Google Indexing Issues: 13 Possible Causes & How to Fix Them
According to SparkToro, Google accounts for over 60% of all website traffic. Therefore, getting indexed by Google and appearing in search results is the most effective way to amplify a website’s visibility.
Unfortunately, the search engine has a meticulous indexing process.
Google may choose not to index a page for many reasons, such as technical errors, content-related issues, or other factors that fail to meet its indexing criteria.
You can check if Google indexed your pages using Google Search Console. For instance, IndexCheckr’s indexing report on GSC says there are 36 indexed and 69 unindexed pages on the website:
Scrolling down further, you will discover the common issues encountered by Google, preventing the search engine from indexing your pages:
In IndexCheckr’s case, most indexing issues detected were caused by the user (Source → Website). Only a few pages had actual Google-determined indexing problems (Source → Google systems).
Common indexing issues often prevent Google from showing your content, impacting your site’s visibility and performance. Knowing how to index your web pages starts by understanding the possible root cause behind it.
Let’s look at the 13 common Google indexing issues and how to fix them:
1. Page is new or recently changed
With trillions of pages on the internet, search engine crawlers may take their time crawling and indexing pages. According to anecdotal reports by Reddit users, it may take several hours to a few weeks for Google to index a newly created or recently updated page.
The speed by which Google indexes a page depends on several factors, such as:
- Crawl health. Google is more likely to crawl frequently and, by extension, index websites that respond quickly to server requests.
- Crawl demand. Google is more likely to crawl and index popular and frequently updated websites than domains with lower update frequency.
- Page content quality. Even after crawling, having low-quality content may prevent pages from being indexed by Google (more on this later).
If Google hasn’t discovered the page yet, site owners may request indexing via Google Search Console to speed up the process, as shown below:
2. Noindex tag on the page <head> element
A “noindex” meta tag is a specific HTML code in the web page’s <head> element instructing search engines not to index a particular page. This means the page won’t appear in search results. Here is what it looks like:
Site owners often intentionally add noindex tags to specific pages, such as:
- Temporary or seasonal pages
- Low-value or thin pages
- Pages meant for internal use only
- Pages behind logins or paywalls
However, noindex tags can sometimes be added by mistake. If your page isn’t appearing in search results, check and remove this directive.
You can do this by manually editing the page’s HTML code or using your website’s content management system. After which, resubmit the page for indexing on Google Search Console.
3. Robots.txt disallows crawling
A robots.txt file is a text file that instructs Googlebot about which parts of your website it can or cannot access.
If a page is disallowed in this file, search engines cannot crawl it, which means the page won’t be indexed.
Consider the hypothetical robots.txt file below:
Googlebot is disallowed from crawling /hypothetical-page/ path, which means it will not appear on search results.
While this is useful for blocking sensitive or low-value pages, it can accidentally restrict important content.
To diagnose the issue, visit your robots.txt file and look for the same directives as above (e.g., Disallow: /example-page/). If the restriction is unintentional, locate the robots.txt file via your cPanel, update it, and resubmit the page on GSC.
4. Poor quality content
At the core of every Google-indexed page is their adherence to Google Search Essential. Per Google, every web-based content needs to pass three core requirements before being eligible to appear on search:
- Technical requirements. Googlebot isn’t blocked by robots.txt, and the page is indexable.
- Spam policies. The web page must follow Google’s spam policies to prevent getting pulled down in Google SERP ranking or completely removed from Google search results.
- Key best practices. The activities you do to improve your site’s SEO performance.
For this section, we’ll focus on #3.
Google puts the user experience above all else, which is why they urge site owners to “create helpful, reliable, people-first content.” Thin, irrelevant, low-quality content is less likely to be indexed, and even if they do get indexed, these pages will often sit at the bottom of SERPs.
Secondly, consistently demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) in your content. To abide by this, focus on creating content that is unique, well-researched, engaging, and experiential (something you have first-hand experience with) that solves user problems.
Low-quality pages will likely show “Crawled – currently not indexed” on Google Search Console, as shown below:
This means Google has already seen the page but is not entirely convinced if it should be indexed. In some cases, Google might not index the page entirely.
If you have low-quality pages like this, we recommend refining the copy, improving the content, and asking Google to recrawl the page.
5. Canonicalization issues
Before a page gets indexed, Google first determines if the page is a duplicate of another known page.
