<\/span>Duplicate Content<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nPerhaps one of the most common website indexing problems is duplicate content. This occurs when similar (if not entirely identical) content is displayed on multiple URLs. Search engines struggle to decide which one they should choose and put in their results. Oftentimes they just ignore the content in question altogether. This may have highly negative consequences, such as ending up with an entire website not showing up on Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not really anyone’s fault in particular. It may be a technical bug or something beyond your control. For example, some sites may be using parts of your content without you knowing it (content syndication). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may also be in the middle of an ongoing migration process from HTTP to HTTPS. Or you may be using two versions of your site (one with prefixes such as www and the other without). Not to mention printer-friendly pages and session IDs that keep track of your visitors. All of these scenarios can cause site indexing problems because they look like duplicate content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Search engines may put into the same basket URLs that have any resemblances with one another. Likewise, the same codes appearing in a different order or the same terms using different cases (upper versus lower) can cause confusion. Compare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- www.inflatablemugs.com\/homepage\/?a=1&b=2 and www.inflatablemugs.com\/homepage\/?b=2&a=1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- www.inflatablemugs.com\/products and www.inflatablemugs.com\/Products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Code-related issues can also happen when your online store offers different versions\/colors of the same product.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"duplicate](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2022\/02\/duplicate-content.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One of the best troubleshooting practices here is to use canonical URLs (rel=”canonical”). By doing so, you instruct the search engines to treat the so-called duplications as copies of specific pages. Copies benefit from the same advantages and status as canonical URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redirection also works fine. Use a 301 redirect protocol to lead the crawlers from the duplicate page to the original page. This strategy can even act as a combination of ranking power (pages reinforcing each other).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can also add meta robots to the HTML headers of the pages you don’t want to see indexed. This won’t prevent Google from crawling them, but they won’t be indexed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Poor Quality<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHave you already gotten a ‘Crawled – Currently Not Indexed’ message after submitting a URL to Google Search Console? The explanation is less mysterious than it seems. One thing most web experts are unanimous about is definitely the importance of quality over quantity. No one should create a website just for the sake of it and then fill it with mediocre material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, website owners who care about their rankings can simply not afford to practice ‘cheap’ SEO. Just think about keywords. One can’t use them randomly. They should rather be parts of a coherent ensemble that follows basic rules of grammar, semantics, argumentation, originality, etc. Unfinished\/fragmented content and plagiarism are also very likely to create indexing problems.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"poor](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2022\/02\/poor-quality.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pay attention to content quality. We are aware that there’s no such thing as 100% novelty. Every ‘new’ idea and creation is inspired by and the extension of older ones. Nevertheless, one should always try to bring some personalized touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your headlines, descriptions, and body texts should be unique and match the objectives you have set for your site. Not confident enough about your skills? Don’t hesitate to hire or collaborate with domain specialists such as copywriters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Web designers and webmasters are also here to ensure coherence to your site and fix any related breakdown. And, of course, refrain from falling into plagiarism. Beyond legal and ethical issues, this can also result in duplicated content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really can’t avoid a few lower-quality elements on your website, that’s ok. Just instruct Google not to crawl them. To do so, use a robots.txt file. Similarly, noindex tags can prevent search engines from indexing certain sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Crawl Budget<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the crawl budget. Googlebot is not Led Zeppelin. It doesn’t say, ‘I’m gonna crawl’ at all costs. Jokes aside, the crawling mechanism is indeed an extremely resource-consuming one. When creating website indexes, all search engines and their web crawlers have to sort out numerous sophisticated parameters. Therefore, they have to proceed in an economical way by setting some quotas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They simply can’t spend all their time on one single website. So they remain within a determined budget. For each website, they crawl and index only a certain number of pages. This limitation can lead to various indexing problems. Most typically, Google can ignore some of your URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No need to panic, though. Search engines are generous enough despite their aforementioned quota. They are usually restrictive only, with websites having too many pages and redirects. But since it’s better to be safe than sorry, let’s check the possible precautions and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"crawl](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2022\/02\/crawl-budget.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Be ‘techniclean.’ Make sure that your website is compliant with basic contemporary technical requirements. Check your site speed and keep it up-to-date. Use a sitemap along with flat, interlinked site architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of interlinked architecture, be careful with orphan pages. If you have any, integrate them into the rest of the site through internal and external links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internal links are, by the way, very budget-friendly elements. So, incorporate them into your site as much as you can. This will allow Googlebot to navigate across your pages more efficiently. Here again, avoid duplicate content in order not to waste the crawl budget assigned to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Soft 404<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the Soft 404 error<\/a>. Soft 404 errors are among the website issues occurring frequently. You probably already know the classical HTTP 404. It’s the standard response code indicating that a certain page hasn’t been found. It usually appears when the page in question has been removed or in case of a broken link. This information is crucial for web crawlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s how they know they shouldn’t care about ‘dead’ pages anymore. So what about Soft 404? Sometimes, there’s a communication breakdown with the server. People trying to access non-existent pages get a simple ‘page not found’ message instead of the standard HTTP 404 confirmation. Or worse, they are redirected to a totally different page. These soft or ‘fake’ 404 situations create a mess because they mislead the crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"soft](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2022\/02\/soft-404-error.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First of all, you got to be sure that there’s no false alarm. Google Search Console may sometimes treat certain pages as soft 404 for no apparent reason. Use the following verification procedure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Access your list of soft 404 in your Console board.<\/strong>
Log in to your account. Reach your Coverage report through the ‘Coverage’ section on the left menu. Click on the ‘Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404 error’ notification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Browse the list of soft 404.<\/strong>
While checking the list of soft 404 pages returned by the system, also open the related URLs in new tabs. Compare them with each other.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Fix the possible errors.<\/strong>
If the page(s) you are inspecting is\/are valid, select the ‘Validate Fix’ option. This informs Google that you want it\/them to be crawled and appear in the search results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nYou can check whether the operation has succeeded by testing your browser’s URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At other times, there may be too little content or a problem regarding the overall quality. Revise and improve your pages, then resubmit them to Google index. Make also sure to delete any nonvalid pages and reconfigure the server with the appropriate HTTP response codes (404 or 410).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really need to keep a ‘problematic’ page, add a noindex directive in the header. That’s how search engines will know they should not index that specific page. You may also redirect a defective page to a valid one by adding a 301 redirect code to your .htaccess file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>General Crawling and Scanning Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nCommon indexing problems may appear in a multitude of other forms requiring a case-by-case investigation. A very common example is configuration mistakes regarding robots.txt files. Even the slightest error found in them may prevent Googlebot from scanning your pages properly. So make sure to check once again everything from A to Z. Be it your user-agent directives or simply the placement of slashes, every single detail counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Code-related issues can also happen when your online store offers different versions\/colors of the same product.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One of the best troubleshooting practices here is to use canonical URLs (rel=”canonical”). By doing so, you instruct the search engines to treat the so-called duplications as copies of specific pages. Copies benefit from the same advantages and status as canonical URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redirection also works fine. Use a 301 redirect protocol to lead the crawlers from the duplicate page to the original page. This strategy can even act as a combination of ranking power (pages reinforcing each other).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can also add meta robots to the HTML headers of the pages you don’t want to see indexed. This won’t prevent Google from crawling them, but they won’t be indexed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Poor Quality<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHave you already gotten a ‘Crawled – Currently Not Indexed’ message after submitting a URL to Google Search Console? The explanation is less mysterious than it seems. One thing most web experts are unanimous about is definitely the importance of quality over quantity. No one should create a website just for the sake of it and then fill it with mediocre material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, website owners who care about their rankings can simply not afford to practice ‘cheap’ SEO. Just think about keywords. One can’t use them randomly. They should rather be parts of a coherent ensemble that follows basic rules of grammar, semantics, argumentation, originality, etc. Unfinished\/fragmented content and plagiarism are also very likely to create indexing problems.