How to get your website to appear on Google

By Kai M, Deliberate Design.

The short answer: first find out whether Google has the site at all. Search for site:yourbusiness.co.uk. If nothing comes up, it is not indexed and the fix is quick. If pages come up but you cannot find them for your trade and town, it is indexed but buried, and the fix is slower.

1. Not indexed

Submit the site in Google Search Console with a sitemap. Check the site is not marked noindex, which some builders set on draft pages and forget. New sites take days to appear.

2. Indexed but only for your name

Normal for a new site. Ranking for what you do takes months. Do the things below and wait.

3. The words are not on the page

If the page never says "electrician" or "Paisley", Google cannot know. Put what you do and where in the page title, the main heading and the first sentence. Plainly, once or twice, not forty times.

4. No Google Business Profile

For local searches the map results come first. A verified profile that links to your site is the biggest single step for a local business.

5. Nothing points at you

Google trusts sites other sites link to. Your profile, your Facebook, a local directory, your suppliers, your trade body. Each real link helps. Bought links hurt.

Then wait

Done right, a local business site moves up over three to twelve months. There is no quicker honest route, and the dishonest ones get sites removed.