If you’ve ever been looking in the Google Search Console under the sitemap area and you find a “Crawled – currently not indexed” section, you’re not alone. I run into this issue all the time; honestly, it’s not always a bad thing. Google has found your page, they’ve reviewed the page, and for one reason or another, they’ve decided not to index it or list it on search results pages.
Today, we’ll explore the frustrating results of the “currently not indexed.” We’ll review the leading causes and some steps to resolve it. At the end of the day, it’s all about helping you improve your site’s visibility in search results.
Key Takeaways:
- The “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” status signals that Google has crawled a page but determined it unfit for indexing due to issues like poor content quality or technical errors.
- Addressing internal linking, content quality, technical errors, and duplicate content can boost your chances of being indexed.
- Tools in Google Search Console, like the URL Inspection Tool and indexing requests, provide valuable insights and help resolve indexing issues.
What Does “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” Mean?
The “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” error message often puzzles website owners. This means that while Google crawled your page, it didn’t include it in the index, which prevents it from appearing in search results. This is going to have a direct impact on traffic and visibility.
Understanding why a page isn’t indexed is crucial for solving the problem. Common reasons range from poor content quality to technical issues. Identifying and addressing these reasons ensures your content gets recognized and indexed.
Statuses in Google Search Console
Google Search Console provides several page status types, and while they have a help doc, it’s not really all that useful. Basically they just say that “it may or may not be indexed in the future” and then say that you don’t need to resubmit the URL. Here’s a link to the help doc section at Google.
What we’ve found over the years is that the “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” status often means that while Google accessed the page, they decided against adding it to the index due to content duplication or overall quality issues. The content on the page seems to play the biggest factor.
To identify which pages are not being indexed correctly, check the Coverage report under the Excluded tab. For even more details, you can use the URL Inspection Tool at the top of the page for individual URLs. This will give extended info on why a page might not have been indexed, and gives some generic suggestions for corrective actions.
Reasons Why Pages Are Crawled but Not Indexed
There are any number of reasons why a page might not be index Google has crawled the website. Google doesn’t just use links in your site to find things, they also rely on your sitemap.xml for submitted pages in your site. Sometimes, those sitemap.xml files may include restricted or private content, such as login-protected pages or paywalls, and those will generally block indexing. Other potential culprits include thin content, insufficient internal links, or temporary issues like redirects or crawling limitations.
Thin content, which offers little value, is often excluded by Google. Search engines prioritize informative, relevant content that serves user needs. Therefore, improving your content’s depth and relevance, and making sure you have proper site structure and links, can increase your chances of being indexed.
Common Issues and Solutions
To fix the “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” problem, understanding the root causes is essential. Low-quality content, poor internal linking, and incorrect technical configurations are frequently to blame. Let’s explore some of the most common problems and how to address them.
Improving Internal Linking
Internal links are one of the ways for Google to navigate your site. Each link is a signal to show a relationship between pages, and the more links from other pages to a particular page, the more Google believes the page to be of priority.
Everyone does internal linking in one form or another. Most people have a navigation to go from Home Page to Conact Page, and while that’s an internal link, when it comes to individual blog posts, you need more than just one or two from a single source.
Along with a sitemap, a strong internal linking setup helps search engines discover and index your content more efficiently.
Consider organizing your site using pillar pages and content silos that link to related content. High-value pages can pass authority to lesser-known pages through strategic linking, signaling to Google their importance. This doesn’t mean you should add 100 links on a page, that’s not a fix.
Fixing Thin Content
Thin content offers little value to users, and Google often ignores such pages. Pages with low word counts or insufficient information tend to get flagged as low quality. The simlple fixto this is to add detailed content to your pages. Add quality and useful content that addresses a particular users needs. While regular updates can also improve your content’s appeal to search engines, as fresh material is often prioritized, do not just add a few words and change the date. You must rewrite sections that are out of date, or simply remove them if they’re no longer needed.
Addressing Duplicate Content Issues
Duplicate content confuses Google about which version of the page to index. You can use canonical tags to the code to signal search engines the preferred URL for similar pages. This code can be added via HTML, or if using WordPress for your website, you can use plugins such as RankMath, Yoast, All-In-One SEO, and simliar plugins. The canonical tag helps signal which is the page you want indexed and can avoid duplication issues while still keeping pages available for uses to read if needed. Not everything needs a 301 redirect to other content.