If there are similar pages and no user-declared canonical, the search engine will gather those duplicates into a “duplicate cluster” and select the page that best represents the group. The selected page is called the “canonical” and is likely shown in search results. Meanwhile, Google may not index all other duplicates.
Conversely, users may also declare a preferred version of the page as canonical by adding a canonical tag in the <head> section of the page using the following format:
<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.example.com/preferred-page”>
For example:
Theoretically, adding a canonical tag will prevent duplicate content issues. On GSC, duplicate pages will be declared as “Page is not indexed: Alternate page with proper canonical tag,” as shown below:
However, Google may also ignore your declared canonical if it detects strong signals indicating that the non-canonical version is more authoritative. In this case, you will find the “Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user” message in Google Search Console:
6. Page has no incoming links
Google depends on links to explore every page on your site. Think of links—whether internal or inbound links—as doorways to a specific page.Pages with no incoming links are called orphan pages, and they are one of the most common causes of indexing issues.
When you inspect the URL of orphan pages, they will almost always show the “Page is not indexed: URL is unknown to Google” message on GSC:
If you had a page live for quite some time and it still shows the same message, it might be orphaned. Fix the issue by creating internal links to that link, which might help Google crawl and index the page.
LinkStorm created a perfect resource for finding internal links pointing to a page. You might want to check that out for more insights.
7. Poor Core Web Vitals readings
Core Web Vitals is Google’s solution to simulate a page’s real-world loading performance, visual stability, and interactivity. Google uses three key metrics to measure your site’s web vitals, as shown below:
Falling short of Google’s standard means your website does not give visitors the best user experience. With the search engine’s prioritization of user experience, poor CWV readings might be why your page is not indexed.
You may check your website or pages’ performance using PageSpeed Insights. Google puts actionable recommendations at the bottom to help you optimize your site’s Core Web Vitals.
For example, here are IndexCheckr’s results:
8. Crawl budget limit
Google sets a dedicated crawl budget for each website, depending on its size, niche, and update frequency.
For instance, a news website that publishes new pages daily will be crawled and indexed more often than a website that talks about the different types of cheese.
Or, Google will usually visit (and possibly index) pages from a blog that regularly uploads new content versus another blog that only publishes twice a month.
A higher crawl budget means Google will have a deeper crawl depth or more extensive crawling activity when exploring a website.
Meanwhile, if Google already consumed its crawl budget, the search engine cannot index the remaining undiscovered pages.
Google says smaller websites with less than 10,000 pages shouldn’t worry about the crawl budget. But to be safe and prevent crawl budget depletion, we advise keeping pages at a shallow click depth or how many clicks from the homepage it takes to reach a page.
9. Page is undergoing manual action
In most cases, fixing indexing issues is manageable unless you’re dealing with a manual action.
Manual actions occur when a human reviewer has declared that your page does not comply with Google’s Spam Policies.
According to Google, if a website is undergoing manual action, the flagged pages or the entire website may not appear in search results, depending on the severity of the violation.
You can find out if any manual action has been taken against your site via the Manual Actions button on GSC’s sidebar menu. This is what it would look like if you have any violations:
10. Geo-targeted content
Some websites create different versions of the same page to target various locations and languages. They often do this to tailor their offering, messaging, and user experience for specific regions and audiences. This is called geo-targeted content.
For example, a website has three versions of the same page that target three different languages: English, French, and Chinese. To prevent Google from flagging the three versions as duplicate content, the site owner must implement hreflang annotations on the <head> section of all versions, like:
<link rel=”alternate” href=”https://www.example.com/en/” hreflang=”en-us” />
<link rel=”alternate” href=”https://www.example.com/zh/” hreflang=”zh-cn” />
<link rel=”alternate” href=”https://www.example.com/fr/” hreflang=”fr-fr” />
<link rel=”alternate” href=”https://example.com/” hreflang=”x-default”/>
Without properly implementing hreflang tags, Google might treat variations as duplicates, causing indexing errors.
11. Redirection errors
URL redirects are not inherently bad. They can serve your business better when used correctly.
However, redirection errors can indirectly disrupt Google’s ability to index your pages effectively.
