Fix Indexing Issues in Google Search Console - A Complete Walkthrough

Introduction

If you own a website, showing up on Google Search is extremely important. It helps you get traffic, customers, and grow your brand online. But sometimes, Google doesn't show your pages in search results. That’s usually because of indexing issues.

Thankfully, Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that tells you exactly which pages are not indexed—and why. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to use Google Search Console to find and fix indexing problems step by step.

Whether you're a blogger, a business owner, or an SEO beginner, this guide will help you understand everything in simple language.

What Is Indexing?

Indexing is the process where Google stores and organizes your web pages in its database so they can appear in search results. When someone searches on Google, it doesn’t search the internet in real-time—it searches its index, which is like a giant library of all the pages it has discovered and stored.

Think of it this way:

• Crawling is like Google sending a robot (called a crawler or bot) to visit your website and read its content.
• Indexing is like Google taking notes from what it read and filing your page in the right place in its library (index).
• Once your page is indexed, it becomes eligible to show up in Google search results when people search for related topics.

If your page is not indexed, it’s like your book is missing from the library shelf. No one can find it, no matter how great the content is.

So, indexing is a key step in making your website visible on Google. The better your pages are written, organized, and optimized, the more likely they are to get indexed quickly and correctly.

About Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a platform that lets you monitor how your website appears in search results. It shows:

• Which pages are indexed
• Which pages have problems
• What keywords you're ranking for
• Backlinks to your site
• Mobile usability issues
• Core Web Vitals and more

It’s the best way to monitor and fix indexing issues for free.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough: Fixing Indexing Issues in Google Search Console

Let’s break it down into simple steps.

Step 1: Open Google Search Console and Select Your Website

Go to https://search.google.com/search-console

• Sign in with your Google account
• Select your website (called a “property”) from the left-hand side

If you haven’t added your site to GSC yet, you’ll need to verify using one of the methods like:

• Uploading the HTML file
• DNS record
• Google Analytics

Once euthanized, you can access all the reports.

Step 2: Go to the “Pages” Report

From the left menu, click on "Pages" under the “Index” section.

This is the most important place to check indexing issues. Here you’ll see:

• Indexed pages (These are fine)
• Not Indexed pages (These need attention)

You’ll also see specific reasons why a page is not indexed.

Step 3: Understand the Reason Why Pages Are Not Indexed

There are several reasons why Google might not index your pages. Here are the most common ones shown in GSC and how to fix them:

1. Crawled – Currently Not Indexed

What it means: Google found your page but decided not to index it for now.

Possible causes:

• Low-quality content
• Thin content (not enough text)
• Duplicate content
• Page is too new

How to fix:

• Add more original, useful content
• Avoid copying text from other pages
• Update the page regularly
• Improve internal linking

2. Discovered – Currently Not Indexed

What it means: Google knows your page exists but hasn’t crawled it yet.

Possible causes:

• Too many new pages at once
• Site has low crawl budget
• Server is slow

How to fix:

• Reduce the number of low-quality or duplicate pages
• Improve website speed
• Build backlinks to important pages
• Create an updated sitemap and submit it

3. Alternate Page with Proper Canonical Tag

What it means: This page has a canonical tag pointing to another version, so Google indexed that version.

How to fix:

• Check if the canonical tag is correct
• If this page should be indexed, update the canonical tag to point to itself
• If not, leave it as it is

4. Excluded by ‘noindex’ Tag

What it means: The page has a noindex meta tag, telling Google not to index it.

How to fix:

• Check your page’s HTML or headers
• Remove the noindex tag if you want the page to be indexed

5. Blocked by Robots.txt

What it means: Your robots.txt file is preventing Google from accessing the page.

How to fix:

• Go to https://www.yoursite.com/robots.txt
• Make sure you’re not blocking important pages like:

bash

CopyEdit

Disallow: /blog/

• Remove or update disallow rules

6. Soft 404

What it means: Google thinks this page looks like an error page, even though it shows 200 OK status.