Checking Structured Data
Structured data errors can cause indexing problems. Get your geek hat on for the following sentence. Structured data is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data), Microdata, or RDFa (Resource Description Framework in Attributes). It is essentially code embedded within the HTML of a webpage, following a specific schema (usually from schema.org) that defines the types of information and how they are related. All the search engines use this format.
While warnings may not always block indexing, critical errors can. Tools like Google Search Console can help diagnose structured data problems, allowing you to correct them and improve the likelihood of full indexing. Properly structured data aids search engines in understanding your content more accurately.
Managing Private, Expired Content and Ecommerce
Private or restricted content, such as login-protected pages, should be managed carefully to avoid unintentional indexing. We use tools like ScreamingFrog to scan a site and help identify such pages and block them from crawlers.
Ensure that the pages are marked as “no-index” and verify that they have not been accidentally added to any sitemap.
When it comes to Expired Content, if it’s no longer relevant, get rid of it. Yes it’s nice to look back at an events page and see all the various events that might have been offered, but you can make a summary page for this. You don’t need details of time and place and pricing from 10 years ago. Delete the page and save the crawl budget!
For e-commerce sites, managing product availability is crucial. Ensure your stock feeds are current to avoid indexing issues caused by expired or out-of-stock products. If you will not be carrying a product again, it’s best to delete the product and set it with a 404 Error, or redirect it to a category page of similar products.
Technical Issues Affecting Indexing
Technical issues can affect indexing and crawling in search engines. It is important to verify that everything is working as it should as incorrect instructions for redirects, server errors, or noindex tags can prevent your pages from showing up in search results. It’s also worth checking for redirect chains, a page linking to another page that is also being redirected. This creates bloat and eats into the crawl budget also. Below are some common technical hurdles and how to fix them.
301 Redirects
301 redirects signal to search engines that a page has permanently moved to a different URL. When used correctly, they help preserve link equity and guide visitors and search engines to the replacement page. However, improper setups can interfere with indexing, especially when an existing redirect points to another redirected URL instead of directly to the final destination. These redirect chains add unnecessary requests and create more opportunities for the redirect path to break. Before adding a new redirect, check whether a 301 rule is already in place and make sure all previous URLs point directly to the correct canonical page.
Paginated URLs
Paginated URLs (with page numbers in their structure – ex: /page/2/) can pose challenges for indexing. Google may decide not to index such pages, impacting their visibility. Whether to index these URLs depends on their importance and the value they provide. A well-organized site structure helps mitigate this issue, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index all pages. You can use more internal linking, category pages and of course sitemaps to signal pages of importance.
Server Errors and Noindex Tags
Server errors can happen from time to time but there a few critical ones that happen more often than others:
- Error 500 – Internal Server Error
- Error 502 – Bad Gateway
- Error 503 – Service Unavailable
- Error 504 – Gateway Timeout
All 5xx Errors are generated either from the web host level or the code in the website. Error 500 – Internal Error is the most common error due to code issues, especially in PHP and CGI and must be resolved by you or your webmaster. However, any 5xx Error can prevent Google from accessing your website and pages. It tells the search engine that there’s a problem and to come back, but if search engines get that notice too often, they will ignore the pages and potentially the entire site.
Website pages that return errors in the 400 range are also pages that will not get indexed by Google.
- Error 400 – Bad Request
- Error 401 – Unauthorized
- Error 403 – Forbidden
- Error 404 – Not Found
As a side note, there’s one 4xx Error Code that nearly nobody gets to see.
- Error 418 – I’m A Teapot
Yes, you read that right, I’m A Teapot is an actual error code. It was added as an April Fools joke back in 1998 under the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP), defined as a protocol for controlling and monitoring coffee pots.
So, while 418 is a joke, all other error codes should be taken seriously, so let’s get back to it.
Any pages that return a 404 Error will eventually be removed or dropped from the search index. If you use the noindex tag, you are explicitly telling Google not to index a page. If this is set incorrectly in a robots.txt file, you can quickly de-index your entire site. Removing the noindex tag from pages you want indexed is essential. Regular server maintenance and proper tag management help ensure indexing accuracy.
Using Google Search Console Dashboard for Diagnostics
The Google Search Console itself offers a number of powerful tools for diagnosing and fixing indexing problems. 99% of the time, this is where we start when we’re troubleshooting issues on a website.