Suppose you have problematic redirects on your website, such as:
- Redirect chains: the page keeps getting redirected to another page continuously
- Redirect loops: the page redirects back to itself
- Misconfigured status codes: for instance, using 302 instead of 301 redirects for permanent redirects, which might cause Google to keep indexing the old page and not the new page
In those cases, search engines may abandon the crawl altogether, leaving the page unindexed.
Resolving redirects requires regularly auditing your website using third-party tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, and LinkStorm. After identifying the redirection errors, correct them using your website’s cPanel.
12. Broken links
Broken links, or links pointing to non-existent pages, are like roadblocks in Googlebot’s crawling journey, which can prevent Google from indexing pages properly.
Suppose a broken link is Google’s only way of discovering new pages on a website. That means the broken link will bottleneck the crawling activity, and no new pages will be indexed unless the site owner fixes the broken link first. Alternatively, Google may use backlinks as alternative pathways to access pages buried behind broken links.
In addition, broken links create a poor user experience, leading to increased bounce rates and lower engagement. Over time, excessive broken links can harm your site’s SEO performance and trustworthiness.
Third-party tools, like LinkStorm, Ahrefs, and Screaming Frog, can identify sitewide broken links:
After identifying the referring page with broken link(s), correct the target page URL.
13. Server-side complications
Server-side issues can prevent Googlebot from accessing and indexing your pages. Problems like slow server response times, server downtime, or incorrect server configurations (e.g., 5xx errors) can block search engines from crawling your site efficiently, which might lead to missed indexing opportunities and potential ranking drops.
If you’re experiencing server error-related indexing issues, you will find them on Google Search Console, as shown below:
Do note that your browser and Googlebot’s experiences are different. In other words, even if you can access the link on your computer, it does not mean the Googlebot can parse the web page.
Different things may cause 5xx errors, such as resource-heavy plugins, server overload, or temporary server downtimes. Server-side complications preventing Googlebot from indexing pages are rare.
However, if these instances persist on your website, it’s time to take action before the issues blow out of proportion. Here’s a quick guide to follow:
Start by visiting your cPanel and reviewing your server logs. Search for Googlebot’s user-agent string, usually “Googlebot” for desktop crawling and “Googlebot-mobile” for mobile crawling.
Look at the status code and see when the 5xx issues started. Think back if it coincides with a plugin download, website update, high traffic spike, or server change.
Try to spot a pattern as it could point to the issue.
If a plugin or code is causing the problem, disable resource-heavy codes or scripts. Upgrading your hosting plan or switching to a more reliable server can optimize your server performance.
Conversely, if no pattern is found, the error might have occurred because of a server-side oversight. Contact your hosting provider and ask them to resolve the issue.
Drawbacks of Having Google Page Indexing Issues
When left unresolved, Google page indexing issues can have a profound effect on your website. Here are specific disadvantages to indexing errors:
• Reduced website visibility
Unindexed pages will never appear on search results. In other words, even if users are searching queries related to your business, your links will not appear on SERPs. This will severely limit your online visibility, even if you are present in other marketing channels like social media.
• No organic search traffic
Unless users search your unindexed pages’ specific URL, these pages will receive zero organic search traffic. The only other way people can reach your pages is through referral traffic via backlinks from other websites and other channels.
• Missed lead generation opportunities
Every website visitor from organic search results using transactional queries is considered a qualified lead. This means they know what they want and are more likely to convert into buying customers. If your money pages are not indexed on Google due to indexing issues, you miss out on potentially converting these users.
• Lost revenue and wasted resources
The time, money, and effort spent creating content is wasted if those pages are not indexed on Google because of indexing errors. Moreover, every lead that those unindexed pages failed to convert represents lost revenue for your business.
• Limited competitiveness
Website indexing problems can limit your website’s overall competitiveness in SERPs. Competitors whose pages are visible on Google will continue gaining traction and driving organic traffic while your page remains invisible.
Actively Monitor Your Indexing Status to Stay Ahead of Indexing Issues
Indexing issues can creep on you with every algorithm update. Stay ahead of indexing problems by actively monitoring the indexing status of your web pages.
IndexCheckr is an automated tool that helps site owners monitor whether their pages are indexed on Google.
Users may set up IndexCheckr to conduct automatic checks at desired intervals. For any changes in indexing status, the tool sends email alerts to keep users updated and help them resolve indexing issues as soon as they occur.
Try IndexCheckr for FREE with 50 credits—no credit card requirements, zero commitments.