If your website isn’t showing up on Google, it can feel frustrating. You put in the work, but your pages just won’t appear in search results. This usually happens due to Google indexing issues—meaning Google isn’t properly recognizing or storing your pages in its database.

The good news? Most indexing issues are fixable. Whether your site is too new, blocked by settings, or facing crawl problems, this article will help. We’ll walk you through why Google isn’t indexing your site and the best ways to fix it so your pages can rank where they belong—on Google. 🚀

What is Google Indexing?

Google indexing is how Google saves and organizes web pages so they can show up in search results. Think of it like a digital library—Google scans web pages, stores them, and shows them when people search for something relevant.

If your page is not indexed, it will not show up on Google, although it is very helpful. Google discovers pages via links, sitemaps, and bots (crawlers), yet sometimes pages get missed because of technical problems. That is why you need to verify whether your pages are indexed and resolve any issues that prevent Google from adding them.

10 Google Indexing Problems and How to Fix Them

Below, we’ll cover 10 common indexing problems and how to fix them quickly.

1. The Website is Too New

If you’ve recently published your website, Google hasn’t crawled it yet. Search engines take some time to find and index new sites. Sometimes, it only takes a few hours, but most likely, it will take days or weeks. It doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an issue with your site—Google just takes a little while to crawl it.

So, How to Fix It?

• Submit Your Site in Google Search Console – Tell Google about your site by submitting your URL.
• Publish Fresh Content – Keep adding blogs, pages, or updates to attract Google’s attention.
• Get Backlinks from Indexed Sites – Links from other websites help Google discover your site faster.
• Share on Social Media – Posting your site on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms can speed up indexing.

Check if your site is even accessible! Type “site:yourdomain.com” in Google. If no results show up, your site might be blocked from indexing by mistake.

2. Missing Or Incorrect Sitemap

A sitemap is a file that helps Google find and index your web pages. If it’s missing or has errors, Google may not crawl important pages, which can hurt your rankings. 

So, How to fix it?

1️⃣Check If You Have a Sitemap

• Open your browser and type: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
• If it loads a list of URLs, your sitemap is working. If not, you need to create one.

2️⃣ Create an XML Sitemap

Google needs an XML sitemap to understand your website structure. You can create one using:

• Yoast SEO Plugin (for WordPress)
• Google XML Sitemaps Plugin
• Screaming Frog SEO Tool

3️⃣ Submit Your Sitemap to Google

• Open Google Search Console
• Click “Sitemaps”
• Enter your sitemap URL (yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml)
• Click Submit

4️⃣ Fix Sitemap Issues

• Remove broken links – Make sure all pages listed work properly.
• Check for duplicate pages – Use canonical tags if needed.
• Ensure important pages aren’t blocked – Check your robots.txt file to make sure key pages are not restricted.

3. Robots.txt File Blocking Crawlers

The robots.txt file controls which pages search engines can crawl on your website. If it has errors, Google might not index important pages, making them invisible in search results. This can harm your website’s visibility.

How to Check If Robots.txt Is Blocking Google?

To check, go to your browser and type: “yourwebsite.com/robots.txt”

Look for “Disallow: /” or specific blocked pages like “Disallow: /important-page/”. This means Google is restricted from crawling them.

Another way is to use Google Search Console:

1. Open Search Console
2. Click “URL Inspection Tool”
3. Enter a URL and check if it’s blocked

So, how do we fix it?

Review and Edit Your Robots.txt File

If critical pages are blocked, update or remove the disallow rules.

🚫 Incorrect Example:

User-agent: *  

Disallow: /  

(This blocks the entire site.)

✅ Correct Example:

User-agent: *  

Allow: /  

(This allows Google to crawl all pages.)

A small mistake in robots.txt can stop Google from indexing your site. Check it regularly in Google Search Console to make sure your pages are visible in search results. 🚀

4. Noindex Tags on Important Pages

The noindex tag tells search engines not to index a page and make it searchable in search results. While it is useful for making private or temporary pages invisible, mistakenly adding it can make important pages disappear in Google, even if the pages might have excellent content and backlinks.

How to Check If a Page Has a Noindex Tag?

You can check this manually or use Google Search Console:

Method 1: Check the Page Source

1. Open the page in your browser.
2. Right-click anywhere and select “View Page Source.”
   <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>
3. If this tag is there, Google is blocked from indexing the page.

Method 2: Use Google Search Console

1. Go to Google Search Console.
2. Open “URL Inspection Tool”.
3. Enter the page URL.
4. If you see “Excluded by Noindex tag”, that means the page is not indexed.

