Some Web sites seem to have great content and an interesting layout, but they still don't show up high in the Google search rankings. It leaves Web site owners asking: why does Google not index/rank my site? Naturally, the owners of these Web sites want to make sure they are indexed well, because Google is one of the largest search engines on the Web.

My Site Isn't Indexed by Google - What Am I Doing Wrong?

If Google isn't finding the site, customers aren't finding it either, and that can be very bad for business. Most customers that are looking for something on the Web already know what they want to find, and they rely on the search engine of their choice (quite often Google) to tell them which sites have what they need and which ones are the most popular. Without a properly indexed site, those that have what customers need won't be found by those customers, and sales will be slow or even nonexistent. Web site owners that have high page rankings know that they have to have a well-done and properly-indexed site in order to increase sales.

There are some things you can do to make sure your site gets indexed. First, make sure Google can read your Web site's content. Search engines cannot read images such as GIFs or JPEGs, and they also have trouble with Flash elements and JavaScript. If your site is full of these, it might not be seen by the search engine. Second, make sure the navigation links of your site are not based on JavaScript or images. Search engines won't follow those.

Another thing that you can do to make sure your site gets indexed is to ensure that your hosting company is reliable. If your Web site is always going down, search engines are less likely to find it for indexing purposes, and you need to make sure that the content you have on your pages is relevant so that the search engines know what your Web site is about. If a search engine can't figure out what your Web site is supposed to be about, it's unlikely to appear high up in the ranks.

Confusing a search engine is never a good idea. Web site content needs to be clear and to the point so that Google and others can locate it and understand how to rank it based on how important it is and what it's for. This optimization will go a long way toward attaining a high page rank.

In addition to these ideas, inbound links are also important. A site with no inbound links is seen to be a site that isn't very significant. These sites are not ranked highly in search results, and are therefore generally overlooked by potential customers. One inbound link is usually required for search engines to list a site, and the more inbound links a site has, the higher the ranking that it usually attains. Even if you've done all this, though, Google and other search engines still might not index your site if you have spam elements on it. In other words, if you have anything on your site that the search engine sees as being spam, it will simply not index your site, no matter how good your content might be. In order to avoid this, make sure you don't have spam elements on your site. If you find any, have them removed as soon as you can.

Spam elements include white text on white backgrounds, hidden text and images, and other components that are not easily viewed when a person goes to the Web site. Following these tips will help to ensure that Google will index your site properly, and that you get the highest page ranking possible.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. Her personal blog can be found at Content Done Better.