In short. Use the Page indexing report to identify reason groups, inspect individual URLs, and validate corrected issues from the issue details page.
Definition: As of October 2026, Search Console's Page indexing report groups URLs absent from Google's index by reason and tracks validation of fixes. URL Inspection provides the indexing reason and crawl details for a specific URL.
Key facts
- Google's Page indexing report documentation distinguishes indexing errors from legitimate exclusions, including duplicate pages.
- Google's URL Inspection documentation identifies the Page indexing section as the place to read why an individual URL is absent from the index.
- Google's noindex documentation requires crawl access for a
noindexrule, an instruction to exclude content from indexing, to take effect.
Where are exclusion reasons listed?
The Page indexing report contains a Why pages aren’t indexed table. Each row represents a reason affecting a group of URLs. Opening a row displays the issue's history, affected-page count and example URLs; Learn more opens the explanation of that reason.
The Source column identifies Google or Website as the source of the issue. Google recommends prioritising issues with source Website and validation status Failed or Not started. A sitemap, a file listing site URLs, can filter the report to a particular submitted set of pages.
What do the reason labels mean?
Google's reason descriptions explain different stages and outcomes:
| Reason label | Documented meaning |
|---|---|
| Server error (5xx) | The server returns a 500-level error when Google requests the page. |
| Redirect error | Google encounters a redirect problem, such as a loop or an excessively long chain. |
| URL blocked by robots.txt | The site's robots.txt crawl-control file blocks access to the page. |
| URL marked ‘noindex’ | Google encounters an instruction excluding the page from indexing. |
| Not found (404) | The requested URL returns a missing-page response. This can be expected for a removed page without a replacement. |
| Crawled - currently not indexed | Google crawls the page and leaves it unindexed. The documentation says resubmission for crawling is unnecessary. |
| Discovered - currently not indexed | Google knows the URL and has yet to crawl it. The last crawl date is empty. |
A canonical URL is the URL Google selects to represent similar pages. Alternate page with proper canonical tag means the alternate points to an indexed canonical page. Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user means Google indexes another URL as canonical. Page with redirect concerns the redirecting URL; the destination has its own indexing status.
How is a specific URL checked?
Google's URL Inspection instructions allow entry of a complete URL in the inspection bar, provided it belongs to the current property. The inspect control beside an example URL also opens the tool.
The Page indexing section includes Last crawl, Crawl allowed?, Page fetch and Indexing allowed?. For duplicate-page reasons, these documented field paths identify the declared and selected canonical:
Page indexing > User-declared canonical
Page indexing > Google-selected canonical
The indexed inspection data reflects the last crawled version. Test live URL checks the current page after a change. Canonical selection is available in indexed data; the live test cannot predict Google's canonical choice.
How does validation work?
Google's validation workflow starts after all instances of the chosen issue are fixed. The issue details page contains Validate fix. An active sitemap filter limits validation to URLs in that sitemap when validation is requested.
Search Console initially checks a few pages. If those checks succeed, validation enters Started and proceeds through known affected URLs. Looking good means the instances checked so far are fixed. A remaining instance can end validation as Failed; Passed means all known instances are gone or their URLs are unavailable.
After failure, See details identifies the affected URL. Following correction, Start new validation rechecks Pending and Failed URLs and includes newly found instances. Passed and Other URLs are excluded from that recheck. Google also updates issue counts during ordinary crawling without a validation request.
Related terms
FAQ
Why is my URL missing from the examples?
Google's report documentation limits the examples table to 1,000 rows and says it can omit affected URLs even below that limit. You can inspect your complete URL directly in URL Inspection.
How long should I wait for validation?
The same documentation says validation typically takes up to about two weeks and can take much longer. You should wait for success or failure before starting another cycle.
Sources
- Google Search Console Help, "Page indexing report", undated
- Google Search Console Help, "URL Inspection tool", undated
- Google Search Central, "Block Search indexing with noindex", 10 December 2025
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