How to Fix Indexing & Crawling Issues

If your website pages are not appearing on Google, the most common reasons are crawling or indexing issues. Even well-designed websites fail to rank when search engines cannot properly access or understand their pages.

This guide explains why indexing and crawling problems occur and how to fix them step by step.

1. Understand Crawling vs Indexing

• Crawling: Search engines discover your pages

• Indexing: Search engines store and rank your pages

If crawling fails → indexing never happens.

2. Check Google Search Console First

Use Google Search Console (GSC) to identify problems.

Key sections to review:

• Pages → Indexing

• Crawl stats

• Robots.txt

• Sitemaps

Look for errors like:

• Discovered – currently not indexed

• Crawled – currently not indexed

• Blocked by robots.txt

• Duplicate without user-selected canonical

3. Fix Robots.txt Blocking Issues

A misconfigured robots.txt can block your entire website.

What to check:

• No Disallow: / rule

• Important pages are not blocked

• Sitemap URL is included

Test robots.txt directly inside Search Console.

4. Ensure Pages Are Indexable

Check your page source or SEO plugin settings.

Common problems:

• noindex meta tag

• HTTP header noindex

• Canonical pointing to another URL

Remove noindex from pages you want indexed.

5. Submit & Fix XML Sitemap

Your sitemap helps Google find important pages faster.

Best practices:

• Include only indexable URLs

• Remove 404, redirected, or noindex pages

• Resubmit sitemap after fixes

Always submit sitemap in GSC.

6. Improve Internal Linking

Poor internal linking limits crawl depth.

Link important pages from:

• Homepage

• Category pages

• High-traffic blog posts

Use descriptive anchor text to guide crawlers.

7. Fix Crawl Errors & Server Issues

Check for:

• 404 (Not Found) pages

• 5xx server errors

• DNS or hosting downtime

Use reliable hosting to avoid crawl budget waste.

8. Resolve Duplicate Content Issues

Duplicates confuse search engines.

Fix by:

• Setting correct canonical tags

• Avoiding URL parameters duplication

• Redirecting HTTP → HTTPS

• Consistent trailing slash usage

9. Improve Page Quality

Google may crawl but not index low-quality pages.

Improve by:

• Adding unique content

• Avoiding thin or AI-generated spam pages

• Optimizing title & meta description

• Improving page speed

10. Request Indexing After Fixes

Use URL Inspection → Request Indexing in GSC after:

• Removing noindex

• Fixing robots.txt

• Publishing new content

This speeds up re-indexing.

Indexing & Crawling Issues – Fix Table

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Blocking JS/CSS files
Submitting low-quality pages in sitemap
Ignoring Search Console warnings
Publishing duplicate content
Poor internal linking

Conclusion

Fixing indexing and crawling issues is the foundation of SEO success. Without proper crawling and indexing, rankings and traffic are impossible, no matter how good your content is.

Regular monitoring through Google Search Console, technical audits, and content improvements ensure your site stays visible and competitive.