FAQs

There are a small number of questions that get asked over and over again in the Google Sites help forum. This page addresses those questions. Scroll down to see a list of questions. Click on the downward pointing chevron (V) to see the answer.

First and foremost...

Help us to help you!

Many users ask for help in the forums and do not supply the most basic piece of information to enable us to help them - the address of their Site. It's a user to user forum. We do not have access to your Site information unless you give it to us.

In order for us to be able to help you, it really helps to know the address (URL) of your Site, both the sites.google.com url and your custom domain url if you are using one. (Use a URL shortener, like https://bitly.com/ if you want to hide the URLs from search engines)

For your sites.google.com url for New Sites , Go to the SIte editor, click on the little downward pointing triangle next to the publish button, select 'View published site'. When that opens, copy the URL in the address bar that starts sites.google.com/view/

https://support.google.com/sites/community-guide/239732704

Why won't my website work without WWW ?

By default, Google Sites have to be mapped to a subdomain (e.g. www) and cannot be mapped to a naked domain.

A 'naked' domain is an internet domain name without the subdomain "www" (or any other subdomain). For example, computerlanguage.com is a naked domain but www.computerlanguage.com is not, because it includes the www subdomain.
See this page for instructions on how to redirect a naked domain to your custom url

Where can I get the IP address of my Google Site

Despite what your domain provider might tell you, you don't need (and can't get) the IP address of your Site to use your custom domain. Google Sites doesn't work that way.


Note 1: VERIFICATION: If you have not managed to verify your Site using the Webmaster Central verification method you are currently directed to by Google Sites, the above article uses a different method using the Search Console, which is easier/better. Use this method instead.

Note2: USE THE RIGHT ACCOUNT: Make sure you are signed in to the same account when verifying ownership of your domain that is the owner account of your Google Site

Note3: IT'S NOT INSTANTANEOUS: After adding the cname record it can take several hours for the change to propagate round the internet so your website may not be available on the new URL immediately. 

Note4: CLOUDFLARE USERS: If you are using cloudflare use the 'DNS only' option, not 'proxied'

Why doesn't my Site appear on Google Search ?

The first thing to have in mind is "Search Is Never Guaranteed".

The key to getting indexed on Google is unique and compelling content for Google Search to index for people to search for and find. Google Search only indexes text. It's not necessarily the number of words that are at issue, but fewer words mean there's less chance of your site offering something unique and compelling for Google Search to index. Google Search only indexes textual content for other people to find. If there is hardly any text, therefore, Google Search may not even bother indexing the site as there's nothing for people to search for.
This is not specifically a Google Sites issue and the best advice is to read all the resources on:

Why is my page missing from Google Search?

AND

Webmaster Guidelines


ESPECIALLY

Avoid the following techniques:

Hopefully that will help you improve your Site's likelihood to get indexed.

(credit to Steegle from whom the above was plagiarised)

See also this answer in the forum given by Steegle - specifically with reference to academic CVs, but generally applicable
https://support.google.com/sites/thread/147565055/my-google-site-is-not-searchable?hl=en&msgid=147626086 
Answer also copied here for reference

Why is there no Custom Domains option

Either:

a) You are not signed in with the owner account

or

b) You are using Google Workspace in which case the process is slightly different 

Follow these instructions if for a Google Workspace account:

https://support.google.com/a/answer/7392423

or these instructions from Google Sites specialist, Steegle which includes a video 

https://www.steegle.com/google-sites/how-to/map-domain-web-address-g-suite  

What and how much can I store in a Google Site?

See this support article for the most up to date information: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/37603 

Why is my Site giving a 404 error?

See this page for a full answer

How do I connect Google Tag Manager to my Google Site ?

You can't. Google Sites does not support Google Tag Manager