the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console, which shows whether that page is on Google.
Do I need to submit my website to Bing as well?
Yes, it is worth ten minutes. Bing Webmaster Tools is free and can import your site from Google Search Console. Bing results also appear in Microsoft Copilot, so adding your site helps both a search engine and an AI assistant find your pages and show them to customers.
Once customers can find you, make sure every enquiry gets a quick reply. Green Kauri can build a custom AI agent that sends a fast, useful first response while you are busy with work.