All Google Search Console Indexing Statuses Explained
The Page Indexing report in Google Search Console (formerly the Coverage report) classifies every URL on your site into one of 17 possible states. These statuses answer a simple but critical question: is Google indexing your pages, and if not, why?
Understanding these states is the foundation of technical SEO diagnosis. Here is the complete reference.
The 17 GSC Page Indexing Statuses
Indexed
These pages are in Google's index. This is the target state.
1. Submitted and indexed
The page was submitted via sitemap and is indexed by Google. No issue to address.
2. Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt
Google indexed this page despite a blocking directive in your robots.txt file. This happens when other signals (inbound links, sitemaps) led Googlebot to index it anyway. Watch out: if you genuinely want these pages blocked, a noindex tag is more reliable than robots.txt alone.
Not indexed
These pages exist but Google decided not to index them, without any technical block on your end.
3. Crawled — currently not indexed
Googlebot visited the page but chose not to index it. Most common causes: thin or low-quality content, too similar to another page, slow load time, or a weak relevance signal. No immediate technical fix — improve content quality or build the page's internal authority.
4. Discovered — currently not indexed
Google knows the page exists (via sitemap or internal links) but hasn't crawled it yet. Crawl budget was likely allocated elsewhere. Fix: strengthen internal links pointing to these URLs and make sure the sitemap is up to date.
Intentionally excluded
These pages are excluded from the index by a deliberate decision — yours or a tool's.
5. Blocked by robots.txt
Googlebot is not allowed to crawl this page per your robots.txt. It is therefore not indexed. Normal behavior for admin areas, staging pages, etc.
6. Excluded by 'noindex' tag
The page has a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> directive or an X-Robots-Tag: noindex HTTP header. Google respects this and does not index it. Verify that this noindex is intentional.
URL unknown to Google
7. URL is unknown to Google
Google has no record of this URL — neither via sitemap nor via inbound links. The page has never been crawled. Fix: add the URL to your sitemap and strengthen internal linking.
Technical errors
These URLs have a technical issue preventing indexation.
8. Page with redirect
The URL redirects to another address. Google follows the redirect and indexes the destination, not the source. Normal behavior for correctly handled 301/302 redirects.
9. Blocked due to access forbidden (403)
The server returns a 403 error (access denied) to Googlebot. The page cannot be indexed. Causes: authentication-protected page, overly restrictive firewall rule.
10. Not found (404)
The page returns a 404 error. Google cannot index it. If the page was intentionally removed, this is expected. Otherwise, fix the broken link or restore the page.
11. Soft 404
The page returns HTTP 200 (success) but its content looks like a "not found" page or is too thin. Google treats it as a 404. Fix: improve the content or return a proper 404/301.
12. Server error (5xx)
The server returns a 5xx error during crawl. The page is inaccessible. Causes: server overload, application bug, maintenance. Fix as a priority for important pages.
Duplicates and canonicals
These statuses appear when Google detects multiple URLs with identical or very similar content.
13. Alternate page with proper canonical tag
Google detected a duplicate page but you correctly declared the canonical URL. Google excludes the variant and indexes the canonical. Expected behavior.
14. Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user
You declared a canonical pointing to URL A, but Google considers URL B to be the true canonical version and indexes it instead. This signals that your site architecture or internal linking contradicts your declaration. Fix the inconsistency.
15. Duplicate without user-selected canonical
Google detected duplicate pages with no canonical declared. It picks which version to index on its own — not necessarily the one that matters most to you. Add rel="canonical" tags on all variants to regain control.
Other
16. Page indexed without content
Google could access and index the page, but it contains no usable text content. Causes: dynamically generated page that is empty server-side, content rendered exclusively via JavaScript that was not rendered.
17. Other
A catch-all for cases that don't fit any other category. Use the GSC URL Inspection tool to analyze the affected URLs individually.
Why these statuses matter for SEO
A site with thousands of URLs incorrectly excluded from the index loses organic traffic potential directly. A site with many duplicates dilutes its authority. The Page Indexing report is the starting point of any technical SEO audit.
The problem: manually checking hundreds or thousands of URLs in GSC is not scalable. IndexProbe solves this — by querying the official Google Search Console API to audit the indexing status of all your URLs in minutes.
Frequently asked questions
How many statuses are there in the Google Search Console Page Indexing report?
There are 17 official statuses, grouped into several categories: indexed (2 statuses), not indexed (2), intentionally excluded (2), URL unknown (1), technical errors (5), duplicates and canonicals (3), and other (2).
What is the difference between "Crawled — currently not indexed" and "Discovered — currently not indexed"?
"Crawled" means Googlebot visited the page but decided not to index it (often for quality reasons). "Discovered" means Google knows the page exists but has not yet crawled it — it is waiting in the crawl queue.
Is the "Excluded" status in GSC a problem?
Not necessarily. Some excluded statuses are normal and intentional: correct canonical tag, deliberate noindex, handled redirect. Others signal an issue to fix: duplicate without canonical, 404, Soft 404. The key is distinguishing intentional exclusions from errors.