You may have noticed in Google Search Console (GSC) that some pages aren't indexed for the reasons "Crawled - currently not indexed" and/or "Discovered - currently not indexed." If a page isn't indexed, it won't appear in Google search results. Let's look at what these reasons mean, and how to try to get Google to index these pages.
Here are the descriptions from Search Console Help:
Crawled - currently not indexed
The page was crawled by Google but not indexed. It may or may not be indexed in the future; no need to resubmit this URL for crawling.
Discovered - currently not indexed
The page was found by Google, but not crawled yet. Typically, Google wanted to crawl the URL but this was expected to overload the site; therefore Google rescheduled the crawl. This is why the last crawl date is empty on the report.
These don't give us much info, so let's take a closer look.
Google may choose not to index a page because the page's content is low-quality. If a page doesn't have much content, or the content isn't very helpful, that's considered low quality.
If a page isn't relevant to the audience, Google may not index it.
Duplicate content is another issue. If a page has content similar to pages that are already indexed, Google may choose not to index it.
When a website is new or not recognized as authoritative, Google may choose not to index several pages.
If a page loads slowly, Google considers that a poor user experience, so it may choose not to index it.
If your website is difficult to navigate, Google may not understand the value of some pages, so it may choose not to index them.
Google has become more selective about which pages it indexes. You should be selective, too. Of the pages listed under "Crawled - currently not indexed," only spend time addressing those that are important to have indexed, and ignore the others (archives, feeds, parameterized URLs, old content, etc.). The goal isn't to get to zero pages listed under "Crawled - currently not indexed," but to have your most important pages indexed.
Sometimes GSC's Page indexing report shows stale data; it may have a page listed under "Crawled - currently not indexed" when it actually has been crawled. To check, under Examples, click a URL. Then, on the right, click Inspect URL. If the URL Inspection page says, "URL is on Google," then the Page indexing report is inaccurate, and you may move on to checking a different page.
Ensure each page that you want indexed has high-quality content, which means there's enough content for the page's topic and that content is helpful.
Make sure each page is relevant to the audience it's aimed at.
Check for duplicate content. If there are any pages that are the same as others, remove one and 301 redirect it to the other. Sometimes duplicate content can be caused by your site's structure, such as archives that show identical content. So, this involves more than simply checking the pages you've published.
There's nothing you can do about your website's age, but you can make it more authoritative by publishing more content that attracts links and mentions from respected sites.
Ensure your entire site loads quickly so users aren't frustrated by slow load times.
Make sure your site is easy to navigate, and that the most important pages are easy to find. Add internal links (links from other pages on your site) to the pages you want Google to index.
Google crawls the mobile versions of sites ("seeing" the site as it would appear on a phone), so ensure your site is mobile-friendly.
After making changes, use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing for any pages you want indexed.
As Google explained above, one cause is that Google thought crawling would overload the site, so it rescheduled the crawl. Why would Google think crawling would overload your site? If you've recently added many pages to your site, crawling all of them could use a lot of your server resources. Similarly, if you've recently redesigned or restructured your site, re-crawling the entire site could use a lot of your server resources.
If you haven't recently added a lot of content to your site or restructured it, then the cause could be one or more of those listed under '"Crawled - Currently Not Indexed" Causes' above.
As with "Crawled - currently not indexed," only spend time addressing the pages that are important to have indexed, and ignore the others (archives, feeds, parameterized URLs, old content, etc.). The goal isn't to get to zero pages listed under "Discovered - currently not indexed," but to have your most important pages indexed.
As mentioned above, sometimes GSC's Page indexing report shows stale data; it may have a page listed under "Discovered - currently not indexed" when it actually has been crawled. To check, under Examples, click a URL. Then, on the right, click Inspect URL. If the URL Inspection page says, "URL is on Google," then the Page indexing report is inaccurate, and you may move on to checking a different page.
Usually Google will attempt to crawl your site again, so you don't need to do anything. However, if pages stay listed under "Discovered - currently not indexed" for weeks or months, you should take action. Follow the steps in the '"Crawled - Currently Not Indexed" Fixes' section above, as many of those fixes can help with "Discovered - currently not indexed."
Troubleshooting indexing issues in Google Search Console likely isn't high on your priority list, but getting your site on Google likely is. If you're looking for help, contact us about search engine optimization (SEO).