URL Inspection Tool
The URL Inspection Tool lets you do a live crawl on a particular page on your site and shows how Google crawls and indexes that URL. By inspecting a URL, you can see whether it’s indexed and review the canonical version. It will also show you any additional schema markup response errors and the ability to submit the URL directly for Indexing.
Requesting Indexing
If a page isn’t indexed, you can manually request Google to index it. You’ll first need to enter the URL in the URL Inspection Tool. After the scan, click the “Request Indexing” link/button, and Google will expedite a re-crawl for this specific page.
If you have multiple URLs with issues, you can submit a sitemap to Google with the list of URLs. Once they’ve scanned and started indexing the sitemap, you can remove the temporary sitemap. We generally prefer entering each URL one by one in the URL Inspection Tool, but if you have dozens, hundreds, or thousands of URLs with an issue that needs to be resolved, submitting a sitemap to Google is the next best option.
Monitoring Fixes
Once you’ve resolved an issue, click “Validate Fix” in Google Search Console to inform Google of the correction. This initiates a re-crawl, during which Google reviews the changes and updates the index accordingly. Do not just click the “Validate Fix” if you haven’t actually done anything. Perform the edits, then submit the validation request.
Enhancing Overall Site Quality
A high-quality site increases the likelihood of being indexed and, more importantly, receives a favorable ranking. You can boost your site’s performance in search results by conducting content audits, refining your site’s structure, and regularly updating pages.
Content Audits
A content audit identifies outdated or low-value pages. This process involves assessing which pages provide minimal user value and marking them to update the content or remove the entire article as needed. The goal is to gradually improve content quality for all previously indexed pages. Publishing guest posts on reputable websites can also strengthen your site’s authority and improve indexing.
Website Structure
A clear site structure improves both user experience and website indexing. Simplified navigation and logical URL hierarchies help search engines understand the relationship between your pages, leading to better indexing.
Content Updates
Updating content regularly ensures it remains relevant. Search engines favor fresh, updated content, making it more likely to be indexed. Revisit your pages periodically to ensure they align with current user needs and SEO best practices.
Long-Term Best Practices for Continued Success
Improving your site’s indexing is a long-term effort. Google’s crawling and indexing processes have become more selective, making it essential to follow sustainable practices for maintaining site quality and performance.
Match Your Content To What Users Want
Content should be aligned with user intent. When you search on Google, you can find exactly whether a topic is informational, transactional, or navigational. Similarly, you can see if the pages returned by Google are informational blog posts or structured lists (listicles). Researching keywords and understanding the needs of your audience are critical steps not to be overlooked. Adjust your content based on user behavior, feedback, and changing trends. Content that satisfies user queries effectively is more likely to be indexed.
Build Quality Backlinks
Think of backlinks as a vote of confidence in the eyes of a search engine. In its basic form, the more votes you have, the more your information must be worthy of ranking. Quality backlinks from reputable sites signal confidence and authority to search engines. Not all guest blogging is bad, just like not all backlinks are equal. Guest blogging and collaborating with industry influencers are just some of the types of backlinks that can positively impact rankings.
Optimize for Mobile
Mobile usability plays a pivotal role in indexing and is now a requirement for ranking. A mobile-friendly design ensures users on any device have a seamless experience, which positively affects both indexing and rankings. While you can have a separate website for mobile and desktop, a responsive web design can simplify page management and ensure consistent HTML across devices.
What We’ve Learned About “Currently Not Indexed”
Addressing the “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” status requires a combination of technical fixes, content improvements, and proper use of Google Search Console tools. By understanding why pages aren’t indexed and applying the best practices outlined here, you can improve your site’s performance in search results.
Regular monitoring, content updates, and a focus on users’ desire all play a big parts in rankings.
By focusing on these things, you can improve your chances of getting your pages indexed by Google and appearing in search results over time.
Ready to boost your site’s visibility? Let Conor and Kim at Big Red SEO help you resolve indexing issues and get your content seen!
Frequently Asked Questions
This can happen due to issues like low-quality content, technical errors, or duplicate content. Addressing these factors is crucial to improving your indexing rate.
Focus on creating valuable content, building internal links, external links, and addressing technical issues like redirects and noindex tags.
