How to Fix WordPress crawlability and indexing issues (Noindex, Canonical, etc.)

Learn how to fix WordPress crawlability and indexing issues—resolve noindex, canonical, robots.txt, and sitemap errors fast.

Your WordPress site isn’t showing up in Google search results, and you’re pulling your hair out trying to figure out why. Google Search Console shows that pages aren’t being indexed properly, which means potential customers can’t find your business online.

This guide walks you through 12 practical steps to fix crawlability and indexing issues in WordPress, from removing noindex tags to setting up canonical URLs correctly. Ready to get your site back on Google’s radar?

Key Takeaways

• Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool reveals specific indexing problems like “Crawled currently not indexed” and robots.txt blocking issues.
• Unintentional noindex tags from SEO plugins can hide valuable pages from search engines, requiring regular audits and corrections.
• Each page needs exactly one canonical tag pointing to the preferred URL version to avoid confusing Google’s indexing.
• Broken links and 404 errors waste Google’s crawl budget and harm search rankings, requiring immediate fixes and redirects.
• Blocking thin content with noindex tags while improving quality content helps search engines focus on your best pages.

How to Find Indexing Problems in WordPress

Finding indexing problems in your WordPress site can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack… but it doesn’t have to be that complicated. You’ve got some powerful tools at your disposal, and once you know where to look, spotting these issues becomes much easier.

How Do I Use Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool?

Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool shows you exactly what’s happening with your website pages in search results. This powerful tool reveals indexing problems, crawl errors, and blocking issues that might be hiding your content from potential customers.

1. Access the tool through your Google Search Console dashboard and paste any page URL from your website. The tool immediately shows your webpage’s indexation status and reveals specific problems like “Crawled currently not indexed” or “Blocked by robots.txt”.
2. Check the HTTP status codes section to confirm your page returns a 200 status. Pages need this specific code for proper indexing, and anything else signals a problem that needs fixing.
3. Review the coverage section for noindex directives that might be blocking your pages unintentionally. Many WordPress sites accidentally block important pages through SEO plugin settings or theme configurations.
4. Examine the robots.txt issues section to spot any blocking rules affecting your content. The tool highlights exactly which robots.txt entries are preventing search engines from accessing your pages.
5. Use the “Request Indexing” button wisely to avoid temporary rejections from Google. Excessive indexing requests on the same URL can trigger Google’s spam filters and delay your page’s inclusion.
6. Allow several days to a week after submitting indexing requests before checking results again. Google needs time to process your requests, and checking too frequently won’t speed up the process.
7. Read Google’s specific recommendations within the tool for each detected issue. The platform provides tailored advice for resolving problems, making fixes much easier to implement.
8. Review Search Console’s feedback carefully before re-requesting indexing for rejected pages. Understanding why Google rejected your initial request prevents repeated mistakes and wasted effort.

After you’ve become familiar with the URL Inspection Tool, you’ll need to examine your robots.txt file for deeper crawling issues.

How Can I Check My Robots.txt File for Issues?

While the URL Inspection Tool shows you individual page issues, checking your robots.txt file reveals broader crawling problems that might affect your entire website. This simple text file acts as a gatekeeper, telling search engines which parts of your site they can or cannot access.

1. Access your robots.txt file directly by typing “yourdomain.com/robots.txt” into your browser address bar. This quick method shows exactly what crawler directives are currently active on your site.
2. Look for problematic lines like “Disallow: /” which blocks your entire website from indexing. Such broad disallow directives can devastate your search visibility and cause widespread indexing issues.
3. Check for specific page blocks like “Disallow: /your-page/” that might prevent important content from being crawled. Important pages should not be disallowed if you want them indexed by search engines.
4. Use SEO plugins like Yoast SEO to edit your robots.txt file safely from your WordPress dashboard. This approach reduces the risk of syntax errors that could harm your site’s crawlability.
5. Review Search Console for “Blocked by robots.txt” errors which indicate specific indexing problems. These crawler directives often cause pages to disappear from search results unexpectedly.
6. Verify that your sitemap location is included in robots.txt for crawler reference. Adding “Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml” helps search engines find your content more efficiently.
7. Test your robots.txt changes using Search Console’s robots.txt Tester tool to ensure accuracy. This verification step confirms that your modifications work as intended across different search engines.
8. Schedule regular robots.txt reviews after making site structure changes or adding new content areas. Website optimisation requires ongoing attention to prevent accidental content accessibility issues.

