Can Google find your pages? A five-minute check with Search Console

If Google hasn't indexed a page, it can't show it in search results. However good the page is.

You can check any page yourself in about five minutes. Here's how.

A page has to be indexed before it can rank

"Indexed" just means Google has visited the page and stored it. Only indexed pages can appear in Google Search.

Google gives you a free tool to check this, called URL Inspection, inside Search Console. (Google)

So which pages should you check first?

Start with the pages that bring in work

Pick three:

• Your homepage.
• Your most important service page.
• Your contact page.

Those are the pages a new customer is most likely to land on.

Run the check in four steps

1. Open Google Search Console and choose your website.
2. Paste the full page address into the search bar at the top.
3. Read the result. It tells you whether the page is on Google.
4. If it isn't, Search Console explains why.

Google's own help page explains each result in detail. (Google)

Most "not indexed" results come down to a handful of reasons.

Three common reasons a page is missing

It is marked "noindex". That tag tells Google to leave the page out of Search. It is often left behind by accident after a redesign. (Google)

Google found it but hasn't added it yet. Check the page is linked from your menu or other pages, and listed in your sitemap. (Google)

The page returns an error. If Google gets an error when it visits, it can't index the page.

The Page indexing report shows these reasons across your whole site at once. (Google)

Fixed it? Ask Google to look again

Once the problem is sorted, use Request indexing in URL Inspection. This asks Google to visit the page again. It doesn't guarantee when, or whether, the page will be indexed.

Still stuck?

Indexing problems are a core part of our technical SEO work, and the first thing we look at in an SEO audit.

Not sure where to start? Our free SEO audit is a good first step.