Crawled But Not Indexed ( Issues Fixed In 2 Clicks )

Waseem Abbas
4 min readApr 7, 2024

In the vast realm of search engine optimization (SEO), two crucial processes play a significant role in determining a website’s visibility and ranking: crawling and indexing. Understanding these processes is essential for website owners and digital marketers striving to enhance their online presence.

crawled but not indexed
Photo by Growtika on Unsplash

Crawling Explained: Crawled But Not Indexed

Crawling is the process by which search engine bots systematically browse the internet, analyzing web pages and their content. Think of it as a virtual spider navigating through the intricate web of interconnected pages. Search engine bots, also known as crawlers or spiders, follow links from one page to another, discovering new content and updating their databases with the information they gather.

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Factors such as the website’s structure, internal linking, and XML sitemap influence how frequently search engine bots crawl a site. Websites with dynamic content or frequent updates tend to be crawled more often, ensuring that the latest information is available to search engine users.

Indexing Explained: Crawled But Not Indexed

Once a web page is crawled, the next step is indexing. Indexing involves storing and organizing the information gathered from crawled web pages in the search engine’s database. This process enables search engines to retrieve relevant results quickly when users enter search queries.

During indexing, search engines analyze various aspects of a web page, including its content, meta tags, headers, and other relevant data. Pages that meet the search engine’s criteria are added to the index, making them eligible to appear in search results.

Crawled But Not Indexed: Understanding the Issue

Despite being crawled by search engine bots, some web pages may not get indexed. This phenomenon, known as “Crawled But Not Indexed,” can have detrimental effects on a website’s visibility and organic traffic. Several factors contribute to this issue, including technical issues, poor-quality content, duplicate content, and intentional actions to block search engine bots.

Factors Affecting Indexing

Technical Issues on the Website: Issues such as server errors, broken links, or incorrect implementation of directives in the robots.txt file can prevent search engine bots from properly indexing a website’s pages.

Low-Quality Content: Pages with thin, irrelevant, or spammy content may not meet the search engine’s quality guidelines, leading to them being excluded from the index.

Duplicate Content: Search engines prioritize unique and original content. Pages that contain duplicate content, whether within the same site or across different domains, may struggle to get indexed.

Blocking Search Engine Bots: In some cases, website owners may unintentionally or intentionally block search engine bots from accessing certain pages or directories, preventing them from being indexed.

Detecting If Your Page Is Crawled But Not Indexed

Website owners can use various tools and methods to determine whether their pages are crawled but not indexed. Search engine consoles provided by Google and Bing offer valuable insights into a website’s indexing status, including which pages have been crawled and indexed. Additionally, third-party SEO tools can help identify indexing issues and provide recommendations for improvement.

Solutions to the Issue

Addressing the “Crawled But Not Indexed” issue requires a multifaceted approach aimed at resolving underlying issues and optimizing the website for better indexing.

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Addressing Technical Issues: Regularly monitor and troubleshoot technical issues that may hinder search engine crawling and indexing. Ensure proper server configuration, fix broken links, and update the robots.txt file as needed.

Improving Content Quality: Invest in creating high-quality, valuable content that aligns with user intent and addresses relevant topics. Avoid keyword stuffing and prioritize user experience to attract both search engine bots and human visitors.

Optimizing Site Structure and Navigation: Maintain a logical site structure with clear navigation paths that allow search engine bots to crawl and index all relevant pages efficiently. Use internal linking to establish connections between related content and ensure easy accessibility.

Monitoring and Updating Robots.txt File: Regularly review and update the robots.txt file to control which pages search engine bots can crawl and index. Avoid inadvertently blocking critical pages or directories that should be indexed.

Best Practices to Ensure Indexing

In addition to addressing specific issues, following best practices can help ensure that your website’s pages are properly indexed and appear in search results.

Regularly Updating Content: Keep your website’s content fresh and up-to-date to attract search engine bots and maintain relevance over time.

Avoiding Duplicate Content: Create original and unique content to avoid penalties for duplicate content. Use canonical tags to specify preferred versions of pages with similar content.

Maintaining a Healthy Website Structure: Organize your website’s structure in a logical and hierarchical manner, with clear navigation paths and internal linking between related pages.

Conclusion

Crawling and indexing are fundamental processes in SEO that determine a website’s visibility and accessibility in search engine results. Understanding the issues associated with being “Crawled But Not Indexed” and implementing effective solutions can help improve a website’s overall performance and maximize its organic traffic potential.

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