Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” is a common issue that website owners and SEO professionals encounter when dealing with search engine indexing. It means that search engine crawlers, like Googlebot, have visited your web pages but have not included them in their index. There are several reasons for this issue, and here are some common ones along with possible solutions:
- Content Quality and Relevance:
- Problem: The content on your pages may not be of high quality, or it might not be relevant to the keywords you want to rank for.
- Solution: Improve the quality of your content by making it informative, engaging, and relevant to the targeted keywords. Use proper on-page SEO techniques.
- Robots Meta Tag or Robots.txt Issues:
- Problem: Your site’s robots meta tag or robots.txt file may be preventing search engines from indexing specific pages.
- Solution: Check your robots meta tags and robots.txt file to ensure they are not blocking the pages you want to be indexed. Make necessary adjustments.
- Page Loading Speed:
- Problem: Slow-loading pages can discourage search engines from indexing them.
- Solution: Optimize your website’s loading speed by compressing images, using efficient coding practices, and employing content delivery networks (CDNs).
- Duplicate Content:
- Problem: If your content is duplicated elsewhere on the internet or even within your own site, search engines may avoid indexing it.
- Solution: Identify and eliminate duplicate content. Use canonical tags to specify the preferred version of a page.
- Technical Errors:
- Problem: Technical issues, such as server errors or broken links, can prevent proper indexing.
- Solution: Regularly monitor your site for technical issues and promptly address any errors. Use tools like Google Search Console to identify and fix crawl errors.
- Noindex Meta Tag:
- Problem: A “noindex” meta tag on a page instructs search engines not to index it.
- Solution: Remove the “noindex” meta tag from the pages you want to be indexed. Check your CMS or website platform settings for any unintended noindex settings.
- Unoptimized XML Sitemaps:
- Problem: Your XML sitemap may not be correctly configured or updated, preventing search engines from discovering and indexing new pages.
- Solution: Verify that your XML sitemaps are up-to-date, accurate, and free from errors. Submit them to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Crawl Budget Constraints:
- Problem: Search engines allocate a certain crawl budget to each website, and they may not crawl all pages if your site is too large or has low authority.
- Solution: Focus on improving the authority of your website, optimizing your site structure, and prioritizing important pages. This can help search engines allocate more resources to crawling your content.
- New Pages or Changes:
- Problem: Search engines may take some time to index new pages or changes to existing pages.
- Solution: Be patient, as it can take some time for search engines to discover and index new content. However, you can use tools like the Fetch as Google feature in Google Search Console to expedite indexing for specific pages.
- Manual Actions or Penalties:
- Problem: Your website might have received a manual penalty from a search engine, which can lead to pages being de-indexed.
- Solution: Check for manual actions in Google Search Console and address any violations or issues. Request reconsideration if necessary.
To resolve the “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” issue, it’s essential to monitor your site’s performance in search engines, regularly update your content, and ensure that technical aspects are in order. Keep in mind that it can take some time for search engines to index or re-index pages, so be patient and persistent in your efforts.