Why is my therapy website not showing up on Google?

This usually arrives about six weeks after launch, with a note of real worry attached, and in most cases it is one of two problems with straightforward fixes.

Why is my therapy website not showing up on Google?

A new therapy site is usually not missing, it is unindexed or unnamed. Either Google has not been told the site exists, or no page on it says what you do and where you do it in words a searcher would actually use.

First, check which problem you have

Type site:yourdomain.ie into Google, including the colon and no space.

If nothing comes back, your site is not indexed. Google does not know it exists. That is problem one.

If your pages come back, you are indexed and the problem is ranking, not visibility. That is problem two, and it is a completely different fix.

This thirty-second check saves people weeks of doing the wrong work, and almost nobody does it first.

Problem one: not indexed

Common causes, roughly in order of how often I see them:

The site is still set to discourage search engines. Most website builders have a "hide from search engines" toggle that is on by default while you build. It is very easy to launch and forget it. Check your site settings first.

It is too new. Indexing takes days to a few weeks for a brand new domain with no links pointing at it. If you launched last Tuesday, this may simply be patience.

Nothing links to it. Google finds sites by following links. A site nobody links to, with no sitemap submitted, can sit undiscovered for a long time.

The fix for all three: set up Google Search Console, verify the domain, submit your sitemap, and request indexing for your main pages. It is free and it is the single most useful thing you can do about this. Then add the site to your Google Business Profile and your directory listings, which gives Google real links to follow.

Problem two: indexed but not ranking

This is the more common situation and the more frustrating one, because the site is technically fine.

You are ranking, just not for what you are looking at. Most therapists test by searching "counsellor Dublin" and finding themselves nowhere. That is one of the most competitive local terms in the country and you will not win it in month two. Search your own name and your practice name instead. If you appear for those, the site is working; it just has not earned the competitive terms yet.

Your pages never say what you do or where. Google cannot rank you for a town you never mention or a problem you never name. A site whose headings say "Welcome", "About", "Services" and "Contact" has given a search engine nothing to work with. Headings that say what the page is about, in the words someone would type, are most of the fix.

You are writing in modalities and people search in symptoms. "Integrative psychotherapy" is what you trained in. "Can't stop overthinking at night" is what gets typed. Pages built around presenting problems rank for things pages built around approaches never will.

It has been three weeks. Ranking for anything competitive takes three to six months minimum, and longer in a city. This is the answer more often than anyone wants it to be.

The realistic timeline

Your own name: days to a couple of weeks.
Practice name: similar.
Town plus modality, in a smaller town: three to six months.
Competitive city terms: a year or more, and possibly never against the directories.

If that last line is discouraging, it is also why the Google Business Profile matters so much. The map pack sits above every website result and can start working in days, which gives you something while the site earns its position.

What not to do about it

Do not buy backlinks. For a small practice it is money spent on something that can actively harm you.

Do not rewrite the whole site every six weeks. Ranking needs stability. Constant change resets your progress and makes it impossible to tell what worked.

Do not add fourteen thin pages about every town within an hour's drive. Near-duplicate pages compete with each other and read as exactly what they are.