Google Coverage Statuses

When you create new content, search engines try to crawl and index it. The Coverage Status tells you what’s happening with that process. It shows you the status of your page in a search engine’s index. If there’s an issue with crawling or indexing, the status will show you what the problem is. For most pages, the goal is to get a “submitted and indexed” status.

Where Can I Check the Google Coverage Status?

You can check the indexing status of your pages in your search console’s Pages report. This report gives you a detailed look at how search engines are handling your site. It can also give you notifications about indexing issues, so you can fix them as soon as they pop up.

The Best Google Coverage Status: Submitted and indexed

If you see a “Submitted and indexed” status, well done! This means that a search engine has successfully crawled and indexed your page. You don’t need to do anything else.

Indexed, not submitted in sitemap

This status means that a search engine has indexed your page, but it is not included in your sitemap. This usually happens if you’ve only recently added your sitemap or you don’t have one at all.

How to Fix the Indexed, not submitted in sitemap Google Coverage Issue

To fix this, you should create a sitemap and submit it to your search console. A sitemap gives search engines a road map of your website, so they can crawl your pages more efficiently. It may take a few days for a search engine to crawl the sitemap and update the status.

Discovered – currently not indexed

This status means that a search engine has found your URL but has not yet indexed it. There could be a few reasons for this:

• Your website is new: It takes longer for a search engine to index new websites.
• Low-quality content: If your page has thin, outdated, or duplicate content, a search engine might decide not to index it.
• Internal links aren’t set up correctly: A search engine will prioritize pages that have more internal links pointing to them.

URL is unknown to Google

This status means that a search engine has not been able to find your page. This usually happens if your robots.txt file is blocking the page from being crawled. To fix this, you should check your robots.txt file and make sure it is not blocking your pages. You can also request indexing in your search console.

Crawled – currently not indexed Google Indexing Issue

This status means that a search engine has successfully crawled your page but has chosen not to index it. This can happen if a page has low-quality content, if the product on the page is expired, or if the URL is redirecting. To fix this, you should either improve the content or use a noindex tag on pages that shouldn’t be indexed.

Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag Coverage Status

Not all pages on your website should be indexed. For example, you don’t want a search engine to index your “thank you” pages or your internal search results. The “Excluded by noindex tag” status means that a search engine has correctly identified that a page has a noindex tag.

Alternate page with proper canonical tag in Google Search Console

If two pages on your website have the same canonical URL, you’ll see this status. This is normal and means that a search engine has correctly identified which page is the original.

Page with redirect Google Coverage Status

If you have recently changed your URLs or meant to redirect visitors to a different page, this status is completely normal. It means that a search engine has found a redirect and is following it to the new page.

Duplicate, submitted URL not selected as canonical

This status is common if you have duplicate pages on your website. It means that a search engine has found a duplicate page and has chosen a different page as the original. If a search engine has chosen the correct original, you can add a canonical tag to the duplicate page.

Submitted URL marked ‘noindex’ in Google Coverage Report

This status means that a page you submitted for indexing has a noindex tag on it. You should check your page to make sure that the noindex tag is not there by mistake. If it is, you should remove it and request indexing.

Duplicate without user-selected canonical

This status means that a search engine has found two very similar pages on your website, but you have not told it which one is the original. To fix this, you should select the correct canonical URL and set up a 301 redirect from the other page to the original.

Duplicate, Google chose a different canonical than user

This status means that a search engine has found two similar pages and has chosen a different page as the original than you have. To fix this, you should either improve the content on the page you want to be the original or add a noindex tag to the page that you don’t want to be indexed.

Blocked by robots.txt

If your robots.txt file is blocking a page from being indexed, you’ll see this status. You should check your file to make sure that you are not accidentally blocking a page that should be indexed.

Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt

If you see this status for pages that should be indexed, you should check your robots.txt file for any errors. This status can be a bit confusing, but it usually means that a search engine has found a page through an external link and has decided to index it even though it can’t crawl it.

Not found (404) Google Coverage Status

If you delete a page, a search engine may display a 404 status. This is normal, but you can also use a 301 redirect to send users to a similar page.

Blocked due to access forbidden (403)

If your website blocks a search engine from crawling a page, you’ll see this status. This is normal for private pages, but if you see it for a page that should be indexed, you should check your file permissions to make sure they are set up correctly.

Server error (5xx)

If your server can’t process a search engine’s crawl request, you’ll see a 5xx error. You should contact your hosting provider to fix this immediately.

Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404

A soft 404 is when a page is gone, but it returns a “200: OK” status code instead of a “404: Not Found.” This confuses search engines and can hurt your SEO. You should ensure that any pages that are gone are returning a 404 status code.

Redirect error in Google Search Console

This status means that your redirects are causing a problem. This usually happens if you have a redirect loop that sends a search engine on an infinite loop. You should check your redirects and remove any unnecessary ones.

Page indexed without content

If a search engine can’t read your page’s content, you’ll see this status. This usually happens if your robots.txt file is blocking some of your content. You should check your file to make sure that you are not blocking any parts of your website.

Fix Your Google Coverage Status Errors and Rank Higher

You don’t have to worry about every status, but you should keep an eye on those that are causing problems for your most important pages. A professional SEO platform like Clickrank can give you a prioritized list of tasks to fix these issues. This allows you to focus on your content and other SEO tasks while the platform takes care of the technical side.