Google hasn't indexed all your pages

What This Is

The Page Indexing report shows 20% or more of your discovered URLs in a “Not indexed” state, and you expected every URL to be indexed.

Google does not index every URL that exists. It indexes pages it judges worth keeping in the index. A page that is not indexed can never rank, but most sites should not have every URL indexed.

Before you check

1. You are in the Page Indexing report. Path: Indexing, then Pages.

2. You are reading the “Why pages aren’t indexed” list, not the total page count.

3. You have a list of the specific URLs in a “Not indexed” state, not just the count.

4. You can tell a real content page from a tag, archive, filter, or parameter page.

If any of these is false, fix it before running the tree.

Diagnostic tree

Run the checks in order. Each check ends in a resolution or the next check.

Check 1. Is “all” the right target?

How: in the Page Indexing report, count the URLs in a “Not indexed” state. Then split tag, archive, filter, and parameter URLs from real content pages.

Why: Google indexes pages it judges worth keeping, not every URL that exists. Tag, archive, filter, and parameter pages rarely earn a place in the index.

If tag, archive, filter, and parameter URLs make up 80% or more of the unindexed pages, go to Resolution A. If real content pages make up 20% or more of the unindexed pages, go to Check 2.

Check 2. Is the unindexed page a should-index page?

How: open the URL and check four bars. One, quality: the page is substantive, not thin. Two, unique value: it adds something no other page adds. Three, canonical-clean: the canonical points at this URL. Four, crawlable: no robots block, no 4xx or 5xx, and no noindex tag. Read the reason column for that URL in the Page Indexing report.

Why: a should-index page clears all four bars. A should-not page fails at least one on purpose, and Google is right to leave it out.

If the page fails any of the four bars, go to Resolution B. If the page clears all four bars, go to Resolution C.

Resolutions

When to escalate

Escalate when all three are true.

• A real money page is not indexed, and it was indexed before.

• The page clears the four bars and the report shows no block, no noindex, and no canonical conflict.

• The “Not indexed” state has held for 14 or more days after one resubmit.

Everything else closes in the resolutions above.