SEO Tips!
If you are in SEO and you are unsure on how to deal with non indexed page reasons & getting to know search console - here are some things that may help you.
Lesson 1: How to use performance tools in Google Search Console
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Lesson 2: How to use URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console
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Lesson 3: Google Discover - what is it?
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Lesson 4: An introduction to Page Indexing / Non Indexed Pages in Search Console
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Lesson 5: Alternative Page with Proper Canonicals
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Lesson 6: Page with Redirect
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I will be recording more videos for other non indexed page reasons - this should get you started.
Below is further guidance:
PRIORITY ITEMS:
➡️ CRAWLED / DISCOVERED CURRENTLY NOT INDEXED
Generally, this is content that Google no longer deems to be of value and therefore it is not indexed. Crawled/Discovered are the "same thing" in respect of content perception, it's just the route of URL finding was different.
Things to note:
> Not all URLS reported will be valid (HTTP 200) - always http status check
> Some URLS will be erroneous, malformed or random/parameter driven
> Generally, THIN content / low or non value pages tend to end up here
> Pages that have content where there is no demand can end up here
> Pages that are poorly linked can end up here
Generally - you'll want to clean these URLS up.
> Delete dead content (check for internal and external links)
> Clean up parameters (robots.txt management) subject to parameter checks i.e. you wouldn't block a parameter path that is contributory in other ways
> Filter down to HTTP 200 URLS - this will help you get a much clearer view of what is not indexed but is active
➡️ DUPLICATE WITHOUT USER-SELECTED CANONICAL
Basically, these are URLS Google considers to be duplicate of other URLS where a canonical hasn't been provided to direct Google to the parent URL.
You don't want these, always ensure if there ARE techincal issues or reasons why URLS must exist where they are very similar, specify a canonical parent.
IDEALLY, you shouldn't have a website that facilitates duplicate content, cull / consolidate.
➡️ BLOCKED DUE TO OTHER 4XX ISSUE
High priority, BUT, generally quicker to check, you just need to ensure the URLS Google has tried to access are valid to be blocked (check which 4XX issue you get via httpstatus(.)io
QUICK AND EASY WINS!
➡️ NOT FOUND 404
Crawl site, find internal links, eliminate 404s. Check NOT FOUND 404S in GSC, you may find URLS that are not on the crawl, these may be random or legacy URLS.
Tip! Export the URLS and put them into AHREFS BATCH ANALYSIS to see if any of them have external links (if they do, 301 to preserve link equity)
➡️ SOFT 404
Just double check the pages, generally it's when Google interprets a page that looks like a not found page but returns a HTTP 200 status code.
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