Search Console Errors Explained: What Each One Means

On this page

1. First, what does “not indexed” mean?
2. Messages that usually need fixing
3. Messages that depend on what you wanted
4. Messages that usually need no action
5. One to review
6. Warnings
7. What to do next
8. Want help making sense of your results?
9. Frequently asked questions

Open the Pages report in Google Search Console and you may see a list of reasons why some of your pages are “not indexed”. It can look alarming. Most of the time it is not.

This guide to Search Console errors explains what each message means, in plain English, and which ones really need fixing. Google lists them all in its Page indexing report help page. If you are new to the tool, start with our guide to what Google Search Console is.

First, what does “not indexed” mean?

The Pages report sorts your pages into Indexed and Not indexed. A page that is not indexed is not in Google’s index, so it cannot appear in search results. Google says this can be because of an error or for a perfectly legitimate reason, such as a page you have blocked on purpose. So the key question for every message is: did I want this page indexed?

Messages that usually need fixing

• Server error (5xx). Your server returned an error when Google asked for the page. If that was not intended, it needs fixing, and your hosting is the first place to look.
• Redirect error. Google followed a redirect that went wrong, such as a chain that is too long or a loop. Fix the redirect so it goes to one working page.
• Soft 404. The page says “not found” but the server tells Google everything is fine. Google recommends returning a real 404 for pages that genuinely do not exist.

Messages that depend on what you wanted

• Blocked by robots.txt. Your robots.txt file tells Google not to visit the page. Fine if you meant it. If not, remove the block. Google notes robots.txt alone does not reliably keep a page out of the index.
• Marked “noindex”. The page tells Google not to index it. Google says: “if you do not want this page indexed, congratulations”. If you do want it indexed, remove the tag.
• Blocked due to unauthorised request (401) and access forbidden (403). Google could not get in, for example because of a login or a server rule. Only a problem if you wanted the page indexed.
• Not found (404). The page does not exist. Google says 404s are not necessarily a problem, for example if you removed a page deliberately. If the page has moved, redirect it.
• Other 4xx issue. An error that does not fit the others. Use the URL Inspection tool to investigate.

Messages that usually need no action

• Crawled, currently not indexed. Google has visited the page but has not added it to its index yet. It may be indexed later, and Google says you do not need to ask it to crawl the page again. Focus on making the page useful and well linked from your site.
• Discovered, currently not indexed. Google knows the page exists but has not visited it yet. It often waits so it does not overload your site.
• Page with redirect. The address redirects somewhere else, so the original is not indexed. The page it points to may be.
• Alternate page with proper canonical tag. The page points to another, main version, which is indexed. Google says there is nothing you need to do.
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical. Google decided the page duplicates another and chose a main version itself. Google says this is not an error.

One to review

• Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user. You said which page is the main one, but Google picked another. Check whether your choice was wrong or whether the pages are not really duplicates.

Warnings

• Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt. The page is in Google even though robots.txt blocks it. Remove the block if you want it shown, or use noindex if you do not.
• Page indexed without content. Google could not read the page. Inspect it to see what Google sees.

What to do next

1. Click a message in the report and look at the sample pages.
2. Ask: should this page be indexed? If not, you are done.
3. If yes, open the page in the URL Inspection tool and fix the cause.
4. Click Request indexing, and be patient. Google says a request is not a guarantee, and new pages can take days to weeks.

Our guide on what to do when your website is not showing on Google gives the wider checklist.

Want help making sense of your results?

We include plain-English reports with our SEO service, so you can see what Google is showing and what we are doing about it. Try our free website check and we will tell you what we would look at first.

Search Console details checked against Google’s Page indexing report help on 18 October 2026. Google changes its tools often, so check its help pages if something looks different.

Frequently asked questions