Article · Indexing
"Crawled – currently not indexed" and other Page indexing statuses, explained for clients
A client opens Search Console, sees a long "not indexed" list, and assumes the site is broken. Google does not expect every URL to be indexed, and the reason next to each URL says whether anything needs doing. Ten reasons, what to check for each, and one line you can give the client.
The short answer: Google's stated goal is the canonical version of every important page indexed, not every URL. A reason matters when it touches a page the client wants found. Server errors and soft 404s usually need a fix. Noindex and robots.txt blocks need one only on pages that should be found. Duplicates, alternates, redirects and removed pages are usually expected. "Crawled" and "Discovered – currently not indexed" mean: wait, and check that no important page is stuck there.
What the Page indexing report shows
The report shows which URLs Google has crawled and indexed, and why others were not indexed. The chart counts pages as Indexed or Not indexed. Below it, one row per reason, sorted by what Google thinks is most important to address. Before you read it to a client:
- Source. Each reason shows whether the source is the website or Google. Google says that, in general, you can fix only issues where the source is "Website".
- No URL search. You cannot search or filter the report by URL. For one page, use URL Inspection.
- Samples. Example tables stop at 1,000 rows and may not show every affected URL.
- Sitemap filter. The default is All known pages. Switch to All submitted pages, or one sitemap, to see the URLs you listed in sitemaps.
- Slow to clear. An issue's lifetime runs until 90 days after its last instance was marked as gone, so a fixed reason can stay listed for a while.
- Indexed is not ranked. Google says an indexed page is not guaranteed to show up in search results.
Not every URL needs to be indexed
Google's help page for the report says the goal is the canonical version of every important page indexed. You should not expect all URLs to be indexed, "only the canonical pages," and duplicate or alternate pages shouldn't be indexed. Google's canonicalization guide adds that some duplicate content on a site is normal and is not a violation of its spam policies.
So the question for each row is not "why is this not indexed?" but "is this a page the client wants found?" Keep a short list of money pages, the service, location and product pages that bring in leads, calls or sales, agreed during onboarding, and read the report against it.
Ten reasons at a glance
Names as Google's help page lists them. "Usually needs action" is a starting point: any reason that hits a money page deserves a look.
| Reason | What Google says it means | Usually needs action? | One line for the client |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server error (5xx) | The server returned a 500-level error when the page was requested | Yes | Your server failed to load these pages when Google asked for them, and that needs fixing. |
| Soft 404 | A "not found" message, or an empty page, without a 404 code | Yes, on pages that matter | To Google these look like error pages, so we will fix them or tell Google clearly that they are gone. |
| URL marked 'noindex' | Google found a noindex directive and did not index the page | Only if the page should be found | These pages tell Google not to list them, which is right for [thank-you page] and wrong for any page you want found. |
| URL blocked by robots.txt | Robots.txt blocked the page; that does not guarantee it stays out of the index | Only if the block is a mistake | Your site asks Google not to visit these addresses, which is fine for back-office pages only. |
| Alternate page with proper canonical tag | Correctly points to the indexed canonical page; nothing to do | No | These are alternate versions that point Google to the main page, and the main page is the one listed. |
| Duplicate without user-selected canonical | A duplicate with no preferred version declared; Google calls it working as intended | Usually no; check money pages | Google found near-copies of these pages and lists one version of each, as designed. |
| Page with redirect | A non-canonical URL that redirects elsewhere, so it is not indexed | Usually no; check the target | These old addresses forward visitors to current pages, so Google leaves the old address out. |
| Not found (404) | Returned a 404; not necessarily a problem if removed with no replacement | Only if it moved or you still link to it | These pages were removed, which is normal, and we redirect any that have a replacement. |
| Crawled – currently not indexed | Crawled, not indexed; may or may not be indexed later; no need to resubmit | Not usually; check money pages | Google has visited these pages and not listed them for now; we act only if an important page is among them. |
| Discovered – currently not indexed | Found, not crawled yet; typically rescheduled to avoid overloading the site | Not usually; watch money pages | Google knows these pages exist but has not visited them yet; we make sure your key pages do not stay here. |
Reasons that usually need a fix
Server error (5xx)
Google says: a server error means Googlebot could not access the URL, the request timed out, or the site was busy. Its status code documentation adds that 5xx errors make Google's crawlers temporarily slow down, and URLs that persistently return a server error are removed from the index.
Check: open a few examples yourself and look at host status in the Crawl Stats report. Ask the host about outages, timeouts or overload around the chart's dates, and make sure a misconfigured firewall or DoS protection system is not blocking Googlebot, a cause Google names. Once fixed: Test live URL on a few examples, then Validate fix.
