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Why Is My Website Not Ranking on Google? How to Fix It

Posted
Updated
ByKartik Periasamy

📄 38 🕑 7 min read Cybergate IT Team
Website not ranking Google fix Malaysia SEO
Not ranking on Google costs your business potential customers every day – these checks identify the exact problem.

A Malaysian business website that does not appear in Google search results is effectively invisible to potential customers. Before spending on SEO services, understand why the site is not ranking. Most ranking issues fall into four categories: indexing problems, technical issues, on-page SEO gaps and authority gaps. This guide covers how to diagnose and fix each.

Diagnosis 1: Is Your Website Indexed?

1

Check Google Index Status

Open Google and search: site:yourdomain.com

The results show all pages Google has indexed from your domain.

  • Zero results: Google has not indexed your site at all. This is a fundamental problem – see the fix below.
  • Some results (missing important pages): Some pages are not indexed. Check those specific pages with the URL Inspection tool in Search Console.
  • All major pages showing: Indexing is not the issue. Move to Diagnosis 2.
2

Fix: Submit Site and Request Indexing

If not indexed:

  • Ensure Google Search Console is set up and verified
  • Submit your sitemap at Search Console > Sitemaps
  • Use URL Inspection tool > Enter homepage URL > Request Indexing
  • Check that robots.txt (yourdomain.com/robots.txt) does not contain: Disallow: / (this blocks all crawling)
  • Check that your WordPress Settings > Reading does not have “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” checked

After requesting indexing, wait 3 to 7 days. New websites can take 2 to 8 weeks for first indexing.

Diagnosis 2: Technical Blocking Issues

3

Check robots.txt

Go to yourdomain.com/robots.txt in a browser. A correctly configured robots.txt for most websites looks like:

User-agent: *Disallow:Sitemap: https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml

If you see Disallow: / (with a forward slash after the colon), Googlebot is blocked from crawling your entire site. For WordPress, go to Settings > Reading and uncheck Discourage search engines. Regenerate robots.txt in Rank Math > General Settings > Edit robots.txt.

4

Check for noindex Tags

A noindex tag on a page tells Google not to include it in search results. In WordPress with Rank Math:

  • Go to Rank Math > Status & Tools > Site Wide Analysis
  • Check for any pages flagged as noindex that should be indexable

For individual pages, open the page editor > Rank Math panel > Advanced tab. Ensure Robots Meta is set to Default or Index (not Noindex).

Also check: Settings > Reading in WordPress – the checkbox to discourage search engines adds a noindex to every page.

Diagnosis 3: On-Page SEO Issues

5

Audit On-Page SEO Gaps

For pages that are indexed but not ranking, check:

  • Title tag: Does each page have a unique title including the target keyword?
  • Content length: Is the page content comparable in depth to what ranks on page 1?
  • Keyword targeting: Is the page targeting a realistic keyword? Search the keyword on Google and check if you can realistically compete with what is currently on page 1.
  • Page relevance: Does the page content fully answer the search intent of the keyword?

Diagnosis 4: Authority and Backlink Gap

6

Check Your Domain Authority vs Competitors

Use the free Ahrefs Website Authority Checker (ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker). Enter your domain and your top competitor’s domain. Compare:

  • Domain Rating (DR): Authority score 0 to 100. New sites start at DR 0 to 5.
  • Referring Domains: Number of unique websites linking to you vs competitor

If your competitor has DR 30+ and 50+ referring domains and you have DR 5 and 3 referring domains, on-page SEO alone will not close that gap. You need to build backlinks through:

  • Getting listed in Malaysian business directories (MDEC, SME Corp, industry associations)
  • Writing guest articles for industry websites
  • Getting coverage in Malaysian tech/business media
  • Earning mentions from local business partners
Be Patient – SEO Takes Time

If your website is new (under 12 months old), technically clean and has good on-page SEO but still not ranking for competitive keywords – time is the main factor. Continue publishing quality content, building backlinks gradually and maintaining technical health. Rankings build on a compound curve – slow at first, then accelerating after month 6 to 12.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Sudden ranking drops have several common causes: Google algorithm update (check if your drop coincides with a reported update date on Google Search Central blog), manual penalty from Google (check Search Console > Security & Manual Actions), technical issue like the site being accidentally blocked in robots.txt or going noindex (check immediately), a competitor significantly improved their content or earned links, or you made changes to the site (redesign, URL structure change without redirects). Check Search Console for any warnings and compare the drop date with recent site changes.

A brand new website with no domain history typically takes 3 to 6 months before seeing meaningful page 1 rankings for low-competition keywords. For competitive keywords (e.g. IT support Malaysia), 12 to 24 months of consistent SEO work is realistic. The main factors are: domain age and authority, content quality and depth, number and quality of backlinks, technical SEO health, and how competitive the keyword niche is. New websites should focus on very specific long-tail keywords with low competition while building domain authority.

New domains start with zero domain authority and must earn Google’s trust over time. This is called the Google Sandbox effect – new domains often experience delayed rankings even for very specific low-competition keywords. This can last 3 to 6 months. Speed up the process by: publishing high-quality content consistently from launch, getting mentioned and linked from other Malaysian business websites, ensuring the site is fully technically sound from day one, and being patient – domain authority builds steadily over 12 to 24 months.

Visual quality does not equal SEO strength. Your competitor is likely outranking you because of: more backlinks from other websites (the number one ranking factor), older domain with more established authority, more content covering the topic comprehensively, better on-page optimisation (correct keyword targeting), or consistently better technical SEO. Use a free tool like Ubersuggest or the Ahrefs free website checker to see how many backlinks your competitor has vs yours – this usually explains ranking gaps.

CG
Cybergate IT Team
Managed IT support for Malaysian businesses since 2014. Microsoft Partner · Fortinet Technology Partner. About Us

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