How Do I Verify My Sitemap Submission?

After checking your robots.txt file for crawling blocks, you need to confirm Google can find your XML sitemap. Proper sitemap submission helps search engines discover and index your web pages faster.

1. Access Google Search Console and navigate to the “SITEMAPS” section to begin the verification process for your website submission.
2. Enter your complete sitemap URL (typically yoursite.com/sitemap.xml) in the submission field and click submit to register it with Google.
3. Check the status column after submission, which should display “SUCCESS” if your sitemap was accepted without any sitemap errors.
4. Verify that SEO plugins like Yoast or Rank Math have auto-generated your sitemap correctly and made it accessible to search engines.
5. Review your sitemap content to ensure it includes all important pages while excluding thank you pages, outdated content, and duplicate pages.
6. Resubmit your updated sitemap after significant site changes, such as adding new pages or removing old content, to maintain proper indexing.
7. Monitor for any error messages in Search Console that might indicate problems with page discovery or content updates in your sitemap.
8. Test your sitemap URL directly in a browser to confirm it loads properly and contains current web pages from your WordPress site.

Fixing Noindex Issues

Noindex tags can turn your website into a ghost, making your content invisible to search engines… and that’s not exactly what you want when you’re trying to grow your business. Sometimes these sneaky little tags slip in through plugin settings or theme configurations, blocking your best content from appearing in search results (talk about shooting yourself in the foot).

How Can I Identify and Remove Unintentional Noindex Tags?

Unintentional noindex tags can hide your valuable pages from search engines, killing your site visibility. These sneaky tags often slip in through SEO plugin settings or get buried in your page’s HTML code.

1. Open Google Search Console and use the URL Inspection Tool to check if your page shows as “marked NOINDEX” in the coverage report.
2. Check your SEO plugin settings like Yoast by going to the ADVANCED section and ensuring “ALLOW SEARCH ENGINES TO SHOW THIS PAGE IN SEARCH RESULTS?” is set to YES.
3. Look at Search Console’s coverage report where pages with unintentional noindex tags will appear as excluded from indexing.
4. Use your SEO plugin’s bulk editing features to scan multiple pages at once and identify which ones have noindex status applied.
5. Examine your page’s HTML head section directly for meta robots noindex tags that might be hiding there.
6. Focus your website audit on high-value pages first, as these should be routinely checked for accidental noindex status.
7. Remove the unwanted noindex tag through your SEO plugin or by editing the HTML directly in your content management system.
8. Resubmit the corrected page for indexing through Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool after removing the noindex tag.
9. Monitor your coverage report regularly to catch new noindex issues before they impact your search engine optimisation efforts.

Getting your canonical tags right comes next, which can make or break your crawling success.

How Do I Check SEO Plugin Settings for Noindex Options?

SEO plugins like Yoast and Rank Math control which pages appear in search results through noindex settings. Plugin misconfigurations can affect hundreds of pages at once, making regular checks essential for your site’s visibility.

1. Access your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the specific page or post you want to check for noindex directives.
2. Look for your SEO plugin’s meta box (usually below the content editor) and click on the “Advanced” tab to find indexation settings.
3. Find the option that reads “Allow search engines to show this page in search results?” in Yoast or similar wording in other plugins.
4. Check your plugin’s global settings under the SEO menu to review content type configurations for archives, tags, and other page types.
5. Review all pages systematically if you’ve recently switched SEO plugins, as settings may reset or alter during the transition process.
6. Examine your sitemap generation settings, since plugins automatically exclude noindexed pages from sitemaps by default.
7. Test a few sample pages using Google Search Console’s URL inspection tool to verify your plugin settings match actual meta tags.
8. Document any pages with unexpected noindex tags and cross-reference them with your SEO plugin’s documentation for best practices.
9. Set up regular monthly audits of your indexation management settings to catch configuration errors before they impact search results.

Correct Use of Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell search engines which version of your page is the “real deal” when you’ve got duplicate content floating around your site… and trust me, getting these wrong can seriously mess with your rankings.

You’ll want to make sure each page has just one canonical tag pointing to the right URL, because having multiple tags is like giving Google mixed signals at a dinner party.

How Do I Ensure Canonical Tags Are Implemented Correctly?

Canonical tags tell search engines which version of your web page to index when you have duplicate content. Getting these tags right stops Google from picking the wrong URL for your search performance.