Soft 404
Google says: the page returns a user-friendly "not found" message but not a 404 response code, and Google recommends a 404 for truly "not found" pages. Its crawling documentation describes a soft 404 as a success code on a page whose content suggests an error, such as an empty page, and says such pages are excluded from Search.
Check: really gone: return a 404 or 410. Moved: 301 redirect to the new address. A real page with content: Google says it likely did not load properly for Googlebot, so compare the rendered page and HTTP code in URL Inspection. A blank or nearly blank render points to resources that fail to load.
URL marked 'noindex'
Google says: Google found a noindex directive and did not index the page; to get it indexed, remove the directive. The rule can sit in a meta tag in the HTML or in an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header.
Check: compare the examples with the money-page list; noindex is fine on a thank-you page. On a money page, check the HTML and the HTTP headers, and look for a template or plugin setting that applies the rule to many pages. After removing it: Test live URL, then Validate fix.
URL blocked by robots.txt
Google says: the block does not guarantee the page won't be indexed through other means. Its robots.txt guide says robots.txt is not a mechanism for keeping a page out of Google; a blocked URL can still appear if it is linked from elsewhere. To keep a page out, remove the block and use noindex: a crawler blocked by robots.txt never sees the noindex.
Check: find the rule that matches the examples. Deliberate blocks, such as cart or admin paths, can stay. A money page behind a block is a fix. A page that must stay out of Search needs noindex with the block removed, or password protection. In URL Inspection, Crawl allowed? shows whether robots.txt allowed the crawl; Indexing allowed? always reads "Yes" on a blocked page.
Reasons that are usually expected
Alternate page with proper canonical tag
Google says: the page correctly points to the canonical page, which is indexed, so there is nothing you need to do.
Check: spot-check one example in URL Inspection to confirm the user-declared canonical is the page you intend. Nothing to validate.
Duplicate without user-selected canonical
Google says: the page duplicates another page and does not indicate a preferred canonical. Google calls this "working as intended," not an error, because it does not serve duplicate pages. Inspect the URL to see which URL Google considers canonical.
Check: for money pages only, compare the Google-selected canonical with the version you want. If they match, leave it. If not, declare a canonical on the duplicates; Google's canonicalization guide calls that a hint, not a rule. A related reason, Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user, means Google picked a URL other than the one you declared. Compare both in URL Inspection; on a money page, that is a finding.
Page with redirect
Google says: a non-canonical URL that redirects to another page will not be indexed. The redirect target might or might not be indexed.
Check: inspect the target of a few examples: right page, and indexed? List final URLs, not redirecting ones, in sitemaps. For a redesign or site move, see the website redesign SEO checklist.
Not found (404)
Google says: a 404 is not necessarily a problem if the page was removed without any replacement, though Googlebot will probably keep trying the URL for a while. If the page moved, use a 301 redirect. In general, Google recommends fixing only 404s that you link to yourself or list in a sitemap. Indexed URLs that return a 4xx code are removed from the index.
Check: is there a replacement page? Redirect. Does the site still link to it or list it in a sitemap? Update the link or sitemap. Otherwise, leave it.
Crawled or discovered, not indexed: wait, then check the important pages
Crawled – currently not indexed
Google says: the page was crawled but not indexed. It may or may not be indexed in the future, and there is no need to resubmit the URL for crawling.
Check: is any money page among the examples? If not, report the row as expected. If so, inspect it: Google-selected canonical and last crawl date. Then compare it with similar pages on the site and ask what it offers that they do not. Request indexing has a daily limit and no guarantee, so resubmitting is not the fix.
Discovered – currently not indexed
Google says: the page was found but not crawled yet. Typically, Google wanted to crawl it but expected that to overload the site, so it rescheduled the crawl. That is why the last crawl date is empty.
Check: only money pages matter. If they stay here past a reporting cycle, look at server health first (Crawl Stats host status, any 5xx rows), then confirm they are in a sitemap and linked from other pages on the site.
Confirm a single page with URL Inspection
Check each money page in URL Inspection. Its main result is, in Google's words, "not a live test": it shows the most recently indexed version, which may differ from the page today.
| Field | What it tells you | Helps with |
|---|---|---|
| URL is on Google / is not on Google | On: eligible to appear, not guaranteed. Not on: cannot appear in Search results | The overall answer |
| Last crawl | When Google last crawled; the rest of the result comes from that crawl | Whether a fix has been seen |
| Crawl allowed? | Whether the site let Google crawl, or blocked it, for example in robots.txt | URL blocked by robots.txt |
| Page fetch | Whether Google could get the page from the server | Server error (5xx), Not found (404) |
| Indexing allowed? | Whether the page disallowed indexing, such as with noindex | URL marked 'noindex' |
| User-declared and Google-selected canonical | The canonical the page declares, and the one Google chose | Duplicates and alternates |
Test live URL checks the page as it is now; Google says no test can guarantee indexing, and the live test cannot predict which version will be canonical. Request indexing has a daily limit and no guarantee, and indexing can take up to a week or two; for many changed pages, Google points to a sitemap with lastmod dates. The tool does not check manual actions or security issues, and a Restricted user gets it as fetch only.
