Indexing
Indexing is the process by which search engines include crawled pages in their searchable database, qualifying them to appear in results.
Between crawling and ranking lies indexing: Google assesses whether a crawled page is worthy of keeping in the index. Thin, duplicate or contradictory pages are held out more often than before. Search Console's URL inspect shows per URL which status applies: 'Indexed', 'Crawled - not indexed' or 'Discovered - not indexed'.
Example
A client has 3,000 blog articles of which only 1,100 are indexed. Cause: lots of thin content (~200 words) and unclear canonical tags. After content pruning the count drops to 1,400 — and 1,320 are indexed.
Frequently asked questions
Why won't Google index my page?
Most common: thin content, duplicate content, conflicting canonicals, noindex directive, poor internal linking, or insufficient authority/freshness.
Related terms
Further reading
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