Canonicals can be a helpful way to tell Google to index the pages you want while skipping duplicates and outdated versions.
But this opens the door for rogue canonical tags. These refer to older versions of a page that no longer exist, leading to search engines indexing the wrong pages and leaving your preferred pages invisible.
To eliminate this problem, use a URL inspection tool to scan for rogue tags and remove them.
If your website is geared towards international traffic, i.e., if you direct users in different countries to different canonical pages, you need to have canonical tags for each language. This ensures your pages are indexed in each language your site uses.
8. Perform A Site Audit
Now that you’ve performed all these other steps, there’s still one final thing you need to do to ensure your site is optimized for crawling and indexing: a site audit.
That starts with checking the percentage of pages Google has indexed for your site.
Check Your Indexability Rate
Your indexability rate is the number of pages in Google’s index divided by the number of pages on your website.
You can find out how many pages are in the Google index from the Google Search Console Index by going to the “Pages” tab and checking the number of pages on the website from the CMS admin panel.
There’s a good chance your site will have some pages you don’t want indexed, so this number likely won’t be 100%. However, if the indexability rate is below 90%, you have issues that need investigation.
You can get your no-indexed URLs from Search Console and run an audit for them. This could help you understand what is causing the issue.
Another helpful site auditing tool included in Google Search Console is the URL Inspection Tool. This allows you to see what Google spiders see, which you can then compare to actual webpages to understand what Google is unable to render.
Audit (And request Indexing) Newly Published Pages
Any time you publish new pages to your website or update your most important pages, you should ensure they’re being indexed. Go into Google Search Console and use the inspection tool to make sure they’re all showing up. If not, request indexing on the page and see if this takes effect – usually within a few hours to a day.
If you’re still having issues, an audit can also give you insight into which other parts of your SEO strategy are falling short, so it’s a double win. Scale your audit process with tools like:
9. Check For Duplicate Content
Duplicate content is another reason bots can get hung up while crawling your site. Basically, your coding structure has confused it, and it doesn’t know which version to index. This could be caused by things like session IDs, redundant content elements, and pagination issues.
Sometimes, this will trigger an alert in Google Search Console, telling you Google is encountering more URLs than it thinks it should. If you haven’t received one, check your crawl results for duplicate or missing tags or URLs with extra characters that could be creating extra work for bots.
Correct these issues by fixing tags, removing pages, or adjusting Google’s access.
10. Eliminate Redirect Chains And Internal Redirects
As websites evolve, redirects are a natural byproduct, directing visitors from one page to a newer or more relevant one. But while they’re common on most sites, if you’re mishandling them, you could inadvertently sabotage your indexing.
You can make several mistakes when creating redirects, but one of the most common is redirect chains. These occur when there’s more than one redirect between the link clicked on and the destination. Google doesn’t consider this a positive signal.
In more extreme cases, you may initiate a redirect loop, in which a page redirects to another page, directs to another page, and so on, until it eventually links back to the first page. In other words, you’ve created a never-ending loop that goes nowhere.
Check your site’s redirects using Screaming Frog, Redirect-Checker.org, or a similar tool.
11. Fix Broken Links
Similarly, broken links can wreak havoc on your site’s crawlability. You should regularly check your site to ensure you don’t have broken links, as this will hurt your SEO results and frustrate human users.
There are a number of ways you can find broken links on your site, including manually evaluating every link on your site (header, footer, navigation, in-text, etc.), or you can use Google Search Console, Analytics, or Screaming Frog to find 404 errors.
Once you’ve found broken links, you have three options for fixing them: redirecting them (see the section above for caveats), updating them, or removing them.
12. IndexNow
IndexNow is a protocol that allows websites to proactively inform search engines about content changes, ensuring faster indexing of new, updated, or removed content. By strategically using IndexNow, you can boost your site’s crawlability and indexability.
However, using IndexNow judiciously and only for meaningful content updates that substantially enhance your website’s value is crucial. Examples of significant changes include:
For ecommerce sites: Product availability changes, new product launches, and pricing updates.
For news websites: Publishing new articles, issuing corrections, and removing outdated content.
For dynamic websites, this includes updating financial data at critical intervals, changing sports scores and statistics, and modifying auction statuses.
Avoid overusing IndexNow by submitting duplicate URLs too frequently within a short timeframe, as this can negatively impact trust and rankings.
Ensure that your content is fully live on your website before notifying IndexNow.
If possible, integrate IndexNow with your content management system (CMS) for seamless updates. If you’re manually handling IndexNow notifications, follow best practices and notify search engines of both new/updated content and removed content.
By incorporating IndexNow into your content update strategy, you can ensure that search engines have the most current version of your site’s content, improving crawlability, indexability, and, ultimately, your search visibility.
13. Implement Structured Data To Enhance Content Understanding
Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying its content.
By adding structured data to your website, you can help search engines better understand and contextualize your content, improving your chances of appearing in rich results and enhancing your visibility in search.
There are several types of structured data, including:
Schema.org: A collaborative effort by Google, Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo! to create a unified vocabulary for structured data markup.
JSON-LD: A JavaScript-based format for encoding structured data that can be embedded in a web page’s <head> or <body>.
Microdata: An HTML specification used to nest structured data within HTML content.
To implement structured data on your site, follow these steps:
Identify the type of content on your page (e.g., article, product, event) and select the appropriate schema.
Mark up your content using the schema’s vocabulary, ensuring that you include all required properties and follow the recommended format.
Test your structured data using tools like Google’s Rich Results Test or Schema.org’s Validator to ensure it’s correctly implemented and free of errors.
Monitor your structured data performance using Google Search Console’s Rich Results report. This report shows which rich results your site is eligible for and any issues with your implementation.
Some common types of content that can benefit from structured data include:
Articles and blog posts.
Products and reviews.
Events and ticketing information.
Recipes and cooking instructions.
Person and organization profiles.
By implementing structured data, you can provide search engines with more context about your content, making it easier for them to understand and index your pages accurately.
This can improve search results visibility, mainly through rich results like featured snippets, carousels, and knowledge panels.
Wrapping Up
By following these 13 steps, you can make it easier for search engines to discover, understand, and index your content.
Remember, this process isn’t a one-time task. Regularly check your site’s performance, fix any issues that arise, and stay up-to-date with search engine guidelines.
With consistent effort, you’ll create a more search-engine-friendly website with a better chance of ranking well in search results.
Don’t be discouraged if you find areas that need improvement. Every step to enhance your site’s crawlability and indexability is a step towards better search performance.
Start with the basics, like improving page speed and optimizing your site structure, and gradually work your way through more advanced techniques.
By making your website more accessible to search engines, you’re not just improving your chances of ranking higher – you’re also creating a better experience for your human visitors.
So roll up your sleeves, implement these tips, and watch as your website becomes more visible and valuable in the digital landscape.
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