Make pages crawlable and indexable, link to them internally, submit a sitemap in Search Console and request indexing for key URLs.
To get Google to index your website, make sure each page is crawlable and indexable, link to it from pages Google already knows, list it in an XML sitemap submitted in Google Search Console, and request indexing for your most important URLs. Google decides what goes in the index, but you control how easy that decision is.
A page that isn’t indexed can’t appear in search results or in AI Overviews. It doesn’t matter how good the content is. So when a new page gets no impressions at all, indexing is the first thing to check.
There’s no button that forces Google to index a page. What you can do is remove every barrier, give Google clear signals the page matters, and then let it crawl.
Check whether a page is indexed
The quickest reliable check is the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console. Paste in the URL and it tells you whether the page is on Google, when it was last crawled, which canonical Google chose and whether anything blocked it.
For a site-wide view, open the Page indexing report. It splits your URLs into indexed and not indexed, with a reason for each excluded group. A site: search in Google gives a rough idea, but it’s an estimate and shouldn’t be used to diagnose individual pages.
Remove anything that blocks indexing
Before asking Google to index anything, make sure nothing on the page tells it not to. These are the usual blockers:
- A noindex tag in the page’s meta robots or in an X-Robots-Tag header. Staging settings left on after launch are a classic cause.
- A robots.txt disallow rule that stops Google crawling the URL. Our guide to robots.txt explains how to check this.
- A canonical tag pointing elsewhere, which tells Google another URL is the main version.
- A non-200 status code, such as a redirect, a 404 or a server error.
- Content that only appears after JavaScript runs, which Google may render late or miss.
Our guide to what indexability means goes through each of these in more detail, including how crawling and indexing differ.
How to get Google to index your website
Once the page is technically indexable, these steps give Google every reason to crawl it and keep it.
- Verify your site in Google Search Console. A domain property covers every subdomain and protocol, so it’s the better choice if you can add a DNS record.
- Submit an XML sitemap. In Search Console, go to Sitemaps and add your sitemap URL. Include only canonical URLs that return a 200 status and that you want indexed. Also reference the sitemap in your robots.txt file.
- Link to the page from pages Google already indexes. Internal links are the strongest discovery signal you control. A new blog post linked from your homepage, a category page and two related articles will usually be crawled far faster than one only listed in a sitemap.
- Request indexing for priority URLs. In the URL Inspection tool, click Request indexing. There’s a daily quota, so use it for new or significantly updated pages that matter, not for every URL on the site.
- Make the page worth indexing. Google doesn’t index everything it crawls. Thin pages, near-duplicates and pages that add nothing new are often crawled and left out.
- Earn a few external links. Links from other sites help Google find pages and signal they’re worth crawling. This matters most for new domains.
Google’s Indexing API is sometimes recommended as a shortcut. Google only supports it for job posting pages and livestream video pages, so it isn’t a general way to speed up indexing.
How long indexing takes
Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. On an established site with strong internal linking, new pages are often indexed within a day or two. On a brand new domain, or a site with lots of low-value URLs, it can take much longer.
If pages sit in the “Discovered – currently not indexed” status for weeks, Google knows about them but isn’t prioritising them. That usually points to crawl budget or internal linking rather than the page itself. Our guide to discovered currently not indexed covers the fixes.
Why Google might not index a page
If a page is crawlable and still not indexed, the reason is usually one of these:
| Report status | Likely reason | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Crawled – currently not indexed | Google read it and didn’t think it was worth keeping | Improve the content, merge it with a stronger page, add internal links |
| Duplicate, Google chose different canonical | Google sees another URL as the main version | Check canonicals, consolidate duplicates |
| Excluded by noindex tag | A noindex directive is present | Remove it if the page should rank |
| Blocked by robots.txt | Google can’t crawl the URL | Update the disallow rule |
On larger sites, these problems tend to come in clusters tied to templates. A site crawl shows which page types share the issue so you can fix the template once.
If important pages still won’t index and you can’t see why, our technical SEO team can trace the cause. Book a free strategy session and we’ll go through your Page indexing report with you.
Related reading: our guides to mobile-first indexing, JavaScript SEO and submitting your website to search engines.
Common questions
Can I pay Google to index my website faster?
No. Indexing is free and there’s no paid route to faster crawling. Running ads doesn’t affect whether or how quickly your pages are indexed.
Does Google index every page on a site?
No. Google indexes the pages it judges useful and unique. It’s normal for a share of URLs on a large site, such as filter pages and duplicates, to stay out of the index.
Do I need to request indexing for every new page?
No. If the page is in your sitemap and linked internally, Google will find it. Request indexing is useful for urgent or important pages.
Why was my page indexed and then dropped?
Google reassesses pages over time. A page can drop out if it’s seen as low value, duplicated by another URL, or if a noindex tag or technical error appears later.