1. Check the head section of each web page for the link rel=”canonical” href tag to verify proper implementation. Your canonical tag should point to the single, preferred version of that specific page.
2. Use your SEO plugin to set or override canonical tags on a per-page basis for better content management control. Most WordPress SEO plugins let you customise canonical URLs without touching code.
3. Verify that canonical URLs return a 200 HTTP status code using httpstatus.io before publishing any page. Avoid setting canonicals to non-existent or redirected URLs as this confuses search engines.
4. Open Google Search Console’s coverage report to spot issues with alternate or missing canonicals across your site. This tool highlights pages where incorrect canonical implementation results in exclusion as duplicates.
5. Review all canonical tags after major content restructuring or plugin changes to maintain proper page optimisation. Changes to your site structure can break existing canonical setups without warning.
6. Ensure each canonical tag points to one preferred URL version to avoid conflicting or multiple canonical tags. Having multiple canonicals on the same page sends mixed signals to search engines.
7. Test your metadata implementation by viewing page source and confirming the canonical appears in the correct head section format. The tag must be properly formatted HTML to work for SEO purposes.
8. Monitor your structured data and URL consistency after implementing canonical tags to track search performance improvements. Proper canonicals help search engines understand your content hierarchy better.

How Can I Avoid Conflicting or Multiple Canonical Tags?

Multiple canonical tags confuse Google and can harm your website’s search engine rankings. Your site needs only one canonical tag per page to avoid indexation problems.

1. Scan your entire website using Screaming Frog to find pages with multiple canonical tags. This tool shows you exactly which pages have duplicate canonical outputs that need fixing.
2. Check your SEO plugin settings after switching themes or plugins. Theme changes often create conflicts between plugin-generated and manually-coded canonical tags.
3. Audit your site templates regularly to prevent duplicate canonical outputs. Templates sometimes add extra canonical tags without you knowing, especially on category and archive pages.
4. Remove manually-coded canonical tags if your SEO plugin already handles them. Mixing plugin-generated and hand-coded canonicals creates the exact conflicts Google ignores.
5. Review canonical tag logic on pagination, filters, and dynamic URLs. These pages often generate multiple canonicals that send conflicting signals to search engines.
6. Fix the 8 cases of duplicates without user-selected canonical tags immediately. These specific instances harm your site’s indexation and need urgent attention.
7. Test your canonical implementation after any major site changes. Plugin updates, theme modifications, or URL parameter changes can introduce new canonical conflicts.
8. Ensure your web developer understands canonical tag rules before making changes. Poor implementation during site updates creates multiple canonical tags that damage your SEO search engine optimisation efforts.

How to Fix Crawl Errors

Crawl errors can seriously damage your website’s visibility in search results, making it harder for potential customers to find your business online. These technical hiccups… well, they’re like having a “closed” sign on your digital shopfront when you’re actually open for business.

How Do I Fix Broken Links and 404 Errors?

Broken links and 404 errors create major headaches for your website’s search engine optimisation and user experience. These dead links can reduce how often Googlebot crawls your site, making it harder for customers to find your business online.

1. Install Broken Link Checker plugin or use Screaming Frog to scan your entire WordPress site for dead links. These tools automatically detect links pointing to non-existent pages, saving you hours of manual checking and improving your site audit process.
2. Check Google Search Console’s Coverage report to find all 404 errors detected by Google. The report shows exactly which pages return errors, helping you prioritise which broken links need immediate attention for better crawl error management.
3. Set up 301 redirects for removed or moved content to guide visitors to appropriate equivalent URLs. This redirect strategy maintains link equity and prevents customers from hitting dead ends when they click outdated links.
4. Remove or update internal linking that points to deleted pages throughout your website content. Go through your posts, pages, and menus to eliminate references to non-existent content, improving overall website maintenance.
5. Audit your sitemaps regularly to remove references to deleted pages before search engines find them. Clean sitemaps help search engines understand your current site structure and avoid wasting crawl budget on missing content.
6. Address the underlying site architecture problems if you discover large numbers of 404 errors like the 124 pages mentioned in recent forum cases. Multiple broken links often signal deeper structural issues that need systematic fixing rather than quick patches.
7. Check your error reporting dashboard weekly to catch new broken links before they impact user experience. Regular checks prevent small link management issues from becoming major problems that hurt your search rankings.

How Can I Address Server Response Problems?