How Validate fix works
Validate fix asks Google to recheck the URLs affected by a reason you fixed. Rows you have decided are expected, such as duplicates or redirects, need no validation. Google's permissions table gives verifying fixes to owners and full users, not restricted users.
-
Fix every instance, then spot-check
Google says that if you missed a fix, validation stops when it finds a single remaining instance. Run Test live URL on a few examples first.
-
Click Validate fix once
From the reason's details page. Google says not to click it again until validation has succeeded or failed.
-
Wait
Validation typically takes up to about two weeks, and in some cases much longer. Only URLs with known instances are queued for recrawling, not the whole site. You get an email when Google has confirmed the fix on all URLs.
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If it fails, fix and restart
Use See details to find the failing URL, fix it, confirm the fix on the Pending URLs, and start a new validation, which rechecks Pending and Failed URLs. Let a cycle finish before requesting another, even if you fixed more meanwhile.
| Validation state | What Google says it means |
|---|---|
| Not started | One or more instances have never been in a validation request |
| Started | Validation has begun; no remaining instance found yet |
| Looking good | Every instance checked so far is fixed |
| Passed | All known instances are gone, or the URL is no longer available; you must have clicked Validate fix |
| N/A | Google found the issue fixed everywhere without a validation request |
| Failed | A certain threshold of pages still has the issue; fix and restart |
Each URL also has its own state: Pending, Passed, Failed, or Other (Google could not reach it and counts it as passed). A pass means the reason is gone from those URLs, not a ranking or traffic result.
An email you can copy
Send it the first time a client asks about "not indexed" pages. Edit the brackets.
Subject: Your "not indexed" pages in Google Search Console
Hi [first name],
You asked about the [number] pages Search Console lists as "not indexed." Short version: [most / some] of them are expected, and [number] need a fix.
Google does not expect every address on a site to be indexed. Its help page says the goal is the main version of every important page. Copies, old addresses that forward to new ones, and pages removed on purpose are left out by design.
What we found on [date]:
- Expected, no action: [for example: old addresses that redirect to current pages; your thank-you page, which we keep out of Google on purpose].
- Fixing: [for example: two service pages that tell Google not to list them]. Who: [name or role]. By: [date].
- Watching: [for example: pages Google has found but not added yet. Your main service pages are not among them.]
Once the fixes are live, we will ask Google to recheck those pages. Google says this typically takes up to about two weeks, sometimes much longer. We will tell you when it passes.
Being in Google's index makes a page eligible to appear in search; it does not guarantee where it ranks. We will keep reporting on the pages that bring you leads, as agreed.
[Your name]
Where this fits in your client work
- Audits: answer these reasons in the "not a problem" list of what to put in an SEO audit; indexing problems on money pages go in its findings table.
- Access: to inspect URLs fully and validate fixes, ask to be a Full user. See setting up Search Console for client reporting.
- Traffic drops: a jump in noindex, robots.txt or server error rows is one of the technical checks in how to explain a ranking drop.
- Monthly reports: one line in the site health section of the report outline: reasons on money pages, fixes in validation, and their state. For the Core Web Vitals line in the same section, see Core Web Vitals in a client report.
Sources
- Report contents and filters, issue lifetime, indexing goal, not every URL indexed, each reason and its recommended action, server error and 404 troubleshooting, Validate fix steps, timing, email and states: Page indexing report
- Indexed result vs live test, inspection fields, live test limits, Request indexing limit and timing, what the tool does not check: URL Inspection tool
- Verify fixes for owners and full users; URL Inspection fetch only for restricted users: Search Console users and permissions
- Duplicate content is normal and not a spam violation; a canonical is a hint: Canonicalization
- 5xx slows crawling and persistent errors drop URLs; indexed 4xx URLs removed; soft 404 definition: HTTP status codes and network errors
- Soft 404 fixes and rendering check; soft 404 pages excluded from Search: Troubleshooting crawling errors
- Noindex in a meta tag or X-Robots-Tag; not blocked by robots.txt: Block indexing with noindex
- Robots.txt does not keep a page out of Google; noindex or password protection instead: Introduction to robots.txt