Why is My Website Not in the Search Engines?

One of the most confounding mysteries of the universe is why your website isn't in the search engines. There may be a number of reasons. Here is a checklist of things to consider:

Is Your Website New?

New websites may not appear in search engines for months or even years. Adding to the confusion is when a website appears in the search engines and then disappears for a while. This is because between updates, some search engines like Google use what's called a 'fresh bot'. This is a spider that scans the Internet for new content and temporarily places it in the search engine index. This new information is generally tossed out prior to a complete search engine update.

Contrary to popular belief, submitting your site to search engines will not speed up the process. Services that tout search engine submission are selling snake oil. Search engines automatically scan web servers for content, so no amount of submission will get your site in quicker.

Then there's something called the 'Google Sandbox'. The Sandbox is a mystery shrouded in superstition and smothered in secret sauce. Essentially the Sandbox is thought to be where new websites go to hang out for a while before they work into the rankings. This, however, assumes that the site has the essential elements to ever rank well to begin with. You can avoid the Google Sandbox by adding your website to an existing domain name. Google will view your website as an additional set of pages to an already existing website.

Buying into virtual real estate in this manner is much like buying a condo on the beach. Sure, it would have been nice to get beach front property when it was cheap and free 200 years ago, but you'd be fighting off wild animals and there wouldn't be a McDonalds around the corner. The fact is, you didn't and this is your best path to immediate, high visibility.

Is Your Website "Crawlable"?

Many search engines require basic image links and/or hyperlinked text to move around your website.

If a website has a different means of navigation, such as Macromedia Flash, the search engine may not be able to get past the first page. If that's the case, there won't be much for it to scan and place in its index. Some web designers like to make websites look pretty, but without basic knowledge about how search engine spiders crawl a website, they can do you a real disservice by taking you out of the game before you're ever in it.

Search engines are looking for real text. This real text is what is stored in the search engine index and is also what drives your search engine positioning. Websites made using Flash that do not have real text or links to follow simply appear as an image to the search engine spider. You and I may be able to read the text on the site, but the search engine cannot. It's a bit confusing, but to tell the difference between real text and image text, take your mouse and try and highlight the text as if you're doing a copy and paste in a word processor. If you can highlight it, it's real text and the search engine can read and index it.

Likewise, websites that have a splash page, which is generally a nice looking intro page with an image of people smiling and looking incredibly content and successful, are terrible for search engines. There generally isn't enough real text on the home page for the search engine to index.

Make sure your site has a basic navigation system that is crawlable and that your home page has sufficient content for the search engine to index.

Is Your Website Terrible?

Be honest, is your website terrible? Search engines care about content. Many law firm websites have little or no content. I've seen many sites that have one or two sentences on the home page with salesy language, a dry recitation on the biography page and a practice page with nothing more than a list of matters handled.

Search engines aren't smart, they can't judge a good site from a bad site. However, they are looking for some basic things, like word count. If nothing else, load your site up with content and make sure it's related to your practice areas. Don't just say you handle divorces, talk about them. Cite the state's statutes on marital distribution, etc. The more you say, the more interesting your site looks to the search engines.