Why Google won’t index some links

Why Google won't index some links. Pink background. In the foreground is a Google search bar and a person sat on a chair with thought bubbles leading to it.

If you have noticed that some of your pages are not appearing in search results, there could be several reasons behind this issue. Here’s why Google might not be indexing certain links and what you can do about it.

Common reasons why Google won’t index your links

Websites can use “noindex” meta tags to prevent pages from being indexed. If a page has this tag in its HTML, Google will crawl it but not include it in search results.

Google prioritises valuable and unique content. If a page has thin or duplicate content, it may not be indexed because Google deems it unhelpful to users.

Google allocates a crawl budget to each website, meaning only a limited number of pages are indexed. Large websites with thousands of pages may experience issues where certain pages are not crawled frequently.

A website’s robots.txt file can prevent Google from crawling specific pages. If a link is blocked in robots.txt, it will not be indexed.

If a page has a canonical tag directing Google to another URL, Google will prioritise the canonical version and may not index the original page.

Google discovers pages through internal and external links. If a page is new and has no inbound links, it may take longer for Google to find and index it.

Websites that violate Google’s guidelines can receive manual penalties, preventing certain pages from being indexed.

How to improve indexing

  • Check Google Search Console – Use the URL Inspection tool to see if a page is indexed and troubleshoot issues.
  • Ensure valuable content – Create original, high-quality content to increase the likelihood of indexing.
  • Optimise internal linking – Link to new or important pages from existing indexed pages to help Google discover them.
  • Submit a sitemap – Use Google Search Console to submit an XML sitemap and guide Google’s crawlers.
  • Fix technical issues – Ensure there are no “noindex” tags, blocked pages, or canonicalisation errors preventing indexing.

Google not indexing a page can be frustrating, but the issue is often fixable. By ensuring your content is high-quality, technically accessible, and well-linked, you can improve the chances of your pages appearing in search results.

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