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Part One: Start by Sorting into Three Categories — Different Problems, Different Solutions
| Type | Performance | Common Causes |
|---|---|---|
| Not indexed | Page is not indexed by Google | Blocked, insufficient quality, orphaned with no internal links |
| Indexed but not updated | It’s in the index, but the content is still outdated | Low crawl frequency, weak update signals |
| Crawl errors | Crawler access errors | robots blocking, server errors, timeouts |
The solutions for these three types of problems are completely different—first figure out which type you’re dealing with, then take action.
II. Positioning process: from GSC to logs
Step 1: Check status in Search Console. Use the “Page Indexing” report to look at three types of data: indexed, not indexed (categorized by reason), and crawl anomalies. GSC tells you “how Google sees your pages” — it’s a free, official perspective.
Step two: Check crawling via server logs. GSC only gives you conclusions; logs give you the process. Check your server access logs (or your host’s crawl stats): Has Googlebot been visiting? What status code does it get back (200/404/403/5xx)? How often does it come?
If “the crawler never came,” the problem is in the discovery path (internal links, sitemap); if “it came but got 4xx/5xx,” the problem is in technical configuration; if “it came and got 200 but wasn’t indexed,” the problem is in page quality or index settings.
Step 3: Fix according to the cause.
| Diagnosis Results | Fix actions |
|---|---|
| The crawler didn’t come | Add internal links, submit sitemap, check robots |
| Returns 403/404 | Fix permission configurations, fix links |
| Returns 5xx/timeout | Server maintenance, reducing response times |
| 200 but not indexed | Improve content quality, remove duplicates, submit via indexing API |
Step four: Submit for verification. After fixing, use “URL Inspection” in GSC to submit the URL for re-review and monitor status changes.
| Symptoms | Check first | Search again | Likely reasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not indexed at all | GSC Index Status | Whether there is crawling in the logs | Isolated/Blocked |
| Only the homepage is indexed | GSC coverage | Internal link structure | Deep pages with no entry point |
| Indexed but not updated | GSC last crawl time | Update frequency | Weak content update signals |
| Scraping error | GSC crawl errors | Log status codes | robots/server |
| Indexed but not ranking | Content quality | Competitive intensity | Insufficient page value |