So, how do we fix it?

1. Remove the Noindex Tag

If this tag was added by mistake, delete this line from your page’s HTML:

<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>

Once removed, resubmit the page in Google Search Console for faster indexing.

2. Check Your WordPress or CMS Settings

In WordPress:

• Go to Settings > Reading
• Make sure “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” is unchecked

If you use an SEO plugin, check if it has blocked indexing for certain pages.

Use Robots.txt Instead!

If you want a page hidden from search engines but still accessible to users, use the robots.txt file instead of a noindex tag. This avoids accidental indexing issues later.

A wrongly placed noindex tag can make crucial pages disappear from search results, hurting traffic and rankings. Regularly check indexed pages in Google Search Console to avoid surprises. 🚀

5. Duplicate Content

Duplicate content happens when the same or nearly identical content appears on multiple pages of your site or across different websites. Google doesn’t know which version to rank, which can lower your site’s visibility in search results.

Why Duplicate Content Is a Problem

When search engines find multiple pages with the same content, they may:

• Choose the wrong page to rank or ignore some completely.
• Split ranking power between similar pages, making it harder to rank well.
• Flagged copied content, which can harm your credibility and trust with Google.

This is common in eCommerce sites that use the same product descriptions across multiple pages or if blogs have syndicated content without proper attribution.

How to Check for Duplicate Content

You can quickly check for duplicate content using tools like:

• Google Search Console (Indexing Report) – Look for “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” warnings.
• Siteliner – Scans your site for internal duplicate content.
• Copyscape – Checks if other websites have copied your content.

So, How to Fix Duplicate Content Issues

1. Use Canonical Tags

Tell Google which version of a page is the main one by adding this in your HTML:

<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://yourwebsite.com/preferred-page”>

This helps Google focus on one page while passing ranking benefits from duplicate versions.

2. Redirect Unnecessary Duplicates

If you have multiple URLs showing the same content (e.g., example.com/page and example.com/page?ref=123), set up a 301 redirect to the preferred version.

3. Rewrite and Make Content Unique

For product pages, blogs, or service pages, ensure each page has original descriptions, headings, and meta tags. If possible, avoid copying manufacturer descriptions in eCommerce stores.

4. Handle URL Parameters Correctly

If your site creates duplicate pages due to sorting and filtering (like “?sort=price”), go to Google Search Console → URL Parameters and specify how Google should handle them.

6. Orphan Pages

Orphan pages are pages on your site that have no internal links pointing to them. This makes them hard for Google to find and include in its index and, therefore, less likely to be shown in search results.

Why Orphan Pages Are a Problem

Google crawls websites by following links. If a page isn’t linked anywhere, it may remain invisible to search engines. This means it won’t rank or drive traffic.

For users, orphan pages are practically non-existent unless they have the direct URL. This lowers engagement, making the page useless for SEO.

You can check for orphan pages using:

• Google Search Console – Look for unindexed pages
• Screaming Frog – Identify pages without internal links
• Ahrefs Site Audit – Spot orphaned pages in the crawl report

How to Fix Orphan Pages

1. Link Them to Relevant Pages: Add internal links to orphan pages from main sections like blogs, product pages, and menus. This helps search engines discover and index them faster.
2. Add Them to Your Sitemap: Ensure all important pages are listed in your XML sitemap so Google can find them.
3. Redirect Unnecessary Pages: If an orphan page serves no purpose, use a 301 redirect to send users to a related, useful page.
4. Prevent Future Orphan Pages: Each new page should be linked from at least one existing page to avoid indexing issues.

Instead of ignoring orphan pages, update them with fresh content, add links, and make them useful. This improves user experience and helps your site rank better.

7. Slow Page Loading Speeds

A slow website frustrates users and hurts your Google rankings. If a page takes too long to load, visitors leave, and search engines see this as a bad user experience. Faster pages rank better and keep users engaged.

Why Slow Websites Struggle

If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, people won’t wait—they’ll go elsewhere. This increases your bounce rate, which tells Google your site might not be useful. On mobile, it’s even worse. Over half of users leave if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load.

Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, a slow-loading site can cause ranking drops across all devices.

How to Check Your Page Speed

Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check how fast your pages load. It gives you a speed score and suggests ways to improve performance. Other useful tools include GTmetrix and Lighthouse.

