Does your business offer good services, but can’t be found on Google? Before deciding that your website needs a revamp, first check whether Google can crawl, index and understand its content. A technical issue, pages that aren’t useful enough or a lack of local signals could be holding back your visibility.
In this guide, Elvis Web helps you identify the most common causes and prioritise the actions to be taken in 2026, whether your business is targeting France or Madagascar.
Start by checking the following: site:votredomaine.com in Google, replacing the domain with your own. This search provides a rough guide, but it is no substitute for the data from Google Search Console.
In Google Search Console, open the page indexing report. You’ll be able to distinguish between URLs that have been indexed and those that have been excluded, blocked or are unknown to Google. Then check the URLs of your home page and your most important sales pages.
Google needs to discover pages, crawl them, and then decide whether it is worth indexing them. This process can take some time, particularly if your site receives few links and has few pages that can be accessed from other sites. Submit your sitemap to Search Console and check that the key pages are accessible.
A page may be excluded because it contains a directive noindex, whether it redirects to another URL, returns an error, or Google considers another page to be more relevant. Use the URL inspection tool to identify the exact reason before taking any action.
An incorrectly configured blocking rule may prevent Googlebot from accessing important resources or sections. The robots.txt file is not intended to remove a page that has already been indexed: its main purpose is to control crawling. Check the rules carefully and avoid blocking the entire site by mistake.
Pages that consist of just a few generic sentences provide little information to visitors and search engines. Explain your services in detail, the problems you solve, your approach, the areas you cover, your indicative rates where relevant, and answers to frequently asked questions. Do not publish several almost identical pages simply to target different towns.
A heading such as ‘Home’ or ‘Our services’ does not always make it clear what you are selling or who your target audience is. Opt for a descriptive heading instead, such as ‘WordPress website design for businesses’, if this accurately reflects what you offer. Each key page should address a specific search intent, without artificially repeating the same keyword.
If your articles, service pages and case studies aren’t linked to one another, some pages will be harder to find. Add contextual links: an article on SEO could link to your SEO & Marketing page, and a guide to creating a website for your website design service. Links should be helpful to the reader, not just a way of adding keywords.
Very slow-loading pages, images that are too large, elements that move whilst the page is loading, or a mobile menu that is difficult to use can detract from the user experience. Test your pages with PageSpeed Insights. Start with the pages that generate enquiries: the home page, services page, contact page and quote pages.
For location-based searches, clearly state your service area, your contact details and the services you offer. If your business is eligible, create or complete your Google Business Profile, select the appropriate categories and add recent photos. The information must be accurate and consistent. Discover our service for local search engine optimisation.
Missing contact details, missing legal pages, testimonials that cannot be verified or unexplained achievements can put people off making enquiries. Introduce your business, explain how you work, provide references and a simple way to contact you. Relevant inbound links can also help raise awareness of your website, but avoid buying dubious links and using artificial techniques.
Use this table to organise the checks. The aim is first to fix anything that is preventing Google from accessing the pages, and then to improve their relevance and their ability to convert.
| Symptom | Checks to be carried out | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| No pages known to Google | Search Console, sitemap, robots.txt, noindex directives | Urgent |
| Pages that are indexed but do not appear in targeted search queries | Search intent, titles, content, competition | High |
| Visits, but few enquiries | Offer, evidence, CTA, form and mobile display | High |
| Little local visibility | Google listing, service area, reviews and useful local pages | High |
| Slow-loading pages on mobile phones | Images, scripts, cache, hosting and Core Web Vitals | Medium to high |
If important pages remain excluded for no clear reason, if traffic drops sharply, if the site has undergone a migration, or if you are unsure which actions will have the greatest impact, an audit can help you prioritise. A good analysis should distinguish between technical issues, content, competition and conversion — rather than promising a guaranteed top ranking.
At Elvis Web, we can analyse the technical and editorial aspects of your website, identify the pages that need work and propose an action plan tailored to your business. Take a look at our services SEO & Marketing, our page SEO Basics or request a tailored quote.
Don’t make changes at random. Start by identifying the bottleneck, then focus your efforts on the pages that can actually attract customers.
There is no guaranteed timeframe. Crawling and indexing can take anywhere from a few days to longer, depending on the website and the pages. Improving rankings for competitive search terms may require several weeks or months of ongoing work.
No. A request for indexing helps Google discover a URL, but it does not guarantee that it will be indexed or that it will appear in a specific position. Content, relevance, competition, technical quality and other signals all play a part.
Not necessarily. It’s better to publish useful content that answers genuine questions, and then link it to clear service pages. An article should help the reader and support a specific business objective.
Your brand may already be recognised by Google, even though your pages are not yet sufficiently relevant or competitive for searches related to your services. Focus on creating detailed service pages, demonstrating your expertise, optimising internal linking and incorporating relevant local signals.
Last updated: October 2026.
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