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Why Your NJ Business Website Isn't Showing Up on Google (And How to Fix It)

Published February 4, 2026

You paid for a website. You added your services. You waited. And when you search your business name on Google... nothing. Or you find it buried on page 7 where nobody will ever scroll.

This is the most common frustration we hear from NJ business owners. The website exists, but Google acts like it doesn't. Here are the 8 reasons this happens and exactly how to fix each one.

1. Google Doesn't Know Your Site Exists

Google discovers websites by crawling links. If no other website links to yours, and you haven't told Google directly, your site is invisible. This is extremely common with new websites.

How to fix it:

Go to Google Search Console and verify your site. This is free and takes 10 minutes.
Submit your sitemap (usually yoursite.com/sitemap.xml). This tells Google every page on your site.
Use the "URL Inspection" tool to request indexing for your homepage and key pages.

Most NJ business websites we audit haven't been submitted to Google Search Console. It's the single fastest thing you can do.

2. Your Site Is Blocking Google

Your website might be actively telling Google not to index it. This happens more often than you'd think — especially with sites built on WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace.

Things to check:

robots.txt file: Visit yoursite.com/robots.txt. If it says "Disallow: /" — that's telling Google to stay away from your entire site. This sometimes gets left from development/staging.
Noindex tags: View your page source (right-click → View Source) and search for "noindex". If you find <meta name="robots" content="noindex">, Google is being told not to show this page. WordPress has a checkbox under Settings → Reading that says "Discourage search engines from indexing this site." Make sure it's unchecked.
Password protection: If any of your pages require a login, Google can't access them. Remove password protection from public pages.

3. Your Site Is Too New

Google doesn't index new sites immediately. If your website launched in the last 2-4 weeks, it might just need time — especially if you haven't submitted it to Search Console.

What to expect:

With Search Console submission: pages typically appear within 3-7 days.
Without submission: could take 4-8 weeks for Google to find you naturally.
New domains with zero backlinks take longer than established domains.

If it's been over 4 weeks and your site still isn't indexed, the issue is something else on this list.

4. Your Pages Have No Real Content

Google ranks pages that answer searches. If your pages have 50 words of text and a stock photo, there's nothing for Google to rank you for. This is the #1 issue with template websites.

What Google wants to see:

At least 300-500 words of unique, relevant content on every service page.
Content that actually describes what you do, where you do it, and why someone should hire you.
Not the same paragraph copied across every page with the city name swapped out. Google recognizes duplicate content and ignores it.

A plumbing website with 5 pages that each say "We offer quality plumbing services in [city]" and nothing else is giving Google nothing to work with. Write real descriptions of each service. Explain your process. Answer common questions. Give Google something worth ranking.

5. Your Site Is Painfully Slow

Google measures how fast your site loads and uses it as a ranking signal. If your pages take more than 3-4 seconds to load, you're penalized — and visitors leave before the page finishes loading.

Common speed killers on NJ business sites:

Uncompressed images. That 4MB hero photo of your storefront? It should be 200KB. Use tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh to compress every image on your site.
Bloated templates. Some Wix and WordPress themes load 30+ JavaScript files. If your site has animations, sliders, and effects you don't actually need, they're slowing you down.
No caching. Without browser caching, every visitor downloads your entire site from scratch every time. Your hosting provider or a caching plugin can fix this.
Cheap hosting. $3/month hosting puts your site on an overcrowded server. Expect slow load times and occasional downtime. For a business site, spend at least $15-30/month on quality hosting.

Test your speed at Google PageSpeed Insights. Anything under 50 (mobile) needs work.

6. Your Site Isn't Mobile-Friendly

Google switched to mobile-first indexing years ago. That means Google sees the mobile version of your site first and uses that to determine rankings. If your site looks bad on a phone, your rankings suffer — even for people searching on desktop.

Signs your site has mobile problems:

Text is too small to read without zooming
Buttons are too close together to tap accurately
You have to scroll horizontally to see content
Pop-ups cover the entire screen on mobile
The menu doesn't work on phones

Pull up your site on your phone right now. If you struggle to use it, Google is penalizing you for it.

7. You Have No Backlinks

Backlinks — other websites linking to yours — are one of Google's top 3 ranking factors. A site with zero backlinks is competing with one hand tied behind its back.

Minimum backlinks every NJ business should have:

Google Business Profile (links to your website automatically)
Yelp, BBB, Angi, and 5-10 relevant directories
Your local chamber of commerce (if you're a member)
Any industry associations you belong to
Your suppliers or vendors (many list their partners)

These won't make you rank #1, but they establish a baseline that tells Google your business is real and connected to the broader NJ business ecosystem.

8. You're Targeting the Wrong Keywords

Your site might actually be indexed — but ranking for searches nobody makes. If your homepage title is "Welcome to Our Company" instead of "Newark Plumbing Services | [Your Company Name]," Google has no idea what searches to show you for.

Quick fixes:

Title tags: Every page needs a unique title containing your service + city. "Emergency Plumber in Newark, NJ" tells Google exactly who should see this page.
H1 headings: Your main page heading should contain your primary keyword. Not "Welcome" or "About Us" — the actual search term you want to rank for.
Page content: If your page is about plumbing services in Newark, the word "Newark" and "plumbing" should appear naturally throughout the text. Not stuffed — just present.

How to Check If Google Has Indexed Your Site

Before fixing anything, confirm whether Google knows about your site at all:

Go to Google and search: site:yourwebsite.com
If results appear, your site is indexed. The problem is ranking, not visibility.
If nothing appears, Google hasn't indexed your site. Start with fixes #1 and #2.

The Fix Priority

If your site isn't showing up at all, work through these in order:

Submit to Google Search Console and request indexing (#1)
Check for blocking issues — robots.txt, noindex tags (#2)
Fix mobile and speed issues (#5, #6)
Add real content to every page (#4)
Fix your title tags and headings (#8)
Build baseline backlinks from directories (#7)

Most NJ businesses can handle steps 1-3 themselves. Steps 4-6 are where professional help starts saving you months of trial and error.