Website Disappeared from Google? What to Check First

When a website that used to show up on Google suddenly doesn't, the cause is usually on a short list: the site is down, a setting is telling Google to leave it out, a move broke the old addresses, Google has flagged a security or spam problem, or it's still there and simply ranking lower. First check that it has really gone, because often it hasn't. Then match what you're seeing to a cause, and fix that one thing rather than everything at once.

This guide is for a site that was on Google and has dropped out. If your site is brand new and has never appeared, that's a different problem, covered in what to check when a new website gets no visitors.

Has my website really disappeared from Google?

Often not completely, so run two quick searches before anything else. First, search for your business name. Then search for site: followed by your domain, with no space, for example site:yourbusiness.co.uk. That second search asks Google to list pages it has from your site.

• Nothing comes up for either. That points towards Google not showing your site at all, and the causes in the next section are where to look.
• Your name finds you, your trade doesn't. If "your business name" brings the site up but "cleaner in your town" no longer does, the site hasn't vanished. It's ranking lower, which is a different and usually slower problem.
• Some pages are there, some aren't. That suggests something happened to particular pages, often after a rebuild or a change of page addresses.

Do these searches on your phone with mobile data as well as at home. If the site won't open at all, you've found your answer before Google even comes into it.

Why has my website stopped showing on Google?

Google's own guide to debugging drops in Google Search traffic names the main causes: technical problems that stop Google crawling or showing your pages, security issues, spam issues, ranking updates, site moves, and changes in what people are searching for. On a small business site, each one tends to show up as something you'd notice yourself. Find the row that matches yours:

Take a worked example. Say you run a cleaning business on a website builder, and you switched to a new template last month. A few weeks later the site isn't coming up for your name. The site opens fine, so it isn't down, and you haven't moved domain. The likeliest row is the second one: something in the new template, or a setting you ticked while building it, is telling Google to keep the pages out. The guide to what "excluded by noindex tag" means shows how to find that setting and switch it off.

The other rows have their own guides. A move without redirects is covered in how to redirect your old website to a new domain, and a red warning screen in why a site says "deceptive site ahead".

What does Search Console show for each cause?

Search Console, Google's free tool for site owners, has a report for most of the rows above. If you haven't set it up, the guide on checking whether your website is working walks through it. Once you're in, these are the reports Google's guide points to:

• Page indexing. Which of your pages Google has and hasn't included, with a reason for each one left out. A noindex or a broken move usually shows here.
• Crawl stats. Whether Google has been having trouble reaching your site, which can happen when it's down or very slow.
• Security issues. Whether Google has found hacked content or malware.
• Manual actions. Whether a person at Google has penalised the site.

A manual action is the one to rule out early, because it's the most serious. Google's Manual actions report help page says one means a human reviewer has decided pages on the site break its spam policies, and that "some or all of that site will not be shown in Google search results." Google says it tells you through that report and the Search Console message centre. If the report is empty, that cause is ruled out.

If there is one, Google says you need to fix the problem on every affected page, not just some, and then press Request Review. It says reviews can take several days or weeks.

How long does it take for a website to come back on Google?

Google doesn't give one answer, and it's honest about that. Its debugging guide says "some changes can take effect in a few days, while others could take several months", and that there's no guarantee a change will make a noticeable difference. For a site move, it says a medium-sized website can take a few weeks for Google to notice the change.

So the realistic plan is to fix the cause you found, check Search Console again after a few weeks, and judge from there. A fixed noindex or a fixed redirect gives Google something clear to pick up. A drop from a ranking update is harder. There's no setting to switch back, so that's the case where waiting is most of the work.

What shouldn't you do while you wait?

Don't rip the site up. Google's guide says a small drop in position can recover without you doing anything, and it recommends avoiding radical changes to a page that's already doing well. Changing ten things at once also means you'll never know which one mattered.

Be wary of anyone who emails you promising to get you "back on page one" for a fee. Google's own guide says no change comes with a guarantee, so a promise like that is worth very little, and the guide on how to spot a dodgy SEO covers what a genuine one would ask you first. And don't pay for a new website just because the old one dropped out. Most of the causes above are fixable on the site you already have.

Where should you start this week?

In this order, because each step is quicker than the one after it:

1. Open the site on your phone with mobile data. If it won't load, start with your host and your domain renewal.
2. Search your business name, then the site: search, and note which of the three patterns you see.
3. Think back over the last couple of months: a rebuild, a new template, a new domain or a new builder.
4. Open Search Console and check Manual actions and Security issues first, then Page indexing.
5. Fix the one cause that fits, then leave it a few weeks before judging.

There's more on keeping a site visible in the fix your website and get found hub. If you'd rather someone looked at it with you, or you've decided the old site isn't worth rescuing, ByRender builds the whole website for free and you only pay if you keep it. You can get in touch here.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Search Console to work out what happened?

The free checks at the top of this guide get you part of the way, but Search Console is where Google itself tells you about a manual action or a security problem on your site. If you've never set it up, it's free, and it's worth doing now even if the site comes back on its own.

My Google Business Profile has gone, not my website. Is that the same problem?

No. Your profile, the listing with your map pin, hours and reviews, and your website are separate things with separate causes. If it's the profile that's gone missing, start with the guide on why a Google Business Profile isn't showing up instead.