Stacy Derrick Creative

If you’ve been wondering how to get your website found on Google, here’s the honest answer: it comes down to a few specific steps that tell Google your site exists, what it’s about, and who it serves. Most small business owners have never done them. I did all of them this week on two different sites, and I want to walk you through exactly what we did.

I added schema markup to my own site, helped a client connect their site to Google Search Console, and submitted both for indexing. By the end of one evening, Google could actually read and understand what we do, who we serve, and where we are.

This is the kind of thing that sounds technical but is not as complicated as it seems. And it matters a lot if you want your business to show up when people search for what you offer.

Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?

Here is the short version. Google cannot recommend what it cannot read. Your website might look beautiful and say all the right things, but if Google cannot understand the structure of it, it cannot confidently surface you in search results or in AI-generated recommendations.

Think of it like this. If you walked into a networking event and handed someone a beautifully designed business card with no name, no title, and no contact information on it, they would not know how to refer you. Schema markup is how you put your name, title, and contact information on the back of your website so Google knows how to introduce you.

Step 1: Connect Google Search Console (so Google can find your site)

Google Search Console is a free tool that lets you see how your site is performing in Google Search. What queries are bringing people to your site, which pages are being indexed, and how your visibility is trending over time. If you do not have it connected, you are flying blind.

This week I walked a client through connecting Search Console to their Canva site from start to finish. Here is what that process looked like.

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account. Add your website as a property. Google will ask you to verify that you own the site. The most reliable way to do this is through your DNS settings. You add a small verification record to your domain, Google checks for it, and once it sees it, your site is verified and connected.

For our Canva site, we logged into the domain registrar, found the DNS settings, added the TXT record Google provided, and then went back to Search Console to verify. It took about fifteen minutes total, most of which was waiting for the DNS record to propagate.

If you are on WordPress.com, the process is similar. You can verify through your domain settings or through the Google Site Kit plugin if you have it installed.

Once Search Console is connected, it starts collecting data immediately. You will not see much right away on a new site, but the data it gathers from day one is irreplaceable. Connect it now so it is working in the background while you focus on everything else.

Step 2: Tell Google to go find your website (request indexing)

Connecting Search Console does not automatically tell Google to go look at your site. You have to ask.

Go to URL Inspection in the left sidebar of Search Console. Paste in your homepage URL and hit enter. Once it loads, click Request Indexing. Google will add your page to its crawl queue and prioritize it.

Do this for every important page on your site. Your homepage, your services or consulting page, your about page, your FAQ if you have one. It takes about two minutes total and it tells Google you are ready to be found.

Step 3: Add schema markup

This is the one that most small business owners have never heard of, and it is also the one with the highest return on your time.

Schema markup is a specific type of code called JSON-LD that you add to your website pages. It tells Google, in structured language it can read directly, exactly what each page is about. Not just through the words on the page, but through a clear, machine-readable description.

For my own site this week, I added four types of schema.

On my FAQ page, I added FAQPage schema. This tells Google that the page contains questions and answers, what those questions are, and what the answers say. Google can then pull those questions and answers directly into search results.

On my homepage, I added Organization schema. This tells Google the name of my business, my location, my contact information, what services I offer, and where else I can be found online like LinkedIn.

On my consulting page, I added Service schema. This describes each of my services in structured terms Google can understand. What the service is, who provides it, what it costs, and how to access it.

On my about page, I added Person schema. This tells Google who I am. My name, my credentials, my role, my education, and what I know how to do.

For WordPress.com users: the Personal plan does not allow custom code in the site header, but it does allow Custom HTML blocks inside page content. That is exactly what I used. I added a Custom HTML block at the very bottom of each page, pasted the schema code in, and saved. Google reads it just as well from the page body as from the header. You do not need a paid plugin or an upgraded plan to make this work.

After adding each one, I verified it using Google’s free Rich Results Test at search.google.com/test/rich-results. Every page came back green.

How long until your website gets found on Google?

None of this produces overnight results. Google needs time to crawl your pages, process the new structured data, and factor it into how it surfaces your site. The general timeline is 30 to 60 days before you start seeing movement.

What you can do in the meantime is check Search Console periodically. Watch your impressions number. That is how many times your site appears in search results, even if no one has clicked yet. As Google gets a clearer picture of your site, that number should start to climb.

You can also test your own visibility. Search for your service plus your city or state and see where you land. Search ChatGPT or Perplexity for the same thing and see if your name comes up. Neither of those will happen right away, but they are the right benchmarks to be tracking.

The bottom line- Getting your website found on Google is more doable than you think

Getting found on Google is not magic and it is not only for people with big marketing budgets. It is a series of specific, learnable steps, most of them free, that tell Google what your business does and why it should recommend you.

This week I did all of it in a single evening. If you have been putting it off because it felt too technical, I hope this makes it feel a little more possible.

And if you would rather have someone walk through it with you the way I did with my client this week, that is exactly the kind of work I do.

Before any of this makes sense, you need a way to measure whether it’s working. If you haven’t set up Google Analytics yet, start there first. Once you are done with Google Analytics and Google Search Console, head over to see how your page speed is.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my website found on Google?
Start with three steps: connect Google Search Console, request indexing for your key pages, and add schema markup so Google can understand what your site is about. All three are free and can be done in an evening.

How long does it take to get found on Google?
After you submit your pages for indexing and add schema markup, Google typically takes 30 to 60 days to process the changes and start surfacing your site more consistently. You can track progress in Search Console by watching your impressions number climb.

Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?
The most common reasons are that your site hasn’t been submitted to Google Search Console, your pages haven’t been requested for indexing, or your site lacks structured data (schema markup) that helps Google understand what your business does. All three are fixable.

How can my website be found on Google for free?
Google’s core visibility tools are free — Search Console, indexing requests, and schema markup. You don’t need paid ads to get found. You need to make it easy for Google to read and understand your site.

What is schema markup and do I need it?
Schema markup is code you add to your website pages that tells Google exactly what your business does in structured language it can read directly. For a small business, it’s one of the highest-return things you can do for visibility — and on WordPress.com, you can add it without a paid plugin.

Stacy Derrick │ Founder, Stacy Derrick Creative, LLC │ stacyderrickcreative.com

If this was helpful and you want to support the work, you can buy me a coffee.

You may be wondering — did AI help write this? Yes, and I want to be upfront about that. The process, the client work, and the thinking behind every step are mine and they were worth reading before AI touched a word. AI just helped me pull it together more cleanly.
That is a system working the way it should.