Typing your own business name into Google and getting nothing back, or getting buried under three other businesses with a similar name, is enough to make anyone panic. The good news is that it’s rarely as serious as it feels, and most of the time it comes down to something simple you can check yourself in five minutes.

Here are the most common reasons, roughly in the order worth checking.

Your website might just be too new

Google doesn’t know your website exists the second you publish it. Something called a search engine crawler (think of it as a very thorough, very slow postman) has to visit your site and have a read through it first.

That can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for a brand new site. If you launched recently, this is honestly the most likely reason, and there’s nothing wrong with your website at all.

Want to know for sure? Google Search Console (free, and straight from Google) shows exactly which of your pages Google has found and added to its results. Our guide on how to set up Google Search Console walks you through it in about ten minutes.

Your Google Business Profile isn’t set up, or isn’t verified

Your website and your Google Business Profile are two different things. The profile is the free listing that shows your opening hours, map pin, and reviews when someone searches for you.

If you haven’t claimed and verified yours yet, Google has a lot less to go on when it’s deciding whether to connect your business name with your business. It’s free to set up, and usually one of the first things worth sorting.

Your business details don’t quite match up everywhere

If your name, address or phone number is written slightly differently on your website, your Google Business Profile, your Facebook page and anywhere else you’re listed (say, “Unseen SEO” in one place and “Unseen SEO Ltd” in another), Google can struggle to work out that they’re all the same business.

Small business owners sometimes hear this called keeping your NAP consistent, which just means your name, address and phone number matching, word for word, everywhere you appear online.

Google might just be showing you something different

Here’s a plot twist. Google’s results are personalised based on your search history, your location and what you’ve clicked on before, so what you see when you search your own name isn’t necessarily what a customer nearby sees.

Before you worry too much, try searching in a private or incognito browser window, or ask a friend who’s never looked at your website to search for you. You might find you’ve been panicking over nothing.

Something on your site could be quietly telling Google to skip it

Website builders sometimes add something called a noindex tag, a tiny instruction that tells Google not to list a page at all. It’s meant to be used while a site is still being built, but it occasionally gets left switched on by accident once the site goes live.

If everything else checks out, this is worth asking whoever built your site about, or getting someone to check for you.

Your website might not say enough yet

If your homepage is mostly a logo and a “coming soon” message, Google doesn’t have much to go on when it’s working out what your business actually does or where you’re based. Plain, honest information about who you are and what you offer, even just a page or two of it, gives Google far more to work with.

A quick checklist to run today

• Search your business name in a private or incognito browser window, to rule out personalisation.
• Search your exact business name in quotation marks (for example “Unseen SEO”), to see if it turns up at all.
• Check whether you have a Google Business Profile, and whether it’s verified.
• Compare your business name and address across your website, Google Business Profile and Facebook page, and check they match exactly.

When it’s worth a second opinion

If you’ve been through that list and you’re still stumped, that’s usually the point where it’s worth having someone take a proper look under the bonnet. That’s exactly what the £150 No Nonsense Audit is for. We go through your whole website and tell you what’s actually going on and what to do about it.