How to Fix Slow Page Speeds

• Compress and Resize Images: Large image files slow down loading times. Resize them before uploading and use tools like TinyPNG or ShortPixel to compress them without losing quality.
• Enable Browser Caching: Caching stores site elements so returning visitors don’t have to reload everything from scratch. You can enable caching using plugins like WP Rocket or your hosting settings.
• Minify CSS, JavaScript & HTML: Extra code makes your site heavy. Use tools like UglifyJS or CSSNano to remove unnecessary characters and make your site load faster.
• Enable Lazy Loading: Lazy loading ensures images only load when users scroll to them instead of loading everything at once. Most modern CMS platforms support this feature.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN stores copies of your site on multiple servers worldwide, delivering pages from the closest location to the visitor. This speeds up loading, especially for international users.
• Upgrade Your Hosting: Cheap hosting can slow down your site. If speed is an issue, consider switching to VPS or dedicated hosting for better performance.

Want a faster site right now? Compress images, enable lazy loading, and use a CDN. These quick changes can dramatically improve speed.

8. Poor Site Structure And Internal Linking

If your website is hard to navigate, both users and search engines struggle to find important pages. A messy structure makes it difficult for Google to crawl and index your content, which can hurt your rankings. A well-organized site helps visitors and improves SEO. So, how can we fix poor structure and internal linking?

1. Simplify Navigation

Make sure important pages (home, categories, blogs) are easy to reach in a few clicks. A confusing menu frustrates both users and search engines.

2. Use a Logical URL Structure

URLs should be clear and easy to understand. For example:
✅ Good: example.com/blog/seo-tips
❌ Bad: example.com/page123

3. Add Internal Links

Link your pages together naturally. If a page is important, make sure it’s linked from other pages so Google can find it easily.

4. Create a Sitemap

A sitemap lists all your pages in one place, making it easier for Google to index your site. You can submit it through Google Search Console for better indexing.

If a page has no internal links, Google may not find it. Identify orphan pages and connect them with related content.

9. Recent Website Redesigns Affecting URLs

When you reconstruct a site, URL changes can lead to indexing problems. If removed or renamed, old pages are not properly redirected, and search engines and users will be left with dead ends. This can lead to ranking losses and lost traffic.

How to Fix It

• Use 301 Redirects: If URLs change, set up 301 redirects to guide Google and visitors to the new pages. This preserves your SEO value and avoids broken links.
• Check Internal Links: Update all internal links to point to the new URLs. Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to find and fix outdated links.
• Submit an Updated Sitemap: A new sitemap tells Google about the updated structure. Submit it to Google Search Console to speed up the indexing of your new URLs.
• Fix Crawl Errors: Check Google Search Console’s Coverage Report for errors like “Page Not Found” and resolve them quickly.

A website redesign is great for user experience, but ignoring URL changes can hurt your rankings. Always set up redirects, update links, and resubmit your sitemap to ensure Google indexes your pages correctly.

10. Google Crawling Limits

Google does not index your site’s entire pages at one time. It puts a cap, known as the crawl budget, on the number of pages it crawls within the same time. If your site is full of many pages, slow to load, or full of errors, Google may bypass some of the pages.

Why This Happens

Google decides how often to crawl a site based on two factors:

1. Crawl Rate Limit – How many requests your server can handle without slowing down.
2. Crawl Demand – How important Google thinks your pages are. High-quality pages get crawled more often, while low-value or duplicate content gets ignored.

If your site is slow, has broken links, or contains duplicate content, Google might crawl fewer pages than expected.

How to Fix It

• Speed up your website<span style=”font-weight: 400;”> – Optimize images, remove unnecessary code, and use a fast hosting service.
• Fix broken links & errors – Check for 404 errors and redirect outdated pages.
• Improve site structure – Link to important pages from high-traffic sections so Googlebot can find them easily.
• Update your sitemap – Submit it through Google Search Console to guide Google on which pages to crawl first.

Don’t Waste Crawl Budget!

Block unnecessary pages like login pages, duplicate URLs, or outdated content using the robots.txt file. This way, Google focuses on your best pages.

By managing your crawl budget wisely, you make sure important pages get indexed quickly, improving your chances of ranking higher in search results.

How to Identify and Fix Indexing Problems in Google Search Console

Google Search Console helps you check if your website’s pages are being indexed properly. If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search results. The Page Indexing Report in Search Console highlights issues that might be stopping Google from indexing your pages. Here’s what some of these statuses mean and how you can fix them.

1. Page with Redirect 

If a page has a redirect, it means visitors (and search engines) are sent to a different URL instead of the original one. Redirects are normal when moving or merging pages, but if they’re not set up correctly, Google may not index your page.

Why Does This Happen?

