Indexing means Google crawled a page, processed it, and stored it in Google's index where it may become eligible for search results and some other surfaces. A URL can lose clicks while your homepage looks healthy if individual URLs drop out of the index or never get indexed after launch.
Use the Page indexing report for site-wide status
Open Indexing > Pages in Search Console. The summary chart shows counts of indexed and not-indexed URLs Google knows about for your property. The Why pages aren't indexed table lists reasons (for example, blocked by robots.txt, duplicate without user-selected canonical, crawled - currently not indexed). Click a reason to see example URLs and whether Google considers the source fixable on your site.
Google is explicit: you should not expect 100% of URLs to be indexed. Alternate or duplicate URLs often should stay out of the index while the canonical version is indexed. Focus on canonical URLs that matter for search.
Use URL Inspection for one URL at a time
The URL Inspection tool shows Google's indexed version of a specific URL (not a live test unless you run Live Test). It reports:
- Whether the URL is on Google, not on Google, or on Google with issues.
- Crawl allowed (robots.txt) and indexing allowed (noindex).
- User-declared vs Google-selected canonical.
- Last crawl time and referring sitemap, when available.
Important nuance from Google: URL is on Google means the URL is indexed and eligible, but it does not guarantee the URL appears in a given search result. Search results personalize by query, location, and history. After you fix a blocking issue, you can request indexing from the tool; Google enforces a daily inspection quota per property.
- Page is indexed · Crawl allowed · Indexing allowed
- User-declared canonical matches Google-selected canonical
- Last crawl: May 27, 2026 · Referring sitemap detected
- Crawl allowed by robots.txt
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Indexing blocked by
noindextag · Page cannot appear in search results - Last crawl: May 28, 2026
Inspect new and changed URLs after publish
New content can take days to appear in reports. Google suggests sitemaps, internal links, and requesting indexing of important URLs (often starting with the homepage) so crawlers discover pages faster. After launch, run URL Inspection on the live URL to confirm indexing is allowed, fetch succeeded, and the canonical matches your intent.
Watch for spikes after migrations and template changes
Redirects, HTTPS moves, trailing-slash rules, and CMS changes often produce clusters of duplicates or soft 404s. Verify 301 chains, consistent canonical tags, and that sitemaps list canonical URLs only. Spikes in Duplicate without user-selected canonical or Page with redirect after a deploy are common early warnings.
Check sitemaps when indexed counts drift
The Sitemaps report shows submitted sitemaps and parsing errors. A stable section of your site should show indexed counts in line with submitted URLs over time. A widening gap after a release may mean Google rejects URLs because of robots rules, noindex tags, or non-canonical URLs in the sitemap file.
28 URLs in sitemap not indexed — check Page indexing reasons after template or redirect changes.
A practical post-deploy checklist
Within 48 hours of a major release:
- URL Inspection on the homepage and one template URL per major section.
- Review new rows in Why pages aren't indexed.
- Compare Performance impressions on top URLs week over week.
- Validate fixes in Search Console when you resolve a labeled issue type.
Fifteen focused minutes beats guessing from site-wide averages.