Why is a crawlable page not indexed?

Common causes are noindex, a canonical pointing elsewhere, duplicate/thin content, or insufficient quality/authority. Fix technical blockers first, then improve content intent match.

Can I combine Disallow and noindex?

Not recommended. If crawling is blocked, search engines may not see the noindex directive, leading to mixed signals.

Indexability

Indexability is whether a page can appear in search results. It’s often impacted by noindex, canonicals, duplicate/thin content, and quality signals.

Definition

Indexability describes whether a URL can be included in a search engine’s index and shown in SERPs. Even if a page is crawlable, it may not be indexed due to noindex directives, canonicalization to another URL, duplicate/thin content, or weak quality signals.

Why it matters

No index = no rankings
It helps you debug “URL not indexed” quickly
Multilingual and parameter URLs need clean canonical/hreflang signals

How to implement

Ensure HTTP 200 and avoid redirect chains
Check meta robots / X-Robots-Tag for accidental noindex
Use correct self-canonicals (don’t cross-canonicalize languages)
Include only canonical, indexable URLs in your sitemap

Tutorials

Indexability checklist Indexability checker guide

Tools

Indexability Checker robots.txt Generator Sitemap Generator

FAQ

Common questions about this term.

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