Server response problems can kill your website’s chances of getting indexed by Google, and they’re more common than you might think. HTTP status codes other than 200 tell Google to stay away from your pages, which means lost traffic and revenue for your business.

1. Check your server response codes using httpstatus.io or Google Search Console‘s URL Inspection Tool to identify pages returning 500 errors or 403 forbidden responses that block indexing.
2. Fix 403 forbidden errors by adjusting file permissions on your server, as incorrect settings often prevent Googlebot from accessing your content properly.
3. Disable security plugins temporarily to test if they’re causing 403 errors, since overly aggressive security settings can block legitimate crawlers from your site.
4. Resolve 500 server errors by deactivating plugins one by one to identify conflicts, as plugin incompatibilities frequently cause these indexing issues.
5. Address PHP issues by updating to the latest supported PHP version, since outdated PHP can trigger server errors that prevent Google from crawling your pages.
6. Contact your hosting provider if server errors persist, as hosting problems beyond your control can affect website accessibility and search engine crawling.
7. Set up website monitoring tools to catch server downtime quickly, ensuring you can fix accessibility problems before they impact your search rankings significantly.
8. Update WordPress core, themes, and plugins regularly to minimise server errors, as outdated software often creates compatibility issues that affect crawlability.
9. Test important pages manually after making changes to ensure both users and Googlebot can access your content without encountering server response problems.

How to Optimise Content for Crawling

Your content might be crawling along like a snail… and Google’s bots could be getting confused by duplicate pages, thin content, or messy URL structures that make your site look like a digital junkyard.

Smart content optimisation means blocking the rubbish from search engines while polishing the good stuff until it shines, so your website can climb those search rankings faster than you can say “SEO magic.

How Do I Block Thin or Duplicate Content from Indexing?

Thin content and duplicate pages negatively impact your site’s search engine indexing performance. Search engines waste time crawling low-value pages instead of focusing on your best content.

1. Use NOINDEX tags for thank you pages, archive pages, and duplicate content that adds no unique value to visitors or search engines.
2. Utilise your SEO plugin to apply NOINDEX tags to specific page types like category archives, tag pages, or author pages.
3. Combine similar pages into one comprehensive page, then redirect the old URLs to avoid duplicate content issues.
4. Implement canonical tags on pages with similar content to indicate your preferred URL version to search engines.
5. Exclude thin or duplicate pages from your XML sitemap to discourage web crawling of these low-value areas.
6. Conduct regular site audits using tools like Screaming Frog to identify pages with little unique content or outdated information.
7. Review Google Search Console for “Duplicate, Google chose different canonical” messages that indicate content optimisation issues.
8. Remove or significantly improve pages with minimal text, poor page value, or content that duplicates other sections of your site.

Content optimisation is closely linked with improving overall content quality across your entire website.

How Can I Improve Overall Content Quality?

Blocking poor content from search engines is just the first step. Quality content optimisation becomes your next priority for better search engine indexing.

1. Create original, valuable content that meets Google’s guidelines and provides real solutions to your customers’ problems.
2. Remove all “lorem ipsum” or placeholder text from your published pages immediately, as this hurts your site’s credibility.
3. Use proper headings, relevant images, and both internal linking and external links to make your pages richer and more engaging.
4. Avoid keyword stuffing, hidden text, and spammy SEO tactics that can damage your search rankings permanently.
5. Update your high-performing content every 36 months with fresh statistics, new examples, and fixed broken links.
6. Add schema markup using plugins like Schema Pro to help search engines understand your content better and qualify for rich snippets.
7. Focus on user engagement by writing content that answers real questions and solves actual business problems.
8. Structure your pages with clear headings and logical flow to improve both crawling efficiency and reader experience.
9. Develop a solid keyword strategy that naturally incorporates relevant terms without forcing them into sentences.
10. Refresh your content regularly with current data, updated examples, and new insights to maintain its value and relevance.

Conclusion

Fixing crawlability and indexing issues doesn’t have to be a headache, mate. Google Search Console becomes your best friend for spotting problems early, while regular checks of your robots.txt file and sitemap keep things running smoothly.

Clean up those pesky noindex tags, sort out your canonical URLs, and watch your WordPress site climb the search rankings like a champion. Your business deserves to be found online, so grab these tools and start optimising today!

For more detailed strategies on optimising your WordPress site for local search and Google Maps, check out our comprehensive guide here.