What Are Some of The Google Indexing Issues and How to Fix Them
A few months ago, Google quietly removed the limit to the number of times you can submit a URL to Google’s index. Well, before this update, you could only submit up to 500 individual URLs to Google on a monthly basis. With 10 submissions requesting that Google also crawl additional pages on a website, using the page submitted. Well, it’s not that impactful for most site owners. Considering that they don’t come anywhere near to those limits, but it should be a notice to the typical website owner that request Google indexing is a tool that can be very helpful to increase website traffic.
Now, why does Google allow you to submit URLs?
Well, whenever you make changes to existing content on your website, or if you have added new content, Google will need to crawl the page to identify the changes and update its index accordingly. Yes, this will help to speed up the process. So, whether you have launched a new website, added new pages, or Google isn’t indexing a page that it should, this gives people the option to let Google know about a particular page. Well, let us assume that your website gets a decent amount of traffic. Google indexing will typically be updated without your help. Now, if you need to use this tool on a regular basis, there may be bigger issues at hand that should be addressed.
Wondering what are these Google indexing issues? Well, just keep reading…
List of Problems that Causes Google Indexing Issues
Yes, you hear it right! There are many factors that can cause indexing issues with search engines. And we have outlined some of the most common one’s for you. Check this out!
1. Sitemap
Having a sitemap in place is SEO essential. Yes, it is critical for helping Google identify all the pages on your website. Hence, sitemaps are also one of the most significant but easiest way to fix SEO issues that websites encounter.
2. Nofollow / Noindex
Technically, a page may not be indexed by Google if a Nofollow or Noindex meta robots tag is applied to a page in the site. This is applied when pages are in development while being hosted on a website. Well, a quick way to check and see if this is the issue for a web page is to view the source code and search for Nofollow or Noindex in the code.
3. Robots.txt
Well, similar to the Nofollow and Noindex meta tag, a website’s robots.txt file provides instructions to web crawlers on pages that they should and should not crawl once on a website. Yes, this can be helpful for saving your website bandwidth and server resources, as well as preventing a Googlebot from crawling and displaying certain page of your site in the search result. However, if a robots.txt file is incorrectly set up, or if a crawl function is left in place when it should no longer exist, Google indexing issue may occur.
4. Crawl Errors
Now, crawl errors cost Google a wee bit of money every time they crawl a website. Technically, it adds up when you crawl billions of web pages on a single day. So, Google has an incentive to not crawl websites with slow server connections and broken SEO link building.
Likewise, if Google starts crawling a sitemap and finds that 3 of the first five URLs submitted are broken links, they can safely assume that there are many other broken URLs in the sitemap and they will stop the crawling. Well, you can find a list of crawl errors in Google Search Console. You can also run a crawler app to find any broken internal links on your site.
5. Duplicate Content
Technically, Google likes content, but your content must have to be unique. Because if your pages on your website use the same blocks of content, Google will identify those pages as a duplicate content. And that can result from one Google indexing of the pages that display the content.
Well, we often see this issue on e-commerce websites that have numerous pages for very similar products with the same product description. Yes, it may take some of your time, but re-writing the content on each page to make it look unique from one another will result from those pages being indexed.
6. Manual Penalty
Lastly, another problem that causes Google indexing issue is the manual penalty. Well, this one is somewhat rare, and there is a simple way to check for the issue. Yes, just visit Google Search Console, and if there is a message stating that you have a manual penalty on your site, then this is the cause of the issue.
Now, what does Google do? Well, it takes away your whole website from its index. That means your site won’t show up for anything, even its brand name. Sounds depressing right? You might wonder what causes a manual penalty? Well, too many links from spammy websites or over optimised anchor text links.
Yes, many webmasters face issues with getting web pages into Google’s index. And the best course of action is to run through the list of possible problems, spot and check each potential issue, then hone in on the real problem at hand. In this way, you can identify easily the cause of your Google indexing issues. Now, one more thing, have you been an interest in knowing how you could remove a hacked URL from the Google index? Well, here’s what you need to know.
Tips of Removing Hacked URLs from the Google Index
Some methods of hacking create spam URLs appearing to come from your domain. Well, you might get an alert from Google Webmaster tool. Or begin to notice a warning on your search engine results pages saying that your website might be hacked. And if you search your site in Google using the syntax: site:yourdomain.com. You will get SERPs showing up to a thousand URLs purportedly originating from your sit. Hence, if you are seeing URLs you didn’t create, then, you have been hacked.
Well, time to clean up…
The first thing you need to do, is you need to restore your website to its last known clean version. Well, it might be possible to determine the date of infection by looking at the data in webmaster tools or with Google analytics. Such as a big spike in traffic, or a spike in the number of URLs indexed for your website, on a certain date. And if you are keeping regular backups of your site, restoring from a date prior to the infection is a good place to start. Well, some hacks can avoid the detection of known scanning applications or sites. And it could be difficult to identify the source or nature of the infection. Hence, one way to find out if you have got a detectable invasion is Google’s safe browsing tool.
Moreover, some forms of attack involve the creation of files in an unguarded directory on your site. Hence, the injection of obfuscate PHP code into your site core files, or into a vulnerable plugin. Well, it’s a good idea to seek the service of a reputable clean-up website application developer expert.
Looking for a web development expert?
Well, you don’t have to go any farther! Aleph IT can help you out. As we offer you our variety of services. Send us your comments and concerns or you may call us directly. Talk with our team of professionals and address your concerns and needs and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Also, if you want to learn more about the best SEO tips, then we recommend you to read this. “Best SEO Tips and Strategies for The Best SEO Results”.
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