Google is Not Indexing My Site – What Can I Do?

If your PublishFi website isn’t appearing in Google search results, there may be an underlying issue. Here are the most common problems that prevent your site from being indexed and how to solve them.

This guide assumes you’ve already set up Google Search Console for your site and submitted your sitemap. If not, follow our step-by-step guide here.

Considerations

• Not all pages will be indexed.
• It can take several days (sometimes longer) for Google to crawl and index new content.
• Large sites or frequent updates may take longer to appear in search results.

How to Find Problematic Pages

1. Open your Google Search Console.
2. Go to Pages under the Indexing section.
3. Review the list of pages with errors or warnings.
4. Click on a specific URL to see more details and suggested fixes.

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Common Reasons Pages Aren’t Indexed (and Solutions)

1. Blocked by Robots.txt

• Check your site's robots.txt file to ensure you aren’t accidentally blocking Googlebot.
• Solution: Remove or adjust any rules that prevent crawling of important pages.

2. Noindex Tag Present

• Make sure you haven’t added a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag to pages you want indexed.
• Solution: Remove the noindex tag from any pages you want to appear in Google search.

3. Page is Password Protected

• Google can’t index pages that require a login or password.
• Solution: Remove password protection from public pages.

4. Duplicate or Thin Content

• Google may not index pages with very little or duplicate content.
• Solution: Add unique, valuable content to each page.

5. Crawl Budget Limitations

• Large sites may hit Google’s crawl budget, meaning not all pages are crawled quickly.
• Solution: Prioritize important pages and submit a sitemap to Google Search Console.

6. Recent Changes Not Reflected

• Indexing can take a few days after publishing updates.
• Solution: Use the Request Indexing tool in Search Console to speed up the process.

7. Technical Errors

• Server errors, misconfigured redirects, or broken links can prevent indexing.
• Solution: Fix any server issues and check for broken links in Search Console.

Troubleshooting Steps

1. Review your site’s Index Coverage report in Search Console.
2. Fix any errors or warnings listed.
3. Use the URL Inspection Tool to request indexing for specific pages.
4. Ensure your sitemap is up to date and submitted.
5. Wait a few days and check again.

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Tip: If your site is still not being indexed after following these steps, reach out to PublishFi support for further help.

Conclusion

Indexing issues can be caused by a variety of factors, but most can be resolved by following the steps above. Make sure your site is connected to Google Search Console, your sitemap is submitted, and your content is accessible to Googlebot.

If you continue to experience problems, please contact our support team for assistance.