Site not included in Google search results, but other search engines display

  • Unknown's avatar
    gleaming04f262dcd2 · Member ·

    I have a new WordPress website launched 5.5 weeks ago that is not showing in Google search results when searching specifically by organization name, but is displayed as the top result in others (Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo).

    Website details:
    WordPress version 6.7.2
    All plug-ins are up-to-date
    Theme Neve FSE
    Hosted by BlueHost

    Google Search Console details:
    Property added 1/22/25
    URL inspection shows the URL is on Google
    All pages, including home page, are indexed (home page on 2/28/15)
    Sitemaps are submitted and were last read on 2/25/25
    No removals listed
    No HTTPS or Breadcrumb issues
    No security or manual action issues
    robots.txt file is valid

    Other details:
    Google Business Profile has been claimed and is up-to-date
    GBP website links to this very same website and displays with name search
    Google search by ‘site:’ shows home page and all other pages in results
    Yoast SEO plug-in is active and settings are up-to-date
    Page SEO scores by Yoast 90% green
    Contact info (address, phone) is the same on website as GBP
    WordPress setting to “discourage search engines from indexing” is off
    Lighthouse performance score is great for desktop, but poor for mobile
    Homepage includes the organization name 3 times in body, 4 times in footer, 3 above-fold image alt tags, and 1 footer image alt tag.

    Reproducing the issue:
    When using Google to search for the full organization name, expectation is that the website would be the top organic result as it is specific and not a competitive search term (especially since the GBP does come up correctly). The site is not displayed anywhere in the first 10 pages of results with Google; however, Google search results does show other pages for the organization: #1 Facebook, #2 Yelp, and #5 YouTube. Search results with Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo display the organization website in the #1 position, even with sitelink details.

    Thoughts:
    1) Could the mobile performance score that I get with Lighthouse be significant enough to cause Google not to include the site in organic search results, even on desktop and/or when searching specifically by name?
    2) Could the FSE template that I am using cause an issue since the home page is a template and not an actual page? (As such, I cannot check the Yoast SEO score for the home page to find out if there are any issues I’m not addressing.)
    3) Is there something else I’m missing that Google is looking for when ranking search results?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • staff-augustuswp · Staff ·

    Hi @gleaming04f262dcd2,

    I’m sorry to hear about your struggles with Google.

    In regards to your thoughts 1 and 2, I do not think these would affect your ranking so heavily as to not be included at all.

    For 3, I cannot really answer as how a site is ranked by Google is based on so many factors.

    I think your best chance at shedding more light on this issue would be to directly contact Google support: https://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en#topic=9128571

    If your site is already set up in the Search Console and not really showing significant errors, there’s not much that we can do at WordPress.com.

    The ranking is entirely controlled by Google.

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