Index coverage status in Search Console - Google Search Console Training

Understanding Google Search Console: A Comprehensive Guide to Crawling and Indexing

Google Search Console is a powerful tool that provides insights into how Google crawls and indexes your website. This guide will delve into the intricacies of the Index Coverage Status Report, a feature of the Search Console that provides an overview of all the pages Google has indexed or attempted to index on your website. The guide will also explain how to identify and fix any issues that may prevent your pages from being indexed and appearing in Google search results.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding the Index Coverage Status Report and its importance in SEO.
• Identifying and fixing errors that prevent your pages from being indexed.
• Learning how to validate fixes and inform Google about them.

Table of Contents

• Understanding Indexing
• Using the Index Coverage Status Report
• Identifying and Fixing Errors
• Validating Fixes
• Sharing Details with Developers
• Conclusion

Understanding Indexing

Indexing is the process by which Googlebot discovers new and updated pages to be added to the Google index. Googlebot processes each of the pages it crawls to compile a massive index of all the words it sees and their location on each page. When a user enters a query, Google machines search the index for matching pages and return the results they believe are the most relevant to the user.

Using the Index Coverage Status Report

The Index Coverage Status Report provides an overview of all the pages Google has indexed or attempted to index on your website. The report shows indexing errors on your website, valid pages with warnings, valid pages, and excluded pages. It also provides the number of impressions your pages got on search.

It's important to check the Index Coverage Status Report regularly to ensure that no issues are worsening. If Search Console detects a new index coverage issue on your website, you will receive an email. However, if an existing issue gets worse, you won't receive a notification.

Identifying and Fixing Errors

Errors prevent pages from being indexed and appearing in Google search results, which can lead to a loss of traffic to your website. The Index Coverage Status Report identifies these errors and provides a list of example URLs that you can check more closely. You can then make the necessary changes to fix the errors.

Some common errors include pages containing the no-index directive, server errors, and pages returning a 404 error. All these cases would prevent the page from appearing on search results.

Validating Fixes

Once you've made the necessary changes to fix the errors on your pages, you can validate the fixes in the Index Coverage Status Report. Click on 'validate fix', and Google will validate your changes. This is an important step in ensuring that your pages are indexed and can appear in Google search results.

Sharing Details with Developers

If you're unable to make the necessary changes to fix the errors on your pages, you can share the details with a developer who can perform code changes to your website. The Index Coverage Status Report provides a 'Share' button that allows you to share a link to the current page and any validation history pages for the issue. The link does not grant access to other pages for your resource or enable the shared user to perform any actions on your property.

Conclusion

Understanding how Google crawls and indexes your website is crucial for SEO. The Index Coverage Status Report in Google Search Console provides valuable insights into this process and helps you identify and fix any issues that may prevent your pages from being indexed. By regularly checking the report and addressing any errors, you can ensure that your pages are indexed and can appear in Google search results, thereby driving more traffic to your website.