Getting your website indexed is one of the most important things in search engine optimization (SEO). An unindexed website is a website which isn’t a part of Google search index. If your site is not indexed, then searchers will not be able to find your content organically. There may be many reasons for your site not being indexed. In the blog post, we are presenting the top reasons why Google isn’t indexing your website.
Your Website Is Indexed Under www- Or Non-www Domain
Users don’t differentiate between http://example.com and http://www.example.com. They consider both as one and the same. But the fact is that www is subdomain. Therefore, to make sure both the sites are indexed, add both the sites to your GWT account. In addition to that set your preferred domain and verify ownership.
Absence Of Sitemap.xml
A sitemap.xml is a simple list of directions for Google to index your website. Therefore, sitemap.xml is necessary to get your website indexed. If you don’t have sitemap.xml, then through Google sitemap policy and create it. It is quite easy.
Crawl Errors
In the case of crawl errors, Google doesn’t crawl your website. Since it doesn’t crawl, your website doesn’t get indexed. Yes, to index a website, crawling is necessary. Take help of Google webmaster tools to identify crawl errors. Select your site, click on “crawl” and then click on “crawl errors.” That’s it, you will find crawl errors if they exist.
Duplicate Content
Not many people know that excessive duplicate content on a website can also be a reason for Google not indexing your website. If search engines discover that most of your content on your site is duplicated, then it may abort indexing your site. Moreover, content duplication is also a black hat method, avoid duplication of content completely.
Robots.txt
Robots.txt is usually used to tell a search engine not to index a particular part of your website. In some cases, a developer can by mistake block your site via robots.txt. This issue is easy to fix, and it takes no time. Just by removing the entry from the robot.txt, you can get your site indexed.
Privacy Settings
This issue is more common in WordPress websites. You or the developer may have kept the privacy settings ON. As a result of which, search engine may not be indexing your website. To check privacy settings, go to Admin and click on “settings” and then click on “privacy.” If the privacy setting is ON, then fix it.
Your Site Is Brand New
Indexing takes time, especially in the cases of new websites. If your website is new, Google may take few days or even weeks to index your website. Don’t forget to request Google Crawl and fetch your site. Make sure your website is free from above-mentioned issues and errors.