Indexing
In order for web pages to be included within search results, they must be in Google’s index. Search engine indexing is a complex topic and is dependent on a number of different factors. Our SEO Office Hours Notes on indexing cover a range of best practices and compile indexability advice Google has released in their Office Hours sessions to help ensure your website’s important pages are indexed by search engines.
Video Removal From Index Can Take Time
If you remove a video from your site it can take some time to be removed from the index even if markup and sitemap links are removed because Google needs to be sure it has actually been removed.
Crawl Rate & Sitemaps Are Key For Quick Indexing
Perceived server capacity may result in a site being crawled less. If you know your server can handle more, submit Googlebot feedback in the help center to request a higher crawl rate. Pinging Google with an updated Sitemap containing new URLs and a last modified date for updated pages will help Google to crawl them as quickly as they can.
Index Status Count & Sitemaps Index Count Are Most Reliable Estimates of No. Indexed Pages
Site: queries are an approximation of the no. pages indexed in search. The index status count and sitemaps index count in GSC are much better estimates of total indexed pages. John doesn’t know about the discrepancy in indexed pages between new and old versions of GSC.
Google Docs Content Can be Indexed by Google
Google Docs content can be indexed but it must be made public and it can be tricky for Google because of the volume of formatting options available. Make sure that if this is critical content that is also available outside of a Google Doc.
Canonicalising to Redirects Can Increase Time Taken to Index Preferred Version
Canonicalising to redirects can increase the time taken for Google to decide which version to index, especially if these pages aren’t identical. Google also looks at other signals such as internal linking and sitemap files to make this decision.
Treat Out of Stock Products Differently Depending on Permanence of Unavailability
If a product is permanently unavailable, redirect to a replacement product or reuse the old URL for the new product. If the product is temporarily unavailable consider keeping that page and adding structured markup to indicate it isn’t currently available. If a product is permanently unavailable but you want to keep some documentation then consider moving it to an archived section.
Changing Content Every Time Page is Refreshed Makes it Difficult for Google to Understand
Changing landing page content every time it is refreshed is not recommended as it makes it difficult for Google to understand the page, in terms of the importance of the page and how it relates to other pages on the site.
Google Removes Hacked Sections of Site From Index
When Google recognises that part of a site has been hacked, it is removed from the index and won’t appear in a site: query.
301 Redirection Doesn’t Ensure the Final Destination URL Will be Indexed
Having a 301 redirect doesn’t mean that the final destination URL will be the page that is indexed. You need to make sure that you have correct canonicalization, internal linking and hreflang markup pointing to the correct page.
Google Indexes Duplicate Pages But Only Shows the Most Relevant One
For a duplicate shared page across two websites or brands that don’t want to canonicalise, Google would index both but only show one depending on overall relevancy and personalisation factors such as location.