Guides Google
Why an article is not on Google yet
Google does not add a new page to its results the moment it goes live. It usually takes a few days to two weeks. Waiting is normal, and most of the time there is nothing to fix.
When there is something to fix, SiteSeed tells you what it is. This page explains each case.
How SiteSeed knows
When your site is linked to Google Search Console (your site’s Settings, then Google Search Console), SiteSeed asks Google about each live article: is the page in Google, and if not, why not. A page Google has not indexed is checked every day for its first 30 days, then once a week. For a page that is not indexed, it also reads your website’s sitemap. Without Search Console, SiteSeed shows nothing about Google.
SiteSeed only reads Search Console. It never changes anything there, and it cannot ask Google to index a page for you.
What the Articles list shows
Each live article has one of four statuses:
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| ✓ On Google | Google has the page in its search results. With clicks, the number is from the last 28 days. |
| ◷ Waiting for Google | Google has not added the page yet. This is normal for a new page. Nothing to do: SiteSeed checks again every day. |
| ! Needs a fix | Google is not indexing the page for a reason you can fix, or it has waited too long. Open the article to see the reason and the fix. Both are below. |
| ◌ Checking soon | SiteSeed has not asked Google about this article yet. It checks each new article once a day. |
The Not on Google tab on the Articles list shows every live article Google has not indexed yet.
The reasons, and how to fix each
On the article’s page, the Google card shows the reason under Needs a fix, then How to fix it:
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Blocked by robots.txt | Your robots.txt file tells Google not to crawl this page. Remove the rule that blocks it, then open the page in Google Search Console's URL Inspection and press Request indexing. |
| Marked noindex | The page tells Google not to index it, with a noindex tag or header. Turn that off in your website or SEO plugin settings for this page, then press Request indexing in Google Search Console's URL Inspection. |
| Page not found | Google got a "not found" answer at this address. Check that the page opens at this address for a visitor who is not signed in. If it moved, publish it again from SiteSeed so the address is up to date. |
| Google couldn't load the page | Google got an error when it tried to load the page: a server error, access denied or a broken redirect. Check that the page opens for a visitor who is not signed in, and that no firewall or password blocks Google. |
| Google chose another page | Google treats another page as the main version of this one (its canonical) and indexes that page instead. Make this page's canonical point to itself, or make the two pages clearly different. |
| Not in your sitemap | SiteSeed read your website's sitemap and this page is not in it, so Google has a harder time finding it. Make sure your sitemap includes new posts (most CMSs and SEO plugins do this; a hand-built blog needs it added), then submit the sitemap in Google Search Console under Sitemaps. |
SiteSeed shows Not in your sitemap only after it has read your sitemap itself and the page has been live for 3 days, because a website can take a day or two to add a new post to its sitemap.
Not on Google after two weeks
When Google names no cause but the page is still not indexed 14 days after it went live, SiteSeed shows Not on Google after two weeks. What to do depends on how far Google got. The card shows Google’s own words at the bottom:
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Crawled - currently not indexed | Google read the page and chose not to index it yet. That is usually about how useful or unique the page looks next to others. Links to it from your other pages help, and so does making it more useful than the pages that already rank. |
| Discovered - currently not indexed | Google knows the page exists but has not crawled it yet. Links to it from your other pages, and a sitemap that lists it, help Google get to it sooner. |
| URL is unknown to Google | Google has not found the page yet. Make sure your sitemap lists it and other pages link to it, then press Request indexing in Google Search Console's URL Inspection. |
After you fix it: ask Google to look again
- Open Google Search Console and pick your site.
- Paste the article’s address into the search box at the top (URL Inspection).
- Press Request indexing.
Google then reads the page again, usually within a few days. SiteSeed sees the new answer at its next check.
Still stuck?
Write to hello@siteseed.ai with your site’s address and the message SiteSeed shows.