If you’re running a WordPress or any content management system, you’ve probably encountered one of the most common messages in Google Search Console: “Crawled – currently not indexed” or “Discovered – currently not indexed.”
When you first see these messages, it’s natural to worry whether your content isn’t being indexed properly or if something serious is wrong with your site. Many website owners have been dealing with this concern, especially since December 2024, when these indexing issues dramatically increased, causing significant drops in impressions and clicks for many sites.
Today, I’ll explain exactly what these two statuses mean, when you should be concerned, when you can safely ignore them, and most importantly, how to resolve these issues effectively.
1. Understanding the Exact Meaning of These Status Messages
Let’s start by clearly distinguishing what these two statuses actually mean.
Discovered – Currently Not Indexed
“Discovered – currently not indexed” means Google has found your page but hasn’t crawled it yet. Typically, this happens when Google attempted to crawl the URL but postponed the crawling schedule because it might overload your site.
Think of it like Google knowing your page exists but hasn’t visited it yet to read the content. It’s similar to a friend saying, “I heard you moved to a new house, but I haven’t had a chance to visit yet.”
Crawled – Currently Not Indexed
“Crawled – currently not indexed” means Google has crawled your page but chose not to index it. The page may or may not be indexed later.
This indicates that Google’s bot actually visited your page and read the content but decided not to include it in search results for various reasons.
2. Why Do These Situations Occur?
Let’s examine the main causes you’ll encounter when managing websites.
Google’s Crawling Priority and Server Load Considerations
When Google mentions “might overload the site,” it often relates to how well your content aligns with Google’s quality guidelines.
Google needs to crawl billions of web pages worldwide, so it prioritizes its work. New sites, sites with infrequent updates, or content deemed lower quality may be pushed to lower priority.
Content Quality and Duplication Issues
Basic category and tag pages often contain mixed content with just post titles and excerpts, making it difficult for Google’s crawlers to determine the page’s focus.
Many WordPress sites experience this issue with automatically generated feed pages, category pages, and tag pages.
Sitemap and Internal Link Structure Problems
When examining non-indexed URLs, you’ll often find they’re not actual post URLs but automatically generated URLs like domain.com/post-title/feed/ created by SEO tools or plugins.
3. When to Worry and When to Ignore
Cases You Can Safely Ignore
If your site has fewer than 500 pages, you likely don’t need to use this report extensively. For smaller websites, not every page needs to be indexed.
The following pages are perfectly fine if they’re not indexed:
- Feed pages
- Auto-generated category/tag pages
- Duplicate content pages
- Admin or login pages
Cases That Require Action
However, you should actively address these situations:
If you’ve waited three months and important pages still haven’t been indexed, manual indexing requests become necessary.
You should be concerned if these types of pages aren’t being indexed:
- Main blog posts
- Core service pages
- Landing pages
- Commercially valuable content
4. Step-by-Step Resolution Guide
Step 1: Accurately Assess the Current Situation
Access Google Search Console and follow these steps:
- Go to Indexing > Pages
- Check the “Why pages aren’t indexed” section
- Click on specific issues to see the URL list
- Run a “Live URL test” in the URL inspection tool. If there’s a specific reason why indexing failed, it should appear in the live test results.
Step 2: Manual Index Requests
This is the most effective and immediate solution:
Manual index requests have proven to be the most practical solution. Many website owners regularly check Search Console and submit indexing requests for important content.
How to request manual indexing:
- Enter the URL in the top search bar in Search Console
- Click “Test live URL”
- Click “Request indexing” if the button is active
- Submit once and wait for the process to complete
Step 3: Sitemap Re-registration and Optimization
Re-registering your sitemap can be effective, though it typically takes about 2 weeks to see results.
Sitemap optimization checklist:
- Verify XML sitemap is generated correctly
- Ensure sitemap location is properly specified in robots.txt
- Include only pages that actually need indexing
- Exclude unnecessary pages (feeds, admin pages, etc.)
Step 4: Content Quality Improvement
Before requesting indexing for non-indexed content, review your content carefully. Check if there are issues with the content structure and quality.
Content improvement points:
- Ensure articles aren’t too short (minimum 300 words recommended)
- Verify title and content alignment
- Check for duplicate content
- Include rich media like images or videos
5. Common Mistakes to Avoid
Deleting and Recreating Posts
Deleting posts and rewriting them isn’t a good strategy. Content might be indexed by other search engines like Bing or Yahoo, and recreating content could be flagged as duplicate by these engines, making indexing more difficult.
Excessive Index Requests
Submitting dozens of index requests for the same URL daily can be counterproductive. Once you submit a request, wait at least 1-2 weeks.
Robots.txt Configuration Errors
Many users discover their robots.txt is blocking Googlebot without their knowledge. WordPress plugins or theme settings might unintentionally configure robots.txt, so check this regularly.
6. Realistic Timeframes and Expectations
Typical Indexing Timeframes
Google typically takes about a week to start crawling and indexing new pages or sites. However, actual timeframes vary:
- New sites: 2-4 weeks
- New posts on existing sites: 3-7 days
- Updated posts: 1-3 days
- After manual index request: 1-2 weeks
Not Every Page Needs Indexing
Don’t expect every URL on your site to be indexed. Some URLs may be duplicates or contain no meaningful information. Focus on ensuring your important pages are indexed.
Even healthy websites typically have only 70-80% of their pages indexed, which is normal.
7. Long-term Prevention Strategies
Regular Monitoring System
While you might typically only check when “Failed” appears, pages marked as “Discovered – currently not indexed” should be monitored regularly, even when showing “Valid” status.
Recommended monitoring schedule:
- Weekly: Overall Search Console status check
- Monthly: Detailed indexing status analysis
- 1 week after publishing: Check new content indexing status
SEO-Friendly Site Architecture
Internal linking optimization:
- Important pages accessible within 3 clicks from homepage
- Related content cross-linked
- Natural internal links complement sitemaps
Technical SEO elements:
- Page loading speed optimization
- Mobile-friendly design
- HTTPS implementation
- Structured data markup
Seeing “Crawled/Discovered – currently not indexed” in Google Search Console doesn’t automatically indicate a problem. The key is accurately identifying which pages are affected and taking appropriate action only for pages that genuinely need indexing. Remember that creating valuable content for your audience remains the best SEO strategy. No matter how complex Google’s algorithms become, their ultimate goal is to prioritize content that helps users. 🙂