You built the site, it looks good, and nobody can find it. This is the most common story we hear from people who started on a website maker. The good news: most of the causes are fixable, and several you can fix yourself this afternoon.
1. Google doesn't know the site exists yet
New sites aren't found automatically on day one.
Fix it: add your site to Google Search Console, verify it, and submit your sitemap. Then use URL inspection → Request indexing on your home page and your most important pages. This alone solves the problem for a surprising number of new sites.
2. You're targeting searches you can't win
If you're a new bakery, you won't rank for "bakery". You can rank for "sourdough bakery in [your neighbourhood]" or "gluten-free birthday cakes [your city]".
Fix it: write one page per specific service and place, using the words your customers actually type.
3. The pages are thin
A home page with three lines of text and a stock photo doesn't give Google much to rank. Pages that answer real questions — prices, process, what's included, FAQs — rank far better.
Fix it: for each service, explain who it's for, what it costs, how it works and what people usually ask.
4. The site is slow on phones
Google ranks primarily on the mobile version of your site. Builder platforms load their own scripts on every page, and heavy images make it worse.
Fix it: compress images before uploading, remove apps and embeds you don't use, and check your page in PageSpeed Insights. If the mobile score stays low after that, the platform itself is usually the bottleneck.
5. Nobody links to you
Links from other websites are still one of the strongest signals Google uses. A new site with no links has very little authority.
Fix it: create a Google Business Profile, list your business in reputable directories for your industry, and ask partners, suppliers and happy customers to link to you.
When it's time to leave the builder
If you've done all of the above and you're still stuck, the limits are usually structural: speed you can't fix, markup you can't control, and no way to add proper structured data. That's when a custom build pays for itself.
When we move a site off a builder, we redirect every old URL to its new page so existing rankings carry over, and we build every page to load fast on a mid-range phone. See the full comparison in custom website vs Wix.