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Understanding why a page receives the status of “Crawled – currently not indexed” can be challenging, as Google doesn’t provide a direct explanation. However, there are several common reasons why this may occur.
What Does “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” Mean?
In the Google Search Console, a page’s indexing status of “Crawled – currently not indexed” indicates that Google has visited the page but has decided not to include it in its search index. This means that the page will not appear in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) for any query.
There can be various reasons why Google decides not to index a page, which we will discuss in detail in the following sections. It’s important to note that the “Crawled – currently not indexed” error differs from the “Excluded by ‘Noindex’ Tag” error, which also appears in the Google Search Console page indexing report. While both errors indicate that a page has been crawled but not indexed, the “Crawled – currently not indexed” error is more open to interpretation.
How to Fix “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed”
If you encounter the “Crawled – currently not indexed” error, several common issues may be causing it. Here are some possible solutions to make Google index your pages:
Improve Internal Linking
One reason why Google may refrain from indexing a page is if your website has a poor internal linking structure or lacks internal links. A page without any links pointing to it is known as an “orphan page.” To resolve this issue, you can improve your internal linking structure by adding relevant links to the page from other existing pages on your site.
Start by identifying an existing page on your site related to the page topic you want Google to index. Within that page, find a relevant section to the target page and add a link to it. This will create an internal link that signals to Google the relevance and importance of the page you want to be indexed.
To find internal linking opportunities, you can perform a site-based search on Google using the following query format:
Site:yourdomain.com ‘orphan page target keyword’
This search will display pages from your site that already use the target keyword and may provide potential internal linking opportunities. By leveraging internal linking, you can demonstrate to Google the relevance and importance of the page, increasing the chances of it being indexed.
Address Thin Content or Low-Quality Content
Pages with thin content, meaning they have a low word count and lack substantial information, may be considered low-quality by Google and therefore not indexed. You should add more valuable and comprehensive information to the page to fix this issue.
Evaluate the word count of your page and compare it to the top-ranking pages for the target keyword. If the existing top-ranking pages have in-depth explanations with thousands of words, your page with only a few hundred words may be considered thin content. In this case, expanding the content and providing more detailed information is crucial to make it more valuable to users.
Align with Search Intent
The term “search intent” describes the valid reason for a search. If the content of your website doesn’t match what appears in the search results, Google may opt not to index your page.
If you’re looking for informational content like “how to calculate taxes,” you can get a wide variety of results, including tax calculators, videos, and “how to” articles. You may tailor the experience to the user’s needs by selecting various content categories. One exception is the search term “tax calculator;” in this case, a calculator tool is more likely to outperform a “how-to” article.
Consider rewriting or updating the content on the page to better correspond with the intent of the search query to fix the “Crawled – currently not indexed” status caused by a mismatch in search intent. You may improve your page’s chances of being indexed by search engines by giving users what they want.
Address Pages with Near-Duplicate Content
There are several situations where near-duplicate content may occur, such as e-commerce websites with multiple variations of the same product, pages with user-generated content, or pages covering similar topics on a website.
To address this issue, you can consider two approaches. As a first step, you can use the canonical tag to tell Google which page is the most important one to index. This helps Google understand that these pages are similar but should be treated as a single entity for indexing purposes.
Verify Structured Data
Structured data, often known as schema markup, improves a page’s discoverability by providing essential context and information to search engines. Errors or issues with structured data can sometimes lead to Google refusing to index a page, even after it has been crawled. This can result in the “Crawled – currently not indexed” status.
Using the Google Search Console Enhancements tab, you can see if there are any warnings or issues with your structured data. It’s crucial to address any mistakes to prevent Google from misinterpreting your page and potentially excluding it from the index.
Consider 301 Redirects
While rare, there are instances where pages with 301 redirects may still appear as “Crawled – currently not indexed” in your Google Search Console report. This is usually not due to improper redirects but rather the rate at which Google crawls your website.
To address this issue, create a temporary sitemap.xml file that includes all the URLs listed as “Crawled – currently not indexed” in your report. Match these URLs with the corresponding redirects you have set up and generate a sitemap using tools like ScreamingFrog. By uploading this sitemap to your Google Search Console dashboard, you can prompt Google to recrawl these URLs and potentially include them in the index.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why are some web pages not being crawled?
Some common reasons for pages not being crawled include server errors, incorrect or blocked robots.txt files, slow page load speed, and broken links.
2. Why are some web pages not being indexed?
Pages may not be indexed due to technical issues, such as incorrect use of meta tags, noindex directives, or canonicalization problems. Duplicate content, low-quality or thin content, and poor site structure can also prevent indexing.
3. How can I solve crawling errors?
To solve crawling mistakes, check your server for any issues, ensure your robots.txt file is not blocking important pages, fix broken links, and improve page load speed. Monitoring crawl errors in Google Search Console can help identify and address specific issues.
4. How can I fix duplicate content issues?
Finding and merging duplicate content, using canonical tags to indicate the preferable version of a page, and not creating the same content dynamically using URL parameters are all excellent ways to fix duplicate content issues.
5. How can I improve my site structure for better indexing?
Create a hierarchical navigation system with descriptive URLs, group information into functional categories and subcategories, and ensure frequently used pages are just a click away.
Although the statuses of “Crawled – currently not indexed” and “Discovered – currently not indexed” may seem similar, there is a significant distinction between them. “Discovered – currently not indexed” means that Googlebot has found the URL but decided not to crawl it, often due to factors like robots.txt directives. On the other hand, “Crawled – currently not indexed” indicates that Googlebot has actively crawled the page but has chosen not to include it in the index for reasons discussed earlier.