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pay attention to content quality. We are aware that there’s no such thing as 100% novelty. Every ‘new’ idea and creation is inspired by and the extension of older ones. Nevertheless, one should always try to bring some personalized touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your headlines, descriptions, and body texts should be unique and match the objectives you have set for your site. Not confident enough about your skills? Don’t hesitate to hire or collaborate with domain specialists such as copywriters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Web designers and webmasters are also here to ensure coherence to your site and fix any related breakdown. And, of course, refrain from falling into plagiarism. Beyond legal and ethical issues, this can also result in duplicated content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really can’t avoid a few lower-quality elements on your website, that’s ok. Just instruct Google not to crawl them. To do so, use a robots.txt file. Similarly, noindex tags can prevent search engines from indexing certain sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Crawl Budget<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the crawl budget. Googlebot is not Led Zeppelin. It doesn’t say, ‘I’m gonna crawl’ at all costs. Jokes aside, the crawling mechanism is indeed an extremely resource-consuming one. When creating website indexes, all search engines and their web crawlers have to sort out numerous sophisticated parameters. Therefore, they have to proceed in an economical way by setting some quotas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They simply can’t spend all their time on one single website. So they remain within a determined budget. For each website, they crawl and index only a certain number of pages. This limitation can lead to various indexing problems. Most typically, Google can ignore some of your URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No need to panic, though. Search engines are generous enough despite their aforementioned quota. They are usually restrictive only, with websites having too many pages and redirects. But since it’s better to be safe than sorry, let’s check the possible precautions and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Be ‘techniclean.’ Make sure that your website is compliant with basic contemporary technical requirements. Check your site speed and keep it up-to-date. Use a sitemap along with flat, interlinked site architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of interlinked architecture, be careful with orphan pages. If you have any, integrate them into the rest of the site through internal and external links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internal links are, by the way, very budget-friendly elements. So, incorporate them into your site as much as you can. This will allow Googlebot to navigate across your pages more efficiently. Here again, avoid duplicate content in order not to waste the crawl budget assigned to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Soft 404<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the Soft 404 error<\/a>. Soft 404 errors are among the website issues occurring frequently. You probably already know the classical HTTP 404. It’s the standard response code indicating that a certain page hasn’t been found. It usually appears when the page in question has been removed or in case of a broken link. This information is crucial for web crawlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s how they know they shouldn’t care about ‘dead’ pages anymore. So what about Soft 404? Sometimes, there’s a communication breakdown with the server. People trying to access non-existent pages get a simple ‘page not found’ message instead of the standard HTTP 404 confirmation. Or worse, they are redirected to a totally different page. These soft or ‘fake’ 404 situations create a mess because they mislead the crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First of all, you got to be sure that there’s no false alarm. Google Search Console may sometimes treat certain pages as soft 404 for no apparent reason. Use the following verification procedure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Access your list of soft 404 in your Console board.<\/strong>
Log in to your account. Reach your Coverage report through the ‘Coverage’ section on the left menu. Click on the ‘Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404 error’ notification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Browse the list of soft 404.<\/strong>
While checking the list of soft 404 pages returned by the system, also open the related URLs in new tabs. Compare them with each other.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Fix the possible errors.<\/strong>
If the page(s) you are inspecting is\/are valid, select the ‘Validate Fix’ option. This informs Google that you want it\/them to be crawled and appear in the search results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nYou can check whether the operation has succeeded by testing your browser’s URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At other times, there may be too little content or a problem regarding the overall quality. Revise and improve your pages, then resubmit them to Google index. Make also sure to delete any nonvalid pages and reconfigure the server with the appropriate HTTP response codes (404 or 410).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really need to keep a ‘problematic’ page, add a noindex directive in the header. That’s how search engines will know they should not index that specific page. You may also redirect a defective page to a valid one by adding a 301 redirect code to your .htaccess file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>General Crawling and Scanning Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nCommon indexing problems may appear in a multitude of other forms requiring a case-by-case investigation. A very common example is configuration mistakes regarding robots.txt files. Even the slightest error found in them may prevent Googlebot from scanning your pages properly. So make sure to check once again everything from A to Z. Be it your user-agent directives or simply the placement of slashes, every single detail counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pay attention to content quality. We are aware that there’s no such thing as 100% novelty. Every ‘new’ idea and creation is inspired by and the extension of older ones. Nevertheless, one should always try to bring some personalized touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your headlines, descriptions, and body texts should be unique and match the objectives you have set for your site. Not confident enough about your skills? Don’t hesitate to hire or collaborate with domain specialists such as copywriters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Web designers and webmasters are also here to ensure coherence to your site and