Glossary
What is indexing in SEO?
Indexing is when a search engine stores a page it has crawled in its index, the database it searches when someone types a query. Only indexed pages can appear in results. Crawling comes first; after crawling, the engine decides whether the page is useful and unique enough to index.
Crawl, index, rank
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Crawling | The bot fetches the page |
| Rendering | It runs JavaScript to see the final content |
| Indexing | It analyses and stores the page, picking a canonical |
| Ranking | It orders indexed pages for each query |
Common statuses in Search Console
- Discovered, currently not indexed: Google knows the URL but hasn't crawled it yet, often a sign of weak internal linking or low priority.
- Crawled, currently not indexed: Google fetched it and chose not to index it for now; often thin or duplicate content.
- Page with redirect: the URL redirects, often a trailing slash or http mismatch.
- Duplicate without user-selected canonical: Google picked another URL as canonical.
- Excluded by noindex: a noindex tag or header.
Getting pages indexed
Link them from strong internal pages, include them in the XML sitemap, make each page clearly useful and distinct, and use URL Inspection to request indexing for priority pages. For Bing and others, IndexNow speeds things up.
Example
A batch of 350 new pages sits at "Discovered, currently not indexed" for two weeks. Adding links from the homepage, footer and category hubs moves most of them to indexed within a month.
FAQ
How long does indexing take?
From hours to weeks. New sites and weakly linked pages take longer.
Can I force Google to index a page?
No. URL Inspection lets you request it; Google decides.
Why isn't my page indexed?
Common reasons: noindex, blocked by robots.txt, duplicate, thin content or few internal links.