Pages not indexed: a decision tree with link checks
Search Console gives two similar labels with different causes. Work through the branches in order and stop at the first one that matches.
ArchiLinks research team ·
Discovered, currently not indexed means Google knows the URL but has not fetched it. Crawled, currently not indexed means it fetched the page and chose not to keep it. The first is mostly about priority and discovery. The second is about the page itself.
Why links belong in the diagnosis
Teams diagnose indexing as a purely technical problem. It often is. Yet one signal stays easy to overlook.
When you find backlinks to website URLs that are missing from the index, you learn whether outside sites vouch for them, and a page with zero internal links and zero external ones gives Google very little reason to spend crawl time or index space on it.
A site with 148 pages and one indexed is rare. A site with 40 thin pages and a flat sitemap is common.
For the full set of link calls, see the API scripts; for sections you are about to move, the migration checklist puts indexing checks at T+1 week. Bing and Yahoo can also differ from Google, so test them separately, and consider IndexNow for Bing as of its 2021 launch.
The decision tree
1. Is the page blocked or noindexed?
Inspect the URL in Search Console. Look at the rendered HTML, the HTTP header and robots.txt. A noindex left over from staging is the usual culprit. If yes, remove it and request indexing.
2. Does Google pick a different canonical?
Compare the user-declared canonical with the Google-selected one. If they differ, the page is a duplicate or near-duplicate in Google's view. Merge, differentiate or accept it.
3. Is the page reachable from real sections?
Count internal links from pages that are themselves indexed. Fewer than two, or only from the sitemap, means weak discovery. Add links from a hub.
4. Does the page have any external links?
Check toppages and backlinks for the URL. If other domains link to it, fix internal links first and expect a faster pickup. If none, the page must earn its place on content.
5. Is the page worth keeping?
Thin, templated or parameter-based pages are often excluded on purpose. Consolidate, noindex or delete. Do not spend crawl budget arguing.
What each branch usually points to
| Finding | Typical cause | Action | Time to see an effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| noindex or robots block | Staging rule shipped to production | Remove and request indexing | Days to a few weeks |
| Different Google canonical | Duplicates, parameters, thin variants | Consolidate or rewrite | Weeks |
| Few internal links | Orphan or deep page | Link from hubs and sitemap | Weeks |
| Links exist but not indexed | Content judged low value | Improve content, keep the redirect or canonical honest | One or two months |
| Many pages, all affected | Site-wide quality or structure signal | Prune and consolidate before submitting more | Months |
Indexing questions
- How long should a new page take to appear in the index?
- From a few hours to several weeks. Established sites with strong internal linking see new URLs within days. New sites commonly wait longer. Under four weeks with no signals of a problem is not worth panicking over.
- Does noindex affect crawl budget?
- A page with noindex is still crawled to see the tag, though Google tends to reduce how often it returns. For most sites below tens of thousands of URLs, crawl budget is not the limit you should worry about.
- Do backlinks help a page get indexed?
- They help discovery and show the page has outside interest. They do not force indexing. A linked page that is thin or duplicated can still be excluded.
- Is requesting indexing in Search Console a fix?
- It is a nudge, not a cure. If the underlying cause is a canonical conflict, thin content or no internal links, the page tends to drop out again.