How to Fix Crawled but Not Indexed Issues for Your Website

If you have a website, it must be found easily by visitors. Problems arise when a search engine crawls but does not index a website. You might encounter some pages with the tag “crawled but not indexed.”  

That means search engines have discovered your pages but haven’t indexed them. In this article, we will look at the simplest possible solution to such an issue on your site: “crawled but not indexed.” 

What Is “Crawled but Not Indexed”?

Before knowing how to handle crawled but not indexed, you must understand what crawled but not indexed. Crawled but not indexed means you are referring to the process where a search engine scans your content and retrieves the data while visiting your website.  

However, crawls do not ensure that the page will appear in the results of a search. If a page is “crawled but not indexed,” the search engine encounters it but chooses not to add it to its index. 

Why Is Indexing Important?

Indexing is something your website will need to become visible. This means that if pages on the website aren’t indexed, they won’t appear in search results, and potential visitors will be unable to find them – potentially lowering traffic and other engagement or sales opportunities.  

So, knowing how to fix crawled but not indexed issues is important for the success of your website. 

Common Reasons for Crawled but Not Indexed Issues

To help solve this problem you need to know why in the first place. Here are some common reasons why your pages might be crawled but not indexed: 

1. Low-Quality Content  

If you are providing little value, if the content is very there is not much information, search engines might just decide not to index it. 

2. Duplicate Content  

The same content on multiple pages might make search engines skip indexing to avoid redundancy. 

3. No Internal Links  

Search engines could find it hard to index If you haven’t linked your page from any other part of your site. 

4. Technical Issues  

Slow loading time, server errors, and bad configurations can hinder the website’s indexing ability. 

5. No index Tags 

Sometimes, webmasters inadvertently put no index tags on their pages and specify to the search engines that they do not want those pages crawled and indexed. 

How to Troubleshoot Crawled But Not Indexed Problems

Now that we know why crawled but not indexed issues occur, let’s go ahead and see how we can solve them step by step. 

Step 1: Inspect Your Content Quality 

The first knowing-how-to-fix crawled but not indexed issues is checking out your content. 

• Value It: See to it that it will be useful information. It has to answer a question or solve a problem in your audience’s life. 

• Fill Skinny Pages: It will help you fill long pages. Use a minimum of 300-500 words in most pages. 

• Headings are Clear: Section content using headings. It helps readers and search engines interpret it better. 

Step 2: Remove Duplicate Content 

Duplicate content on a site is downright confusing to search engines. Here’s how to correct it: 

• Canonical Tags: If you have duplicate or very similar content on different pages, you can use a canonical tag to advise the search engine which version of content to index. 

• Page Consolidation: In case you have various pages of similar content, you could consolidate the multiple pages into an all-inclusive page. 

Step 3: Optimization Internal Links 

Internal links are necessary to allow search engines to find and index your pages. Here is how to do just that: 

• Link to Important Pages: Make sure other pages on your website link to the crawled but not indexed pages. 

• Use Descriptive Anchor Text: Write descriptive link text so readers know where they’re being led. 

Step 4: Check for Technical Issues 

Sometimes, you will have technical issues that might fail to index. Here is how to troubleshoot: 

• Google Search Console: This is free to use to get issues with your website. It could check “Coverage” reports and see which pages of yours are crawled but never indexed. 

• Check Server Status: Your server must be up and running properly. If your website is down or slow, search engines will likely fail to index your page. 

• Fix Broken Links: If you have broken links (404 errors), fix them so the crawl can run smoothly. 

Step 5: Inspect Meta Tags and Robots.txt 

Meta tags and your robots.txt file can impact how well your site can be indexed. 

• Remove No Index Tags: Look through all your pages to ensure there are no accidental “no index” tags. When you see any, you’ll want to remove those tags so that indexing can happen. 

• Check Your Robots.txt File: Don’t let your robots.txt file prevent necessary pages from being crawled. Be extremely careful using the “Disallow” directive. 

Step 6: Resubmit Sitemap 

A sitemap helps search engines navigate through your pages. If you have made changes, resubmitting your sitemap may help in the following ways: 

• Create a Sitemap: If you don’t have one already, use a tool or plugin to make a sitemap for your website. 

• Add to Google Search Console: Go to Google Search Console, navigate to the “Sitemaps” section, and add your sitemap URL. 

Step 7: Wait for Re-Crawling 

Now that you’ve made all the changes, just be patient. It will take a while before search engines rediscover your site. However, you can also request a re-crawl: 

• Ask Google to Index it in Search Console: If you have made major changes, use the “URL Inspection” tool to ask Google to index specific pages. 

Monitoring Your Progress 

Keep track of your progress as you work to fix crawled but not indexed issues. Here is how to do it: 

• Check Often on Google Search Console: Check back into Google Search Console to see if you have moved forward positively. 

• Track Traffic: You would track your website traffic. The more pages that have been indexed, the more you expect visitors. 

More Tips for Troubleshooting Successfully 

Here are a few additional troubleshooting tips for crawled but not indexed issues.  

1. Be up to Date with SEO Trends 

Search engine algorithms change daily. Keep in touch with the latest SEO techniques so that your site is always optimized. 

2. Be mobile friendly 

Most people go to the web using their smartphones, so ensure your website is mobile-friendly as well because search engines rank mobile-friendly websites. 

3. Social Media Usage 

Have your content shared on other social media sites for increased traffic and, incoming links back to your website. 

4. Interact With Your Audience 

Respond to comments and keep interacting with the audience through community building surrounding your content. 

Wrapping Up!

Understanding how to fix crawled but not indexed problems is crucial in improving website visibility. Good quality content, removal of duplication of content, interlinking the internal pages, and a few technical problems will be done so that a greater number of pages get indexed by search engines. 

Note that you also have the control of knowing how things are moving along using platforms such as Google Search Console, after which patience is all, you need because eventually, the crawl engine might take another trip around your site.  

For sure, these tips will be all you need to get you started in managing crawled but not indexed issues and you’ll better your website’s performance. 

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