Why your practice isn't showing up on Google, and what to check first

A plain-English checklist for coaches, therapists and solo practices who can't find themselves on Google. Five things to check before you spend a dollar.

You search for what you do, in your own town, and someone else comes up. Maybe a directory. Maybe a practice that opened last year. You are better at the work, and Google doesn't seem to know you exist.

You are not behind. In most cases the cause is one of five ordinary problems, and every one of them can be fixed. Here is what we check first when we audit a small practice.

1. Can Google actually see your pages?

It sounds obvious, but it is the most common problem we find. A setting left over from when the site was built can quietly tell search engines to stay away. Pages can also go missing because nobody submitted a sitemap, or because the site was moved and the old addresses were never redirected.

Check it: search Google for site:yourwebsite.com. If you see far fewer pages than you have, or none at all, start here.

2. Is your Google Business Profile complete?

For local searches, the map results usually sit above everything else. They come from Google Business Profile, not your website. An unclaimed or half-finished profile is one of the fastest ways to lose a client to the practice down the road.

• Claim and verify the profile.
• Pick the most accurate primary category, then add secondary ones.
• Add your services, hours, photos of your real space and a clear description.
• Make sure your name, address and phone match your website exactly.

3. Do your pages say what you do, in the words clients use?

Many service sites lead with a beautiful line that never says what the business does or where. Google reads your page titles and headings to understand each page. If your homepage title is just your name, you are asking Google to guess.

Give each service its own page, with a title that names the service and the place, such as “Couples counseling in Austin.” Write the way your clients talk, not the way your training taught you to.

4. Is the site fast on a phone?

Most people will find you on their phone. If the page takes more than a few seconds to appear, many of them leave, and Google notices. Oversized photos, heavy page builders and too many plugins are the usual culprits.

Check it:run your homepage through Google's free PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile score. On recent rebuilds we've taken mobile scores from the mid-30s to the high 90s, mostly by fixing exactly these things.

5. Are there any reasons to trust you?

Google, and the people searching, both look for signs that you are real and good at what you do: reviews, a proper about page, credentials, other sites mentioning you. You don't need hundreds. You need a steady trickle and a clear story.

Where to start

Work through the list in order. The first two often make the biggest difference, and neither costs anything but time. If you would rather have someone look at it with you, send us your site for a free auditand we'll tell you which of these is holding you back, in plain English.