Why your website is missing from Google and Yandex: what to check
Distinguish an indexing issue from low rankings, check crawling restrictions and decide what to improve.
The short answer. Inspect the exact page URL in Google Search Console and Yandex Webmaster first. If it is not indexed, look for problems with discovery, crawling or indexing. If it is indexed but does not appear for the searches that matter to your business, review how well it answers the query, serves the region and compares with competing pages. These are different problems: requesting a recrawl does not, by itself, improve rankings.
Unavailable, not indexed or ranking poorly?
| What you see | What to check | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| The page will not open | Domain, HTTPS, server response and redirects | Restore access |
| The search engine does not know the URL | Sitemap, internal links and publication date | Help it discover the page and check for restrictions |
| The crawler has seen the page but it is not indexed | The reported reason, duplicates, canonical URL and content | Address the specific cause |
| The page is indexed but receives few or no visits | Impressions, queries, region, snippet and competing pages | Improve the answer and the offer around relevant demand |
Six checks you can make
- Copy the final URL after any redirects. Distinguish HTTP from HTTPS and versions with and without www.
- Inspect that URL in each search engine’s webmaster tools. Save its status and last crawl date. A site: search can give you a clue, but it does not replace URL inspection.
- Check robots.txt, the robots meta tag and the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header. Restrictions may have been left over from a staging site. If crawling is blocked, the crawler cannot properly read your changes.
- Check the canonical URL. A useful, independent page should not accidentally identify the home page or another language version as its canonical.
- Make sure a normal link from the menu, catalogue or an article leads to the page, and include its URL in the sitemap.
- Compare the content with the buyer’s task. Does it explain the service, region, terms, evidence and a clear next step?
When should you request a recrawl?
After fixing the cause: removing an accidental restriction, restoring access, correcting the canonical URL or substantially improving the content. An indexing request tells the search engine about a change; it does not guarantee when the page will be crawled or added to search results. A daily request limit is a tool restriction, not evidence of a penalty against your site. Repeatedly submitting the same URL does not replace fixing the underlying problem.
Why a new article may not bring customers yet
There are several steps between publication and an enquiry: discovery, crawling, indexing, impressions for relevant queries, a visit and then contact. If there are no impressions, changing the button colour is unlikely to help. If impressions bring few clicks, check the promise made by the title and snippet. If people visit but do not contact you, use our guide to diagnosing a website with no enquiries.
The Svoynomer case study shows the history of one project and its pages. Its indexing times and scale are not a benchmark for every business. The open reports document observations; they are not a promise of the same outcome.
What to send for a review
Send your website URL, three priority services, your service area and a few searches you want to be found for. An anonymised URL inspection screenshot is useful if you have access to the tools. You do not need to send passwords. We will distinguish technical obstacles from content gaps and prioritise the work.
Find out why my website is missing from search →
Sources: requesting a recrawl in Google and checking a site in Yandex Webmaster.
Questions and answers
How many days does it take for a website to appear in search?
There is no universal deadline. Check availability and the exact URL status first. Even an accepted request does not guarantee an indexing date.
Should I buy SEO services straight away?
Identify the cause first. An accidental restriction, a new page, duplicate content and a mismatch with customer searches require different work.