What Is Indexing? Definition for SEO
The process in which Google adds a web page to its search index.
What is indexing?
Indexing is the process in which Google analyzes a crawled web page, processes it and adds it to its search index. Only indexed pages can appear in search results.
Example: a company publishes two pages with almost the same text for two product variants. Google crawls both but indexes only one of them, so the second page never appears in search results.
Crawling vs. indexing
Crawling and indexing are two separate steps: Google can crawl a page and still decide not to index it, for example because of thin content or duplicate content. How bots find and fetch pages in the first place is explained in the entry on crawling.
- Google Search Console – shows the indexing status of your pages
- Sitemap – helps Google find and index all important pages
- Robots.txt – can control the indexing of certain pages
For SEO, a page that is not indexed brings no organic traffic, however good its content is. Our technical SEO checklist shows how to check indexing, and fixing indexing problems is part of technical SEO.
Frequently asked questions
What is indexing?
Indexing is the process in which Google analyzes a crawled page, processes it and adds it to its search index. Only indexed pages can appear in search results.
Why does indexing matter for SEO?
A page that is not indexed cannot rank and brings no organic traffic. Google Search Console shows the indexing status of your pages.
What is an example of indexing?
A company publishes two pages with almost the same text. Google crawls both but indexes only one, so the other never appears in search results.
How does indexing differ from crawling?
Crawling is fetching a page, indexing is adding it to the search index. Google can crawl a page and still decide not to index it, for example because of thin or duplicate content.