What is indexability?

Indexability is the ability of a page or resource on your website to be discovered, processed and stored in a search engine index so it can show up in search results. If a page has poor indexability, Google and other search engines either cannot index it or choose not to, which limits your organic visibility.

Indexability vs crawlability

Indexability is closely related to crawlability but they are not the same thing. Crawlability describes whether search engine bots can access and crawl your pages at all. Indexability describes whether those crawled pages are eligible to enter the index and actually appear in search results. A page can be crawlable but have noindex tags, blocked canonical settings or low value signals that prevent indexation.

Why indexability matters for SEO

For growth minded B2B and e commerce teams, indexability is the bridge between technical SEO work and real business results. If your key category pages, product details or lead gen content are not indexable, any work on keywords or on page optimisation is wasted. Strong indexability ensures that every high intent page has a fair chance to rank, drive traffic and generate revenue.

Indexability issues typically surface as pages that appear in your sitemap but not in search results, or as warnings in tools like Google Search Console. You can learn how to interpret and fix many of these in the guide on Google Search Console errors.

Core factors that influence indexability

Search engines use a combination of technical and qualitative signals to decide whether a page is indexable and worth keeping in the index. The most important levers are under your control.

  • Technical directives such as noindex tags, robots meta tags, canonical tags and HTTP status codes directly allow or block indexability.
  • Internal linking affects how easily crawlers discover and prioritise pages, which is why a clean internal structure is so important for indexability.
  • Content quality and uniqueness determine whether a page adds value or is seen as thin, duplicated or near identical to others.
  • Site performance and UX, including speed and mobile friendliness, influence how efficiently bots crawl and how much crawl budget your site earns.
  • Structured data and clarity of purpose help search engines understand what a page is about and when to surface it.

Together these signals shape how search engines treat your pages, so consistent attention to them is key if you want predictable organic growth.

How to improve indexability in practice

Improving indexability starts with an audit of which pages should and should not be indexed. From there, you make sure your technical directives match your strategy, clean up soft 404s, avoid duplicate content traps and strengthen internal links to your most valuable pages. For a deeper strategic view, explore our SEO insights tailored to fast moving B2B and e commerce teams.

Once the basics are in place, you can monitor indexability over time using Search Console coverage reports, log file analysis and focused SEO audits. Tools like the 6th Man SEO extension help you quickly check indexability signals directly in your browser while you browse your own site.

For growth leaders, indexability is not a purely technical concern. It is a control lever for revenue. When every important page is clearly indexable, you unlock the full impact of your SEO strategy and give your content the visibility it deserves.