Have you ever had the feeling that your website is the world's largest library hidden? Amazing content has been written, a stunning site has been designed, and you know very well that the information is needed by people. But when you do a Google search for it, it's not there. Annoying, isn't it?

The reason for this vanishing act boils down to two simple but very powerful concepts: Crawling and Indexing most of the time. These Google steps are critical to getting your site listed. If there is a problem here, your site stays in the dark.

Fortunately, Google has provided us with the best tool for resolving such issues: Google Search Console (GSC).

Understanding Crawling vs. Indexing

Before we get to the fixes, let's explain the two issues that are present in GSC.

Crawling: This is when Google's automated robots (Googlebot) come to your website, click through links, and read your content. A crawling problem means that Googlebot couldn't even reach the page to read it. It's akin to the librarian not being able to locate the room where your book is placed.

Indexing: This is when Google evaluates the content it has read and determines whether it is good enough and original enough to be included in its vast database (the Index). An indexing problem means that Google read the content but didn't add it to the database because of a quality or technical issue.

Google Search Console indicates the precise step that has gone wrong with its reports, mostly the "Pages" report (previously known as Index Coverage).

The URL Inspection Tool

Always use the URL Inspection Tool located at the very top of the GSC interface before taking any big reports. It is the quickest method of determining the condition of a single page.

Enter the URL of the problem into the search bar. GSC will then indicate the status of the page in the Google index.

"URL is on Google": Wonderful news! The page has been indexed.

"URL is not on Google": Unfortunate news. The reason for exclusion or failure will be visible. This is the point where you start solving the problem.

You can make use of the "Test Live URL" feature if you have just resolved an issue, and you will know instantly if Googlebot has been able to access and read the page correctly. If the live test is good, then click "Request Indexing" to manually push the page back into Google's queue for recrawl.

The 4 Most Common Crawling & Indexing Errors and How to Fix Them

Google Search Console's Pages report will provide you with numerous explanations for why certain pages have been marked as "Not indexed."

Let's take a look at some of the most common reasons and offer easy solutions:

1. "Blocked by robots.txt"

What it means: This means that there is a problem with crawling. Every site has a robots.txt file wherein it instructs the search engines about the areas they should not crawl. Thus, Googlebot made an effort to access the page but did not enter because it saw the robots.txt file with the blocking rule.

The Fix:

  • Navigate to your robots.txt file (typically located at yourdomain.com/robots.txt).
  • Search for a line that has the word Disallow: followed by a path that contains your problematic page. For example, if you see Disallow: /blog/, you are blocking the entire blog folder.
  • Make changes in the file to either delete or modify the Disallow rule for that single page or for the section it belongs to.
  • In case of doubt, take help of the robots.txt Tester tool (often available under Legacy tools in GSC) so as to verify whether your new rules properly allow access to the page.
  • After the issue is resolved, use the URL Inspection Tool on the page and then click "Request Indexing".

2. "Submitted URL marked 'noindex'"

What it means: This mistake is yours as it is an indexing issue! You asked Google to crawl the page probably by making it a part of your sitemap but at the same time a noindex meta tag was added to the page's code. This tag is like a direct order that says, "Look at me, but certainly DO NOT put me in your index."

The Fix:

  • Employ the URL Inspection Tool and click "View Crawled Page" to visualize the code that was viewed by Google. Search in the section for .
  • If you want the page to be included in the index, you have to get rid of the noindex tag. If you are using a CMS like WordPress, this usually comes down to clicking a box in your SEO plug-in (like Yoast or Rank Math). Make sure the box that states "Allow search engines to show this page in search results" is unchecked.
  • If you do not want the page to be indexed make sure it is removed from your XML Sitemap (which tells Google that it is not important).
  • After the tag has been removed, do the GSC validation of the fix.

3. "Crawled - currently not indexed"

This is a very important indexing issue. The Googlebot crawled the page and read all the content and then concluded, "This page isn't good enough for users to see it right now.

The main reasons are:

Thin Content: The page contains very little text, or its content is not original.

Low Quality: The page does not completely fulfill the user's demand or is poorly written.

Duplicate Content: The information is nearly the same as that of another indexed page (it could be on your site or another).

The Fix:

  • Bulk Up the Content: Add more unique, helpful, and detailed information. Aim to provide a really complete answer to the topic.
  • Improve Internal Linking: Google establishes a page's importance based on how many other important pages on your site link to it. Go to a few of your highly-ranked, relevant pages and include a link to the "Crawled - currently not indexed" page.
  • Check for Duplicates: If you have very similar pages, opt for the best one and use a canonical tag on the others to point towards the preferred version. This informs Google, "This is the original."

4. "Server error (5xx)" or "Not Found (404)"

In both cases, Google found no way to reach the page, hence crawling errors.

Server Error (5xx): The server that is hosting your website did not send a correct response. This is usually a problem related to hosting of a temporary nature.

Not Found (404): The URL that Google tried to access is no more available.

The Fix:

For Server Errors (5xx): Firstly, check the page yourself and see if it is loading. If it does, then there was probably a temporary issue. If it becomes a frequent occurrence, then your web host should be contacted as the problem lies with them. GSC even provides you with a date and time to refer to while reporting the error.

For Not Found (404): In case the page is permanently deleted, do a 301 Redirect from the old URL of the 404 page to the most relevant new page of your site. This keeps the ranking signals the old page had intact.

If the page is there, check for mistakes in the URL in your sitemap or internal links and then correct them.

Conclusion

Dealing with crawling and indexing problems might seem technical, but Google Search Console is indeed made to ease up the process. A regular checking of the Pages report and the use of the powerful URL Inspection Tool is important to give Google a definite roadmap. Do not forget that the primary purpose is to let Google find your top-notch content with the least effort.

Dev Bhushan

Dev Bhushan

Digital Marketing Specialist at SEMReseller

  • SEO
12 Mar 2026

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