You’ve built your new site and you now want to share your site with the world but it's not showing up on Google. This guide walks you through some of the reasons why your new site may not be showing as live on your domain.
Have you upgraded your website?
First things first, have you gone through your account upgrade process so that you can go live? If not, this guide will walk you through it: How to upgrade your website.
Have you set your website to be online?
You can set your website to be Online on your website Dashboard. See this guide for making your website online. This step will make your website visible without needing to log in but your domain needs to be connected to your website so keep reading if your website is set to Online.
While your site is on its trial website address it won’t get indexed (found) in Google.
Have you set up your domain correctly?
If you chose to self-manage your own domain when you upgraded your account you'll need to update your DNS settings. Everything is ready to go from our side of things so once you've changed your DNS settings to point to our server. Your domain is usually live within a few hours but it can take time for a domain to propagate. See the domain propagation section below.
See our guides for how to set up your domain to work with Rocketspark.
If you are unsure if you have set up your DNS records correctly, we are able to take a look over the ones from Rocketspark but unfortunately, we are unable to let you know what the other records are for.
Have the domain changes propagated?
If you have a new domain or have made changes to your domain settings it can take time for your domain changes to spread around the internet. Your old website will continue to show until the domain has propagated - which can take a while. Here's a guide: learn more about domain name propagation.
Caching may be a factor
You may find that your domain is already live but your device is experiencing caching. A cache holds a copy of your website to speed up internet browsing.
Browser caching
The web browser on your device may be holding its own copy of your old website. Try refreshing your browser a few times by clicking the circular arrow by the address bar. You may also need to clear the cache of your browser if you do a Google search for ‘clear cache in insert name of your browser here’ you will find instructions on how to clear the browser cache.
DNS caching
DNS caching is when a website’s DNS settings are stored on your computer and ISP (Internet service provider) to speed up web browsing and reduce traffic. This means that if people are viewing a web page from different providers they may see your old site and your new site at various times after the domain setting are first changed. See this guide to learn more about DNS caching and why you may sometimes see your old site.
Has your domain been transferred?
If you selected the domain transfer option when you upgraded your website the domain transfer may still be in progress. If you have just transferred your domain over to Rocketspark, this can take anywhere from 24 hours for .NZ domains, 72 hours for .UK and 5 -10 days for an international domain like .com or to fully update and become live. See this guide to learn more about transferring your domain to Rocketspark.
Have you reviewed the transfer status on the Domain Names page in the Dashboard?
Have you approved the transfer?
- Domains such as .com, .org, .net, .com.au, .co.uk require that an authorisation email is sent to the email address listed as the domain administrator. The domain administrator must click the approval or verification link in the email to authorise the transfer.
- The domain will need to be 'unlocked' by your current domain provider so you'll need to make sure this has been actioned as well.
- If you have a .uk domain you need to change the TAG on your domain as per our guide.
Has Rocketspark registered your domain?
Please review the domain Registration status on the Domain Names page in Dashboard.
My website is live on the domain but not appearing in Google?
Is your website live on its domain? Well done! The tricky techie part is complete and now the real work begins to get found in Google.
It can take days or weeks for a website to get found in Google please see these guides: