Only indexed webpages show up in the search engine rankings. If they don’t index, they will not appear even in local searches targeting Brooklyn. To find out the number of indexed pages on your site, you can look into Google Search Console for XML Sitemap Submissions, indexation status, etc. You can also use the advanced Google search operator “site:” to see if the page has got indexed or not. These can indicate different results for specific reasons; still, you can figure out an average number of the indexed pages. However, let’s focus on the problem of pages not getting indexed on Google. It can occur under any of the three scenarios: Google penalized your site, search engines don’t consider your content is relevant, or there is an issue with crawling your pages.
You have to investigate the reasons and fix the pain points to help index your pages. Here are a few suggestions in this context.
Fixing the issues of page indexing
Page download time
You can check the loading time of your pages. They should have 200 HTTP Header Status, which shows that the server has processed the request. Besides, you have to find the speed of the server, expiry and renewal dates of your domain, etc. You can use a free tool to look into the status of your pages. If your site is massive, you can test it with crawling tools like DeepCrawl, Botify, etc. Remember, the header status should be 200. If it shows anything else like 301 or 404, you should understand there is an error.
URLs
Any modification in a domain, subdomain, or folder due to changes in server setting, CMS, or backend programming can impact the URLs. Search engines tend to recognize old links. But if redirection doesn’t happen properly, these pages can de-index. In such situations, you will need to check your old website’s copy to redirect older URLs to the new ones.
Duplicate content
Having the same content across different assets online can be harmful. You need to use no index meta tags, canonical tags, 301 redirects, robots.txt, and other such mediums to tackle this issue. The number of indexed URLs can fall due to this. But you don’t need to take any tension. Your site requires this step for its improvement. Anyway, when the numbers reduce, you should still verify the reason.
Page timeout
To improve the bandwidth of your server, you need to spend money. Some servers require regular upgrades for increasing their bandwidth. Sometimes, hardware-related matters can be a hindrance. To get rid of this, you can update the hardware processor or memory limitation. Then, there are instances when sites don’t let IP addresses to browse through too many pages at a time. This step checks the hacking attempts. But this can be harmful to your site, mainly if the threshold of your page’s timeout setting is lower. The search engine crawler will not be able to move on your website properly once it hits the limit.
So, if you suspect the problem is the bandwidth limitation, you should update services. For memory or processing-related concerns, you need to check hardware and server caching technology. Besides, if you have anti-DDOS software, you can change the settings so that it doesn’t block the Googlebot. Anyway, make sure it can identifybetween real and fake bots.
Search engine spiders
An experienced Brooklyn SEO agency will explain clearly how search engine bots see your site and how a developer builds it can be very different from each other. Developers don’t get into SEO implications. They can use any CMS whether or not it is compatible with search engines. It can be an SEO tactic also, where people want to cloak content to manipulate search engines. Or, hackers can also indulge in this to push hidden links up or cover up the 301 redirections. Another situation can be a malware attack that impedes the indexing process. If Google detects it, your page will quickly de-index.
To avoid these risks, you would want to know how a bot is seeing your page. For this, you can take the help of a fetch and render feature in Google Search Console. You can also try Google Translate and check the Cached page to understand.
Some insights about increasing or decreasing indexed pages
When you look into the number of indexed pages, you should not approach it as one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These come in handy for weighing the results of an SEO campaign focused on improving traffic and rankings. KPIs are more about business goals and revenues. The higher number of indexed pages indicates the types of keywords they can appear for in the search results. The more you appear in searches, the more the chances of profit. Besides, you need to ensure that your pages are easy to crawl and, thereby, index. If pages don’t crawl or index properly, they will not come up in the SERPs.
Another critical point that you need to consider is that not all types of de-indexing are bad. For example, if pages get de-indexed when you fix the issues of duplicate content or poor-quality content, you don’t have to sweat. It is healthy for your website and its performance.
If you feel your pages are not getting indexed, you can check all the areas mentioned above and resolve them. It can be time-consuming. You may not afford to devote so much of time and energy into this. In that case, you can tie up with a reputed SEO agency of Brooklyn that handles all these matters and gives you a hassle-free experience. Getting your pages indexed is hugely crucial from an SEO perspective. You cannot leave or neglect this field.
However, as hinted, with the support of a trusted and experienced SEO agency in Brooklyn, you can check all these problems and ensure a safe journey for your website, and consequently, your business. Just ensure that you choose the right partner for this task. Otherwise, you may not get the kind of outcome you desire from your investment.
