My site isn’t showing up in Google: how to check, manual actions and how to remove a URL

Start by checking whether the site is in the index at all, then look for a manual action, a security issue or a temporary block, and only then for page-level causes. Removing a URL is a separate job with its own rules, and the two are easy to confuse. This page follows the order of checks and then covers removal, using Google’s Manual actions report help, Removals tool help and remove information guide.

Is the site in the index at all?

Search Google for your site with the site: search operator. If you see results pointing to your site, you are in the index (SEO Starter Guide). If nothing appears, inspect a key URL in the URL Inspection tool: a status that starts with “URL is on Google” means the page should be available in Search, while “URL is not on Google” sends you to the Availability section for the reason (URL Inspection tool).

The checks that come before page-level debugging

Issues in the Manual actions report or the Security issues report can keep a page out of search results, so check both before you debug the page itself. Then check for a temporary block: someone may have hidden the page with the Removals tool, and that block lasts about six months. Only if none of this applies, open the Page indexing report and read the reason for the URL: noindex, a robots.txt block, a 404, a redirect and so on. The article on Page indexing statuses explains each one.

For a new site, tell Google and wait. Submit a sitemap, request indexing for key pages and give Google time; neither guarantees instant inclusion. See how to request indexing.

Manual actions

A manual action means that human reviewers at Google decided your site violates its spam policies; some or all of the site is then not shown in results. A green check in the report means there is none. To request a review, expand the description, find the affected pages and fix all of them. Make sure Google can reach the pages, verify with the URL Inspection tool and select Request Review with a note on what you changed. Do not do that before every affected page is fixed.

Most reviews take several days or weeks, and link-related ones can take longer; you receive email updates.

Removing a page: temporary and permanent are different jobs

To remove a page you own for good, remove or update the content, protect it with a password, or add a noindex tag. Noindex works only for search engines that support it, and robots.txt is not a reliable way to block a page, so do not use it for removal.

The Removals tool is a different thing. It hides a page from Google Search results within about a day, but the request lasts only about six months, does not stop Google crawling and is not permanent. It is for site owners. Use it to hide a page quickly while you make the permanent change, and expect the page to reappear after about six months if you do nothing else. The permanent change is the content, the password or the noindex tag, not the tool.

If the outdated content is not yours, the Outdated Content tab lets non-owners ask Google to update a stale result, and for personal information on other sites Google has a separate guide.

Catching a page that drops out

The workspace’s Index Tracker checks the URLs you choose once a day and keeps each verdict, so a page that falls out of the index, or comes back, leaves a dated record instead of a surprise.

Go further

FAQ: page indexing statuses: Every reason a URL is not indexed. FAQ: how to request indexing: Ask Google to crawl a page. Docs: URL Inspection and Index Tracker: Check many URLs and track them daily.