How to make my website appear on Google

First, check whether Google has your site at all

Search Google for site: followed by your domain, with no space, for example site:yourpractice.co.uk. If pages come back, Google has indexed at least some of your site, and your problem is ranking rather than being found. If nothing comes back, Google either hasn't found the site or has been told not to index it.

Two other quick checks:

• Search your exact practice name. If you appear for that but not for "osteopath in Guildford", you are indexed but not ranking for the services people search.
• Open your site in a private browser window. If you hit a password page, a coming soon screen or a trial notice, Google sees the same thing.

The site: search is a rough guide. Google says it doesn't always show every indexed page. For the full picture you need Search Console.

How to get your website on Google: the indexing basics

Google says that for most sites you don't need to do anything except publish, and that it can take a few weeks for it to notice a new site. You can't register a website with Google in the old sense, but you can make it much easier for Google to find and check it.

Set up Google Search Console

Search Console is free and shows which of your pages Google has indexed, which it hasn't and why. Add your site at search.google.com/search-console and verify it. Wix connects it for you through its SEO Setup Checklist on a paid plan with your own domain, Squarespace has a built-in connection, and on WordPress an SEO plugin usually handles the verification.

Submit your sitemap

A sitemap is a list of the pages you want indexed. Wix and Squarespace create one for you at yourdomain/sitemap.xml, and WordPress creates one at yourdomain/wp-sitemap.xml unless a plugin replaces it. In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste the address and submit it.

Request indexing for your key pages

Paste a page's address into the URL Inspection bar at the top of Search Console, then select Request indexing. Google's URL Inspection help says this usually takes a day or so but can take longer, that there is a daily limit, and that a request doesn't guarantee the page will be indexed. Do it for your home page and main service pages, not every page.

Read the Page indexing report

This report lists pages Google has found but not indexed, with a reason for each:

Why a practice website might not show up on Google

It's brand new

A new site with no links pointing to it can take weeks to be found. Google lists "no other sites link to it" among the reasons a site doesn't appear. A verified Google Business Profile that links to your site, and listings in your professional directories, give Google a route in.

It's blocked

This is more common than you'd think, especially on sites built in a hurry. The usual culprits:

• Wix: Let search engines index your site is switched off in your SEO settings, or Let search engines index this page is off in a page's SEO basics.
• Squarespace: Hide page from search results is switched on in a page's SEO tab, the crawler block is ticked under Settings, the site is password protected, or the site is still on a trial, which Squarespace says search engines won't find.
• WordPress: Discourage search engines from indexing this site is ticked under Settings, then Reading. Developers often tick it during a build and forget to untick it at launch.

It's thin

A five page site with one paragraph per page gives Google very little to rank. The common pattern in practice sites is a single Services page listing twelve treatments in a line each. Google can't match that to someone searching "lower back pain physio Leeds", because no page is about that. Our guide on adding keywords to your website covers how to fix it.

It's duplicated

If your text was copied from a template, a franchise site or a colleague's practice, or your old site is still live on another address, Google may index the other version and ignore yours. After a move to a new domain, the old pages should redirect to the new ones rather than staying up.

Competitors are simply ahead

If you're indexed but on page three, the practices above you usually have more specific pages, more reviews and more local links. That is a ranking problem, not an indexing one, and the fix is better pages and a stronger profile over months.

Google Business Profile versus the organic results

A search for "dentist near me" shows two different things: the map results with three practices and their stars, and the ordinary website results below. They are ranked differently.

The map results come from Google Business Profiles. Google's local ranking guidance says they are ranked on relevance, distance and prominence, that reviews and ratings can help, and that there is no way to pay for a better position. Your website feeds into this, but the profile matters most.

The organic results below come from websites. That is where your service pages, titles and content do the work.

Many practice owners who say their website isn't showing are missing from the map results, which usually means the profile needs work:

• Claim and verify your profile, and link it to your website.
• Choose the most accurate primary category, such as Physiotherapist or Cosmetic dentist, and as few extra categories as describe the practice.
• Use your real practice name, with no towns or treatments added. Google's guidelines don't allow it.
• If patients come to you, including in a rented clinic room, show that address. Only hide your address and set a service area if you visit clients rather than seeing them at a fixed place. See our Google Business Profile guide.
• Add your services, hours, booking link and photos, and keep a steady flow of Google reviews.

A fix-it checklist for a site that won't show up

1. Run a site: search for your domain and a search for your practice name.
2. Open the site in a private window and check there is no password, holding page or trial notice.
3. Check your platform's hide from search settings, site-wide and on each key page.
4. Set up Search Console and verify the site.
5. Submit your sitemap.
6. Inspect your home page and main service pages, and request indexing.
7. Read the Page indexing report and fix any noindex, blocked or duplicate pages you want indexed.
8. Give each main service its own page, with the service and town in the title and main heading.
9. If you moved from an old site or domain, redirect every old page to its new address.
10. Claim, verify and complete your Google Business Profile, and link it to the site.
11. Get listed in your professional directories, with the same name, address and phone number everywhere.
12. Give it a few weeks, then check Search Console again before changing anything else.

Showing up in AI answers as well as Google

More patients now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews which practice to try. The good news is that most of the work above carries over.

• Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode: Google says there are no extra requirements. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, which is what the checklist above gets you.
• ChatGPT search: OpenAI says sites that want to appear should allow its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, in robots.txt. Most sites allow it by default. Open yourdomain/robots.txt to check, and on Squarespace make sure the option to block known AI crawlers under Settings, Crawlers isn't ticked unless you mean it.
• Bing: verifying your site in Bing Webmaster Tools is quick, and Microsoft's Copilot draws on Bing's index.

Beyond being crawlable, AI assistants tend to name practices whose details are clear and consistent across the web: the same name, services and location on your website, your Business Profile and your directory listings, and pages that answer the questions patients ask. Our page on what GEO is explains this in more depth.

The quickest way to see where you stand is to ask. Our free AI visibility check puts real patient questions to an AI assistant with live web search and shows whether your practice gets named, and which practices are named instead. It takes about a minute.