• The page is redirecting to the wrong URL.
• There are too many redirects in a row (redirect chain).
• A temporary (302) redirect is used instead of a permanent (301) redirect.

How to Fix It

• Check where the page is redirecting using Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool.
• Use a 301 redirect if the page has permanently moved. Google transfers SEO value with 301 redirects.
• Avoid long redirect chains—make sure Page A redirects directly to Page C instead of going through Page B.
• Fix broken or looping redirects using tools like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console.

If you’ve fixed a redirect but Google still isn’t indexing the page, go to Google Search Console → URL Inspection → Request Indexing to get it crawled faster.

2. Excluded by ‘Noindex’ Tag

If a page is removed by ‘noindex’ in Google Search Console, it implies that Google discovered it but was instructed not to include it in search results. This occurs when a noindex tag is included on the page, either by error or by intention.

Why Does This Happen?

• The noindex tag was accidentally added to an important page.
• A CMS setting or SEO plugin (like in WordPress) is blocking search engines.
• The page is still listed in the sitemap, causing confusion.

How to Fix It

• Go to Google Search Console → Pages Report to see which pages are affected.
• Check the page’s source code (Right-click → View Page Source) and search for “noindex”.
• Remove the tag if the page should be indexed.
• Make sure robots.txt isn’t blocking the page.
• Resubmit the page for indexing in Google Search Console.

3. Alternate Page with Proper Canonical Tag

If you see this message in Google Search Console, it means Google found duplicate or similar content and is indexing the main page based on the canonical tag.

Should You Be Concerned?

Not always. This usually confirms that Google is handling duplicate content properly. But if an important page is being ignored, you should check your setup.

How to Fix It (If Needed)

• Check the canonical tag in the page source (<link rel=”canonical” href=”URL”>).
• Ensure the correct main page is set as canonical.
• If the page should be indexed, remove the canonical tag or update it.
• Use Google Search Console → URL Inspection Tool to see how Google views the page.

If the right page is indexed, you don’t need to do anything. But if Google is choosing the wrong version, review your canonical settings and adjust as needed.

4. Not Found (404)

A 404 error happens when a page no longer exists or the URL is incorrect. This confuses Google and visitors because the page they’re trying to access doesn’t load.

A few 404s won’t hurt your rankings, but too many can signal poor site maintenance. If important pages disappear, Google may drop them from its index.

How to Fix It

• Restore the page if it was deleted by mistake.
• Redirect the old URL to a relevant page if the content was moved.
• Fix broken links inside your website.
• Remove deleted pages from the sitemap so Google stops looking for them.

5. Blocked Due to Access Forbidden (403)

A 403 error appears when Google tries to visit a page but is denied access. This often happens when a page requires login credentials or server settings block search engines.

If Google can’t access a page, it won’t be indexed. If important pages are blocked, they won’t show up in search results, which can affect rankings.

How to Fix It

• Check Robots.txt – Make sure you’re not accidentally blocking Google from crawling pages that should be indexed.
• Review Server Settings – If the page requires a login, decide if it should be accessible to search engines or restricted to users.
• Use Noindex Instead – If a page shouldn’t be indexed, a noindex tag is a better option than blocking it.

Sometimes, security settings or firewalls block Google, thinking it’s a bot. Regularly check Google Search Console to catch and fix these issues early.

6. Soft 404

A Soft 404 is when a page is seemingly blank or broken to some degree but returns a status of 200 OK instead of a correct 404 (Not Found). This causes Google confusion because the page does exist but has little or no content.

Google can delist these pages or consider them low-quality, and this is detrimental to your site’s overall ranking. Your site is a sign of poor content management if it contains numerous soft 404 errors.

How to Fix It

• Check for Missing Content – If the page is supposed to exist, add meaningful content or fix any loading issues.
• Use a Proper 404 or Redirect – If the page no longer exists, remove it from your sitemap and set up a 404 error or a 301 redirect to a relevant page.
• Fix Internal Links – Ensure you’re not linking to a non-existent or broken page that causes Google to classify it as a soft 404.

Instead of a blank 404 page, create a helpful error page with links to popular pages or a search bar. This keeps visitors on your site instead of leaving immediately.

Conclusion

Google indexing problems are not something you can do and never touch again. It’s something you have to keep monitoring on a regular basis. Utilize Google Search Console to identify problems early, correct them quickly, and ensure your critical pages get indexed.

The good news? Every issue has a fix. Whether it’s a missing sitemap, slow-loading pages, or blocked URLs, you have the tools to get your site back on track. Keep optimizing, stay consistent, and let Google do the rest! 🚀

FAQs on Google Indexing Issues