Top 10 Google Search Console Errors & Issues covers list that most website owners faced like Redirect, Noindex, 404 errors, server error(5xx) etc. Read more.
The best answer to this could be Given by Google in their support forum which could be accessed here.
By reading this post you would be able to fix and understand most common indexing issues.
Now Top 10 Google Search Console Errors & Issues
1 Page with Redirect– It means in simple words that Google is targeting other URL instead of the one in question. Here only the target URL is indexed.
You need to fix this only when an important canonical page is not indexed otherwise it is normal and no threat to the visibility of website.
How to Fix Page with Redirect- Read the best blog on this by Onely.com website. I have found it to be most useful in this case. Rest Google Support is always there.
Now you wish to learn about Google Search Console, you can access this link as well.
2 Excluded with ‘noindex Tag’– It means Google Search Console has crawled a URL but not indexed it. It occurs when the page is tagged with noindex meta tag. It may have occurred due to website migrations or through misconfigured settings.
How to Fix Excluded with ‘noindex Tag’- Simple. Remove the noindex tag from pages you want to get indexed.
Should we index tag page or not in wordpress? Only if your tag and categories contains unique content and helps website users. Otherwise they can cause duplicate content issue. So avoid in my view.
WordPress. Org also says the same. Rest Quora is the best place to see this debate growing.
3 Alternative page with proper canonical tag– It says when Google has found duplicate pages that are properly canonicalized.
The issue with website was that one with “/’ signs were indexed and the other without was not.
https://legalseva.net/send-legal-notice-for-a-divorce/ (with a trailing slash)
https://legalseva.net/send-legal-notice-for-a-divorce (without trailing slash)
SEOTesting website helped me to fix this issue by reading their blog.
Now before you fix this, you must know what is Canonicalization?
Canonicalization, also known as deduplication, is the process of selecting the most representative URL for a piece of content. It helps Google show only one version of duplicate content in its search results. For example, if you have two URLs for the same page, such as https://example.com/?dress=1234 and https://example.com/dresses/1234, Google chooses one as canonical.
Courtesy By Google but we should know more about this. Then MOZ is the best resource for this.
Also Read- The Most Common Search Console Errors and How to Fix Them
4 Not found (404)– In simple words, the page now doesn’t exist on website.
How to Remove 404 pages from Google Index?- Redirect the 404 page to a relevant page on your website so that it is prevented from being indexed by Google.
Use Remove URLs tool to request that Google remove the page from Index. You can also add 410 HTTP status code or robot.txt file to block google. Other way around can be using meta robots no index tag on the 404 pages.
Updating Internal Links is also, one of the ways to fix this as said by Ashutosh Muduli.
Combination of typo corrections, redirects, content updates, link updates and removals, you can eliminate the vast majority of 404 errors.
Read the above solution here on Quora.
5 Blocked due to other 4xx issue– it means website is being blocked from indexing by another 4xx error which are client side errors, caused by website itself rather than by the server.
You can fix this by correcting URL, clearing cookies and cache, refreshing the page or restarting your computer. Also by using the right log in credentials and URL will avoid most 401 error messages.
To know best about this issue, read blog on Onely.
Few errors of this category looks like:
“Bad request (400)”
“Blocked due to unauthorized request (401)”
“Blocked due to access forbidden (403)”
“Not found (404)”
Another, check this post by RankMath explain 4xx Errors nicely.
You can also remove the URL permanently by following the steps cited by Google.
Also Read- 7 Best Practices To Manage Errors in Google Search Console
6 Blocked by robots.txt – First confirm that page is blocked by robots.txt. Use a robots.txt validator to find out which rule is blocking your page, and where your robots.txt file is.
Search your hosting provider’s documentation to learn how to unblock your page or site to Google.
If you’re able to modify your robots.txt file directly, remove the rule, or else update it according to robots.txt syntax. Best is to read Google Blog here.
7 Crawled- currently not indexed- The message “crawled – currently not indexed” means that Google has crawled a page but has not indexed it. The URL will not appear in search results until Google makes a decision on whether to index it. This message doesn’t indicate any errors with the page.
We can fix this problem by addressing website architecture, duplicate content and low quality.
8 Duplicate, Google chose Different canonical than user- that Google has found duplicate content on a site and has chosen a different URL as the canonical version. This can happen for a number of reasons, including:
Google ignoring self-referencing canonical tags
Google ignoring canonical tags pointing to different pages
Google only seeing canonicals as hints
Also Read- How to Fix Common Indexing Errors with Google Search Console
To fix this, you can optimize your: Canonical tags, Internal linking, and Sitemap. You can also inspect the URL to see the Google-selected canonical URL under Page indexing > Google-selected canonical. You can also look at the canonical you chose under Page indexing > User-declared canonical.
If Google can’t figure out which version of the content is the “true” one, it may decide not to index any of them.
9 Server error (5xx)– A 5xx server error code indicates that the server is unable to process a visitor’s request. This can happen because of server is overloaded, misconfigured, outdated or corrupted cookies, problem with query submitted, network error, issue with webserver etc,
How to Fix- To test the relevant page’s URL, you can use Google’s URL Inspection Tool. If there are no errors, you can go back to Google Search Console and click Validate Fix next to the error. If the error continues to be displayed, it is possible that there is an ongoing issue on the server’s end. You can contact the server’s developer or hosting provider for help.
Also Read- A Plain English Guide to HTTP Status Codes
10 DUPLICATE WITHOUT USER-SELECTED CANONICAL – The “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” error in Google Search Console means that Google found duplicate URLs that are not canonicalized to a preferred version. This can happen when Google finds multiple identical or very similar pages, but there is no canonical tag or other signal specifying which URL you want indexed as the preferred version.
This error can be caused by a number of reasons, including:
- Multiple pages with the same title tags
- Structural issues that cause duplicate content to be indexed
- Using a dynamic or responsive website template that automatically generates links with the same URL
How to fix it? Follow the below:
- Use canonical tags
- Submit the canonical URL in your sitemap
- Redirect to the canonical page using 301 redirects
- Specify the preferred version of your web page by using the “rel=canonical” link element
Also Read- Google Search Console Errors: How to Find and Fix Them All
Hope you find this post useful and informative. If I have missed any of it. Please add to the list by putting a remark in the comment section below. Rest keep learning and keep growing in digital.
Resources you must not leave to follow and subscribe, if you wish to learn more about Google Search Console Errors.
1 Youtube Channel- Google Search Central
2 Google Support Forum- About Search Console
3 Getting Started with Google Search Console by Databox
4 Access year wise videos of Tutorials of Google
5 Best Google Search Console Courses on Udemy.
6 Learn Google Search Console in Hindi on LearnVern.
7 My Favorite is this one by Experts in Business- SEOTesting
8 Courses by Google on Skillshop
9 Experts in Making Guides- Hubspot
10 Now the Champions in SEO marketing with their Free and Paid Course- SEMRUSH
11 Another Expert Course by Simplilearn
12 Free Google Search Console by Darren Taylor
13 Crash Course by Anchor Digital for First time Users.
14 Don’t forget to Access UA 360 properties for Google Analytics
15 Now in the end, from where I learn – Hubspot
It’s never enough. SD Digital Training Institute Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Kharar Derabassi Online.