How to fix:

• Make sure the page has real, useful content
• Avoid saying “Page not found” or similar text
• Use the correct status code (404 or 410) for real error pages

7. Redirect Error

What it means: The page has redirect problems like:

• Redirect loop
• Too many redirects
• Invalid destination

How to fix:

• Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to test redirects
• Fix or simplify redirect chains
• Ensure destination URLs are correct

Step 4: Use the URL Inspection Tool

If a specific page is not indexed, use the URL Inspection Tool.

• Paste the full page URL into the top search bar in GSC
• It will show you:
• If the page is indexed
• When it was last crawled
• Any errors found

If the page is not indexed, click “Request Indexing”.

Google will recheck your page. This doesn’t guarantee indexing, but it often helps.

Step 5: Submit a Sitemap

Sitemaps help Google understand which pages to crawl and index.

To submit a sitemap:

• Create one using tools like Yoast SEO (for WordPress), Screaming Frog, or online sitemap generators
• The URL is usually like: https://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
• In GSC, go to Sitemaps → Add a new sitemap → Submit

Make sure your sitemap:

• Only includes URLs you want indexed
• Is updated regularly
• Doesn’t list broken or duplicate pages

Step 6: Fix Crawl Errors

Click on “Crawl Stats” in GSC to see how often Google crawls your site and if there are errors.

Common crawl errors:

• Server errors (5xx)
• Not found (404)
• Timeout issues

How to fix:

• Check your hosting performance
• Fix broken links using tools like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog
• Make sure pages load quickly and don’t timeout

Step 7: Improve Internal Linking

Internal links help Google discover and crawl your pages. If a page has no links pointing to it, Google might miss it.

Tips:

• Link to new pages from your homepage or main pages
• Use descriptive anchor text
• Create a proper site structure

Example:

Instead of:

Click here

Write:

Learn more about our SEO audit services

Step 8: Check Mobile Usability

Mobile usability issues can prevent indexing if the page is not user-friendly on mobile.

In GSC, go to Mobile Usability and look for:

• Text too small
• Clickable elements too close
• Content wider than screen

How to fix:

• Use responsive design
• Test using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool
• Update fonts and spacing for mobile devices

Step 9: Check for Manual Actions

Sometimes, Google manually penalizes a site. Check under Security & Manual Actions.

If you see a manual action:

• Read the reason carefully
• Fix the issue (like removing spammy content or backlinks)
• Request a review after fixing

Step 10: Use Performance Report to Prioritize

The Performance tab in GSC shows:

• Clicks
• Impressions
• Average position
• Keywords

Use this to find:

• Pages getting traffic but not indexed fully
• Pages with high impressions but low clicks

You can optimize these pages and resubmit them for indexing.

Bonus Tips to Avoid Indexing Issues

• Keep your website updated
• Don’t use duplicate titles or meta descriptions
• Avoid keyword stuffing or thin content
• Submit only useful pages to be indexed
• Remove old or broken pages
• Use schema markup for better visibility

When to Use “Request Indexing”

Only use this when:

• You’ve fixed an issue
• You’ve published a new high-quality page
• You’ve updated a page with major changes

Don’t abuse this option for every small edit.

Tools That Can Help You Monitor Indexing

Along with GSC, these tools are useful:

• Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Great for finding crawl errors and redirect issues
• Ahrefs Site Audit: Identifies indexability and SEO problems
• Yoast SEO (WordPress): Helps set canonical tags, sitemaps, and meta robots easily
• Rank Math (WordPress): Similar to Yoast but with more features
• Google Analytics: Shows traffic so you can match with indexed pages

Conclusion

Fixing indexing issues in Google Search Console might sound technical, but it’s actually very manageable when broken into steps.

To recap:

1. Go to the Pages report
2. Check why your page is not indexed
3. Use the URL Inspection Tool
4. Submit an updated sitemap
5. Fix crawl errors and improve content
6. Build internal links and mobile usability
7. Use “Request Indexing” wisely

Keep your website clean, fast, and full of helpful content—and Google will reward you with better indexing and higher visibility.

Final Tip:

Be patient. Even after fixing issues, it may take a few days or weeks for Google to index your content. Just keep improving and tracking your site regularly in Google Search Console.