fix any related breakdown. And, of course, refrain from falling into plagiarism. Beyond legal and ethical issues, this can also result in duplicated content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really can’t avoid a few lower-quality elements on your website, that’s ok. Just instruct Google not to crawl them. To do so, use a robots.txt file. Similarly, noindex tags can prevent search engines from indexing certain sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Crawl Budget<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the crawl budget. Googlebot is not Led Zeppelin. It doesn’t say, ‘I’m gonna crawl’ at all costs. Jokes aside, the crawling mechanism is indeed an extremely resource-consuming one. When creating website indexes, all search engines and their web crawlers have to sort out numerous sophisticated parameters. Therefore, they have to proceed in an economical way by setting some quotas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They simply can’t spend all their time on one single website. So they remain within a determined budget. For each website, they crawl and index only a certain number of pages. This limitation can lead to various indexing problems. Most typically, Google can ignore some of your URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No need to panic, though. Search engines are generous enough despite their aforementioned quota. They are usually restrictive only, with websites having too many pages and redirects. But since it’s better to be safe than sorry, let’s check the possible precautions and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Be ‘techniclean.’ Make sure that your website is compliant with basic contemporary technical requirements. Check your site speed and keep it up-to-date. Use a sitemap along with flat, interlinked site architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of interlinked architecture, be careful with orphan pages. If you have any, integrate them into the rest of the site through internal and external links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internal links are, by the way, very budget-friendly elements. So, incorporate them into your site as much as you can. This will allow Googlebot to navigate across your pages more efficiently. Here again, avoid duplicate content in order not to waste the crawl budget assigned to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Soft 404<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the Soft 404 error<\/a>. Soft 404 errors are among the website issues occurring frequently. You probably already know the classical HTTP 404. It’s the standard response code indicating that a certain page hasn’t been found. It usually appears when the page in question has been removed or in case of a broken link. This information is crucial for web crawlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s how they know they shouldn’t care about ‘dead’ pages anymore. So what about Soft 404? Sometimes, there’s a communication breakdown with the server. People trying to access non-existent pages get a simple ‘page not found’ message instead of the standard HTTP 404 confirmation. Or worse, they are redirected to a totally different page. These soft or ‘fake’ 404 situations create a mess because they mislead the crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First of all, you got to be sure that there’s no false alarm. Google Search Console may sometimes treat certain pages as soft 404 for no apparent reason. Use the following verification procedure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Access your list of soft 404 in your Console board.<\/strong>
Log in to your account. Reach your Coverage report through the ‘Coverage’ section on the left menu. Click on the ‘Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404 error’ notification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Browse the list of soft 404.<\/strong>
While checking the list of soft 404 pages returned by the system, also open the related URLs in new tabs. Compare them with each other.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Fix the possible errors.<\/strong>
If the page(s) you are inspecting is\/are valid, select the ‘Validate Fix’ option. This informs Google that you want it\/them to be crawled and appear in the search results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nYou can check whether the operation has succeeded by testing your browser’s URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At other times, there may be too little content or a problem regarding the overall quality. Revise and improve your pages, then resubmit them to Google index. Make also sure to delete any nonvalid pages and reconfigure the server with the appropriate HTTP response codes (404 or 410).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really need to keep a ‘problematic’ page, add a noindex directive in the header. That’s how search engines will know they should not index that specific page. You may also redirect a defective page to a valid one by adding a 301 redirect code to your .htaccess file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>General Crawling and Scanning Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nCommon indexing problems may appear in a multitude of other forms requiring a case-by-case investigation. A very common example is configuration mistakes regarding robots.txt files. Even the slightest error found in them may prevent Googlebot from scanning your pages properly. So make sure to check once again everything from A to Z. Be it your user-agent directives or simply the placement of slashes, every single detail counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Be ‘techniclean.’ Make sure that your website is compliant with basic contemporary technical requirements. Check your site speed and keep it up-to-date. Use a sitemap along with flat, interlinked site architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of interlinked architecture, be careful with orphan pages. If you have any, integrate them into the rest of the site through internal and external links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internal links are, by the way, very budget-friendly elements. So, incorporate them into your site as much as you can. This will allow Googlebot to navigate across your pages more efficiently. Here again, avoid duplicate content in order not to waste the crawl budget assigned to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Soft 404<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnother one of these common indexing problems is the Soft 404 error<\/a>. Soft 404 errors are among the website issues occurring frequently. You probably already know the classical HTTP 404. It’s the standard response code indicating that a certain page hasn’t been found. It usually appears when the page in question has been removed or in case of a broken link. This information is crucial for web crawlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s how they know they shouldn’t care about ‘dead’ pages anymore. So what about Soft 404? Sometimes, there’s a communication breakdown with the server. People trying to access non-existent pages get a simple ‘page not found’ message instead of the standard HTTP 404 confirmation. Or worse, they are redirected to a totally different page. These soft or ‘fake’ 404 situations create a mess because they mislead the crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First of all, you got to be sure that there’s no false alarm. Google Search Console may sometimes treat certain pages as soft 404 for no apparent reason. Use the following verification procedure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Access your list of soft 404 in your Console board.<\/strong>
Log in to your account. Reach your Coverage report through the ‘Coverage’ section on the left menu. Click on the ‘Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404 error’ notification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Browse the list of soft 404.<\/strong>
While checking the list of soft 404 pages returned by the system, also open the related URLs in new tabs. Compare them with each other.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Fix the possible errors.<\/strong>
If the page(s) you are inspecting is\/are valid, select the ‘Validate Fix’ option. This informs Google that you want it\/them to be crawled and appear in the search results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nYou can check whether the operation has succeeded by testing your browser’s URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At other times, there may be too little content or a problem regarding the overall quality. Revise and improve your pages, then resubmit them to Google index. Make also sure to delete any nonvalid pages and reconfigure the server with the appropriate HTTP response codes (404 or 410).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really need to keep a ‘problematic’ page, add a noindex directive in the header. That’s how search engines will know they should not index that specific page. You may also redirect a defective page to a valid one by adding a 301 redirect code to your .htaccess file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>General Crawling and Scanning Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nCommon indexing problems may appear in a multitude of other forms requiring a case-by-case investigation. A very common example is configuration mistakes regarding robots.txt files. Even the slightest error found in them may prevent Googlebot from scanning your pages properly. So make sure to check once again everything from A to Z. Be it your user-agent directives or simply the placement of slashes, every single detail counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s how they know they shouldn’t care about ‘dead’ pages anymore. So what about Soft 404? Sometimes, there’s a communication breakdown with the server. People trying to access non-existent pages get a simple ‘page not found’ message instead of the standard HTTP 404 confirmation. Or worse, they are redirected to a totally different page. These soft or ‘fake’ 404 situations create a mess because they mislead the crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWhat to Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First of all, you got to be sure that there’s no false alarm. Google Search Console may sometimes treat certain pages as soft 404 for no apparent reason. Use the following verification procedure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Access your list of soft 404 in your Console board.<\/strong>
Log in to your account. Reach your Coverage report through the ‘Coverage’ section on the left menu. Click on the ‘Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404 error’ notification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Browse the list of soft 404.<\/strong>
While checking the list of soft 404 pages returned by the system, also open the related URLs in new tabs. Compare them with each other.<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Fix the possible errors.<\/strong>
If the page(s) you are inspecting is\/are valid, select the ‘Validate Fix’ option. This informs Google that you want it\/them to be crawled and appear in the search results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nYou can check whether the operation has succeeded by testing your browser’s URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At other times, there may be too little content or a problem regarding the overall quality. Revise and improve your pages, then resubmit them to Google index. Make also sure to delete any nonvalid pages and reconfigure the server with the appropriate HTTP response codes (404 or 410).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you really need to keep a ‘problematic’ page, add a noindex directive in the header. That’s how search engines will know they should not index that specific page. You may also redirect a defective page to a valid one by adding a 301 redirect code to your .htaccess file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>General Crawling and Scanning Issues<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Common indexing problems may appear in a multitude of other forms requiring a case-by-case investigation. A very common example is configuration mistakes regarding robots.txt files. Even the slightest error found in them may prevent Googlebot from scanning your pages properly. So make sure to check once again everything from A to Z. Be it your user-agent directives or simply the placement of slashes, every single detail counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Browse the list of soft 404.<\/strong>
![\"general](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2022\/02\/general-crawling-and-scanning-issues.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n