Getting found on Google: common questions

Usually one of four things. Google has not found it yet, which is normal for a new site and can take weeks. Something is telling Google to stay away, such as a setting left switched on from when the site was being built. Your pages do not use the words people actually search, so Google has nothing to match them to: a page titled Home or Services tells it very little. Or other sites answer the search better and Google ranks them first. The first two are quick to check. Search Google for site: followed by your web address, with no space. If nothing comes back, Google has not listed your site, and Google Search Console will tell you why. If your pages do come back but not for the searches you care about, it is one of the last two, which is what the rest of these answers cover.

For a new website, Google usually finds and lists its pages within a few days to a few weeks, sooner if another site already links to it. Showing up for your own business name tends to come first. Showing up for the searches customers type, like a service and a town, takes longer, often months for a new site, because Google is weighing your pages against businesses it has trusted for years. When you change an existing page, expect two to six weeks before rankings react. That gap is why it pays to note the date of every change you make, so you can tell later which ones worked. How RankingIQ keeps that record for you.

The quickest check is to search Google for site: followed by your web address, for example site:yourbusiness.co.uk. What comes back is a rough list of the pages Google has indexed, meaning the pages that can appear in its results. If a page you care about is missing, Google has either not found it or chosen to leave it out. Google Search Console, which is free, tells you which: its Pages report lists the pages Google knows about and why any were left out, and its URL Inspection tool lets you ask Google to look at a page again. If you set up one free tool for your website, make it this one.

Because, for that particular search, Google judges their page the better answer, and usually it comes down to a few visible things. Their page is about exactly that search, with the words in its title and headings, where yours covers it in passing or not at all. They have a page for each service, or each town they cover, where you have one page for everything. Their site has been around longer and more websites link to it, which Google reads as a sign of trust. For local searches, their Google Business Profile may be more complete or carry more reviews. Most of this you can see for yourself: open the pages above you, read their titles and headings, and compare them with yours. RankingIQ makes that comparison for every search you track.

Start with the page that should rank for each search, and make it unmistakably about that search. Its title, the line Google shows in large text in its results, should contain the words people type, in plain language, rather than your business name alone. Its main heading should say the same thing. The page should answer what someone searching wants to know: what you do, where, for whom, and roughly what it costs. If you offer several services, give each its own page rather than listing them all on one. The short description shown under the title does not change your position, but it decides whether people click, so write it as a reason to choose you. These are changes you can make in an afternoon, and they are where most small business websites fall short.

Yes, for most small businesses, most of the way. The changes that move a local or specialist business, clearer page titles, a page for each service, content that answers what customers ask, and a complete Google Business Profile, need no technical skill and can be made in any website builder. Where an agency earns its fee is the harder end: winning searches against national competitors, fixing technical problems on large or complex sites, and earning links from other websites, which takes time and relationships. For most owners the difficult part is not doing the work, it is knowing which work matters on which page. That is the part RankingIQ does.

It can be, if the searches you need are competitive, you have the budget for several months of work before results show, and you would rather pay someone than do it yourself. A good agency researches, writes and builds for you, and that is skilled time. It is less likely to pay off if your business is local or specialist and your website simply does not say clearly what you do, because those fixes are within an owner’s reach. Whichever you choose, be wary of anyone who guarantees a number one position. Google itself says nobody can guarantee a top ranking. Ask instead which pages they will change, what they will change on them, and how they will show you it worked.

Agency retainers for small UK businesses commonly run from a few hundred pounds to around £2,000 a month, and the price guides UK agencies publish mostly put a typical small business between £500 and £2,000. The price reflects hours: writing, technical fixes and earning links are skilled labour. Freelancers usually cost less than agencies, and doing it yourself costs time rather than money. A tool sits at the other end: it does none of the work, but tells you where you stand and, in RankingIQ’s case, what to change, from £25 a month.