Crawling and indexing are two separate steps that are often conflated: a page can be crawled (visited by a bot) without being indexed (added to the searchable database), typically because Google judged it low-quality, duplicate, or not worth including. Common reasons a page gets crawled but not indexed include thin or duplicate content, a noindex tag left on by mistake, or Google simply deprioritizing a page it doesn't see as valuable enough relative to similar content already indexed. Search Console's URL Inspection tool distinguishes clearly between 'crawled' and 'indexed' status and gives the specific reason when a page is excluded, which is the correct first diagnostic step rather than guessing.
Example
A new page shows 'Discovered - currently not indexed' in Search Console for three weeks — Google has crawled it but chosen not to index it yet, often resolved by strengthening internal links pointing to it.
Related terms
Related Reading
404 Error
A 404 error is the standard HTTP status code returned when a requested page doesn't exist on the server — the classic 'page not found' response.
A/B Testing (SEO)
A/B testing in SEO is the practice of showing two versions of a page element — usually a title tag, meta description, or on-page element — to see which one earns a better click-through rate or ranking outcome.
AI Citation
An AI citation happens when an AI assistant like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Gemini references or links to a specific page as the source for part of its answer.
