Why does Google say “Crawled – Not Indexed”?
Google may crawl your web page but choose not to index it due to poor content quality, duplication, lack of originality, or technical issues. This status in Google Search Console indicates the page was accessed by Google’s bots but was not considered useful or unique enough to be included in search results.

Crawled but not indexed
Google crawled but not indexed is indeed a big nuisance to you if you are concerned about reader friendliness and SEO rank of your website. We were not certain of the new reason preventing your pages from being indexed for some time unless Garry Illyes spoke up. Neither manual indexing review nor getting rid of duplicate content hasn’t stopped Google crawling but currently not indexed problem. Besides, a thorough guideline from Google is not available for SEO savvy.
Reasons that impact indexing
According to Garry Illyes, multi-faceted reasons contribute to the error, Google crawled but not indexed. You may also find YouTube videos on how to fix crawl errors in the Google Search console interesting and appealing.
Similar content
The similarity of wordings and exact ideas is a real problem when it comes to fixing page-crawled but not indexed issues. Outranking similar content is difficult to attain as per the latest algorithms.
Duplicate content
Duplicate content is a real catastrophe as your credit for the original content can be snatched by another because multiple versions make it difficult to rank the original one. Outranked content might contain better signals.
Thin Content
Fewer words compared to other web pages can be a new reason preventing your pages from being indexed as Google prefers long-form content which elaborates on a particular topic.
Poor overall quality of your website matters
Why indexing is difficult? You may ponder and the answer might be website quality. Poor quality of URLs and website structure perilously impact indexing efforts by your SEO agency. Google might view your site as unoriginal and unauthorized to be on the top SERp results.
Content not aligning with the searcher’s intent
If your web page contains information other than the prompt asked by the searcher, Google may penalize your business with a crawled but currently not indexed error.
Website’s Technical hindrances
Technical issues cause page crawled but not indexed issues most of the time your website structure is not legitimate and you are not using top-quality web hosting providers for your website.
Table: Reason for Not Indexing & Solutions
Reason for Not Indexing | Solution |
---|---|
Duplicate content | Remove or consolidate pages |
Thin content | Add depth, examples, and value |
Technical errors | Fix sitemap, canonical, noindex tags |
Low-quality site reputation | Improve E-E-A-T and authority |
How to Fix “Crawled – Not Indexed” in Google Search Console
Follow these steps to fix this issue and improve your chances of indexing:
Step 1: Publish original, helpful content
– Ensure your page offers unique value and aligns with user intent.
Step 2: Avoid duplicate and similar content
– Audit your site for duplicate pages or content that’s too similar.
Step 3: Improve internal linking
– Link to non-indexed pages from other relevant pages on your site.
Step 4: Fix technical SEO issues
– Check for broken redirects, incorrect tags, and crawl errors in GSC.
Step: 5: Submit for reindexing in Search Console
– Use the URL Inspection Tool to request reindexing. A Google crawler test can help identify indexing,
Step 6: Ensure your page is in the sitemap
– Confirm the page is listed in your XML sitemap.
Upon incorporating the above points, your website may still be in the category of crawled but not indexed. What will be the new reason for preventing your pages from being indexed never remain history. It indicates your content marketing strategy team needs to deep delve into each point mentioned above and tackle minor issues that persist to improve the overall website quality. The page quality matters in terms of design, content and security.
Winding up
In essence, you have a fair answer to the question of why are pages crawled but not indexed. Multiple factors such as website quality issues, duplicate content and similar content, security, and page authority play vital roles. Combining the how-to-fix crawl errors in Google Search console blog information also helps you tackle the problem even faster. If you tackle underlying issues faster, you can get indexed and crawl all pages.
FAQs: “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed”
1. What does “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” mean in Google Search Console?
This status means Google has visited your page but decided not to show it in search results yet. It doesn’t always mean something is wrong—it may just need better content or internal linking.
2. Why is my page discovered but not indexed?
Your page might be “discovered” through a sitemap or link, but Google hasn’t crawled or indexed it due to low quality, thin content, slow loading time, or crawl budget limitations.
3. How do I fix “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” in Search Console?
To fix it, improve your content, add internal links, check mobile-friendliness, remove crawl blocks in robots.txt, and submit the page URL again in GSC using “Inspect URL.”
4. Why is Google not indexing my site or specific pages?
This can happen if your pages lack value, have duplicate content, face technical issues, or are blocked from crawling. Google may skip indexing if it finds no unique reason to include them.
5. What causes Google to crawl but not index a page?
Common reasons include poor-quality content, missing meta tags, duplicate pages, weak backlinks, or slow page speed. Sometimes it’s just a matter of time before Google indexes it.
6. How long does it take for Google to index a crawled page?
There’s no fixed time. It can range from a few hours to weeks. Updating your content and ensuring internal links can help speed it up.
7. My website is not indexed by Google at all. What should I do?
Start by checking if your site is blocked in robots.txt or has a <noindex> tag. Then submit your sitemap in Google Search Console, and make sure your pages have good content and load fast.
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