Why a page cannot be indexed and how to fix it
A page must answer 200, not be blocked by robots.txt, not carry noindex and not canonicalise elsewhere. Any one of those keeps it out of search.
Step by step, with screenshots: 403 forbidden: every cause and its fix →
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What it is
Indexability is whether a page is allowed into a search engine's index at all. For Google that needs four things: the URL answers HTTP 200, robots.txt lets Googlebot crawl it, no noindex directive is present, and its canonical tag does not point to a different URL.
If any one fails, the page cannot rank for anything, however good it is. The cause is often invisible from the page itself: a leftover noindex from a staging site, a robots.txt rule meant for another folder, or a redirect or error status only crawlers see.
OK looks like this: all four conditions pass for every page you want found. Being indexable does not guarantee Google indexes the page, but it removes the blockers under your control. getReport names the condition that fails and links to the matching fix.
What a passing site looks like
- The page can be indexedfail · −10 ptseffort S
- No crawled page answers with a server errorfail · −10 ptseffort M
1. Search indexability
Why it matters. To appear in search, a page must return HTTP 200, carry no noindex directive and be allowed in robots.txt. If any of the three fails, the page is invisible to searchers.
- Open the technical detail to see which condition fails, then fix that one; the individual findings above have the steps.
- After the fix, request indexing in Google Search Console to speed things up.
2. Pages with server errors
Why it matters. A server error means the page could not be built. Visitors see an error screen, and Google drops pages that keep failing from its results.
- Open each page listed; if it fails for you too, the server's error log names the cause, often a plugin, a database timeout or a memory limit.
- Ask your host or developer for the log lines at the time of the crawl if you cannot read them yourself.
- Crawl again after the fix to confirm the pages answer 200.
Questions people ask
How do you get a website indexed by Google?
Make sure the pages are indexable (status 200, not blocked by robots.txt, no noindex, self-referencing canonical), link to them from pages Google already knows, and submit an XML sitemap in Google Search Console. For a single new page, use Search Console's URL Inspection and click Request indexing.
What does it mean when Google indexes a page?
It means Google has crawled the page, understood it and stored it in its index, the database it searches when someone types a query. Only indexed pages can appear in results. Crawling alone is not enough: Google may crawl a page and still decide not to index it.
How do you check if a page is indexed by Google?
Use URL Inspection in Google Search Console, which shows whether the URL is indexed and, if not, why. A quick rough check is searching site:example.com/your-page in Google. getReport checks whether the page can be indexed, which is the part you control.
Why is my page not indexed by Google?
Either something blocks it (noindex, robots.txt, a canonical pointing elsewhere, an error status) or Google chose not to index it, usually because it is new, thin, a near-duplicate of another page, or hard to reach through links. Fix any blocker first, then add internal links and useful content.