You will be able to find why pages are not indexed and check how Google sees a single URL.
The first time Mei Ling opened the Page indexing report, she saw that 31 of her pages were indexed and 47 were not. Forty-seven sounded alarming, as if most of her site was missing from Google. She was about to message a web developer when she clicked into the list and found that most of the "not indexed" pages were ones she never wanted in Google at all: old addresses that redirected to new ones, tag pages and duplicates her shop builder created for each cake size. Those figures are her own and serve here as an example.
The Page indexing report tells you which pages Google has indexed and, for the rest, why not. Reading it calmly is the skill. This lesson covers the report, which reasons need action and which are expected, and how to check one address in detail with URL Inspection.
The Page indexing report shows two totals, indexed and not indexed, with a chart of how they change over time. Below the chart is a list of reasons why pages are not indexed, each with a count. Click a reason to see example addresses affected by it.
The reasons are Google's own labels. Some of the most common are "Page with redirect", "Excluded by 'noindex' tag", "Alternate page with proper canonical tag", "Duplicate without user-selected canonical", "Not found (404)", "Soft 404", "Blocked by robots.txt", "Crawled - currently not indexed" and "Discovered - currently not indexed". Google's help page for the report explains each one, and it is worth reading when you meet a reason for the first time.
The report covers pages Google knows about. A page Google has never discovered does not appear in it at all, which is one reason internal links and a sitemap matter.
Many not-indexed reasons are the result of your site working as it should. A page with a redirect is not indexed because its replacement is, which is what lesson 4.4, Moves, redirects and broken pages, set out to achieve. An alternate page with a proper canonical tag is a duplicate that correctly points Google to the main version. A page excluded by a noindex tag you added on purpose, such as a thank-you page, is doing its job. A 404 for a page you removed on purpose is fine.
The question for every reason is whether it affects a page you want in Google. That is why your keyword map matters here. If a priority page, or any page you want found, appears under a reason, it needs attention.
Some reasons point to problems more often. "Excluded by 'noindex' tag" on a page you want found means a leftover noindex, like Priya's P6 page in lesson 4.5, Run a technical health check. "Blocked by robots.txt" on an important page means a rule in your robots.txt is too broad. "Soft 404" means Google thinks the page looks like an error or an empty page, even though the server says it is fine. "Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user" means Google disagrees with your canonical tag, often because your other signals point elsewhere.
"Crawled - currently not indexed" means Google fetched the page and decided not to index it for now. Google does not give a specific reason. If it affects an important page, look at the page's quality and uniqueness, as covered in lesson 1.3, Helpful content and E-E-A-T in plain words, and whether it is well linked from the rest of the site. "Discovered - currently not indexed" means Google knows the address but has not crawled it yet. On a small site, stronger internal links to the page often help.
URL Inspection looks at a single address. Paste any address from your property into the search bar at the top of Search Console. The result tells you whether the page is in Google's index and, if not, why. It shows when Google last crawled it, whether crawling and indexing were allowed, and the canonical Google selected, next to the canonical you declared, if any. If those two differ, Google has chosen another version as the main one.
The tool also lets you test the live page. This fetches the current version from your site and reports whether Google could index it as it stands now, which is useful straight after a fix, before Google has recrawled. You can view the page as Googlebot rendered it, which helps when content loads with JavaScript.
After you fix a page, URL Inspection lets you request indexing. This adds the page to Google's crawl queue. Google's help pages are clear that requesting does not guarantee indexing, and that requesting the same page many times does not move it up the queue or speed anything up. Request once after a real change, record the date in your SEO log, and allow time. For many pages at once, an updated sitemap is the better route.
Mei Ling's report, read properly, had two real problems among the 47: her "Christmas cakes" page was excluded by a noindex tag left on from last year's draft, and one flavour page showed as a soft 404 because it had almost no text. She fixed both, tested them live and requested indexing once.
Open the Page indexing report for your site and note each reason that touches a priority page, then inspect one affected address, as the activity below sets out.
Open the Page indexing report, list each not-indexed reason that affects a priority page, and inspect one affected URL.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).