What is Index?


What You Need to Know about Index

Crawling Precedes Indexing

Search engines must first crawl pages before adding them to the index, but crawling doesn’t guarantee indexing. Pages get indexed only when search engines determine they provide unique value and meet quality standards, with low-quality or duplicate content often crawled but excluded from indexes.

Index Status Verification

Google Search Console shows which pages are indexed and identifies issues preventing indexing like noindex tags, robots.txt blocks, or quality problems. Regular monitoring catches indexing issues that silently remove pages from search results, causing traffic loss.

Selective Indexing Decisions

Search engines don’t index every crawled page, actively filtering out thin content, duplicates, and low-quality pages. This quality control means sites must earn indexing through content value, not just technical accessibility, with algorithms constantly evaluating whether pages deserve index inclusion.

Mobile-First Index Priority

Google predominantly uses mobile page versions for indexing and ranking, even for desktop searches. Sites with poor mobile experiences or missing mobile content face indexing disadvantages that directly harm rankings across all devices.

Index Bloat Problems

Large sites with thousands of low-value pages waste crawl budget and dilute authority across too many URLs. Strategic deindexing of thin content, duplicate pages, and low-performing URLs through noindex tags or removal focuses crawler attention on pages that drive business value.

Indexing Speed Factors

New pages on established sites with strong authority typically index within hours or days, while pages on new or low-authority sites may take weeks. XML sitemaps, internal linking, and quality signals all influence how quickly search engines discover and index new content.


Frequently Asked Questions about Index

1. How do you check if pages are indexed?

Use “site:yourdomain.com” searches in Google to see indexed pages, or check Google Search Console’s Index Coverage report for detailed status. Search Console provides the most accurate data, showing exactly which pages are indexed and why others aren’t.

2. Why would Google not index a page?

Common reasons include noindex tags, robots.txt blocks, low content quality, duplicate content, slow server responses, or lack of internal links. Search Console’s Index Coverage report identifies specific issues preventing indexing for each affected URL.

3. Can you force Google to index pages?

You can request indexing through Search Console’s URL Inspection tool, but Google decides whether to index based on quality and relevance. Requests speed up discovery but don’t guarantee indexing—pages must meet quality standards to earn index inclusion.

4. How many pages should be in your index?

Index only pages that provide unique value to users and support business goals. More indexed pages isn’t inherently better—sites often improve performance by deindexing thin content and focusing crawler attention on high-value pages that drive traffic and conversions.


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Related Terms

Latent Semantic Indexing

LSI is an outdated concept from the 1980s. Modern search engines use advanced NLP and machine learning instead of LSI for understanding content.

Latent Semantic Indexing

Robots.txt

Robots.txt controls which pages search engines can crawl. It manages crawl budget and prevents indexing of unwanted content.

Robots.txt

.htaccess File

.htaccess is a server configuration file controlling Apache web server behavior, essential for SEO redirects and technical optimizations.

.htaccess File

Crawl Budget

Limited resources search engines allocate to crawling and indexing pages on your website within a specific timeframe.

Crawl budget


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