What Is an Indexability Checker?
Indexability determines whether search engines like Google can crawl, analyze, and add your web pages to their search index. Without proper indexability, your content won't appear in search results — regardless of how well-optimized it is.
Why Pages Fail Indexing
Pages can fail indexing for several reasons. Understanding these issues is the first step to fixing them:
- Robots.txt blocking: The robots.txt file may disallow crawling of important pages. Test your robots.txt →
- Meta robots "noindex": Pages with a noindex directive won't appear in search results
- X-Robots-Tag headers: Works like a meta robots tag but is sent in HTTP response headers. It can prevent indexing even when no meta robots tag exists in the HTML
- Canonical tag issues: Incorrect canonical URLs pointing to non-indexable pages
- HTTP status codes: 4xx (client errors) or 5xx (server errors) block indexing. Run a full audit →
- Redirect chains: Multiple redirects can waste crawl budget and slow indexing
Crawlability vs. Indexability: What's the Difference?
Crawlability refers to whether search engine bots can access a page. Indexability refers to whether a crawled page can be added to the search index. A page can be crawlable but not indexable (e.g., with a noindex tag), or not crawlable at all (blocked by robots.txt). Both are required for search visibility.
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Pro tip: Use Google Search Console's "Coverage" report to find indexability issues Google has detected on your site. Look for statuses like
"Crawled — currently not indexed" or
"Discovered — currently not indexed" to identify problem pages.
Learn how to diagnose indexing issues →