What Are the Best Practices for Addressing "Crawled - Currently Not Indexed" Pages Without Compromising the Overall Quality of My Website?
Summary
"Crawled - currently not indexed" refers to pages that Google's crawler has discovered but chosen not to index. This status can result from several issues, such as poor content quality, site architecture problems, or technical SEO issues. Addressing this requires evaluating content quality, examining site architecture, fixing technical SEO issues, and requesting re-crawling. This response provides a thorough guide to manage these unindexed pages without harming the overall quality of your website.
Evaluating Content Quality
Assess Relevance and Uniqueness
Google may not index pages with low quality or duplicate content. Ensure your content is relevant, unique, and provides value to users. It should also satisfy search intent for your targeted keywords [SEO Starter Guide, no date].
Examining Site Architecture
Analyze Internal Linking
Pages that are not well-linked internally may not be indexed. Implement a proper internal linking strategy to ensure all important pages are easily accessible [Internal Links for SEO, no date].
Navigate XML Sitemaps
Make sure your XML sitemaps are up-to-date and submitted to Google Search Console. This assists Google in understanding your site's structure [Build and submit a sitemap, no date].
Fixing Technical SEO Issues
Robots.txt File and Meta Robots Tag
Ensure that the robots.txt file or meta robots tag isn't blocking Google from indexing the pages. Modify these files or tags if necessary to allow Google to crawl and index your site [Introduction to robots.txt, no date].
Resolve Crawl Errors
Use Google Search Console to monitor and fix any crawl errors that may be preventing Google from indexing your pages [Fix Search-related JavaScript problems, no date].
Requesting a Re-crawl
Use Google Search Console
Once the possible issues are addressed, request Google to re-crawl your website using the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console [Ask Google to recrawl your URLs, no date].
Conclusion
Addressing "Crawled - currently not indexed" pages involves several best practices including content optimization, improving site architecture, correcting technical SEO issues, and timely monitoring and fixing of crawl errors. Implementing these measures can enhance Google's understanding of your site and boost the indexing of your pages.
References
- [SEO Starter Guide, no date] Google. "SEO Starter Guide." Google Search Central.
- [Internal Links for SEO, no date] Ahrefs. "Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide."
- [Build and submit a sitemap, no date] Google. "Build and submit a sitemap." Google Search Central.
- [Introduction to robots.txt, no date] Google. "Introduction to robots.txt." Google Search Central.
- [Fix Search-related JavaScript problems, no date] Google. "Fix Search-related JavaScript problems." Google Search Central.
- [Ask Google to recrawl your URLs, no date] Google. "Ask Google to recrawl your URLs." Google Search Central.