GSC: Page indexing > Page with redirect

Understanding the Discrepancy Between Page Indexing and Redirects in Google Search Console

If you’re managing a website with multiple pages, it’s crucial to ensure that your content is properly indexed by search engines. Recently, some webmasters have noticed an unusual issue in Google Search Console (GSC): certain pages are listed under the “Page Indexing” section but also appear under “Page with Redirect,” accompanied by the message: “These pages aren’t indexed or served on Google.”

This situation can be perplexing, especially when the pages in question have accurate titles and relevant content. Let’s explore what this discrepancy means, why it occurs, and the best practices for resolving it effectively.

What Does this Listing Indicate?

• Page Indexing: When Google indexes a page, it has crawled the URL and added it to its database, making it available in search results.
• Page with Redirect: This designation suggests that the URL is redirecting to another page or is perhaps inconsistent in how it is handled by Google.

The appearance of pages under both categories indicates that while Google recognizes the URL, it might not serve it directly in search results, potentially because of redirect issues, canonicalization problems, or indexing policies.

Common Causes

1. Redirection Errors: The pages may be set up with redirects (301 or 302) to other URLs, but Google hasn’t fully processed these redirects, or the redirects are misconfigured.
2. Canonicalization Issues: Duplicate or similar URLs could cause confusion, with Google choosing to index one canonical version but noting redirects for others.
3. Noindex or Robots.txt Settings: The pages might have conflicting directives, preventing proper indexing.
4. Server Responses: HTTP status codes or misconfigured server responses can influence how Google perceives the page’s status.

Recommended Steps for Resolution

1. Audit Your Redirects:
2. Use tools like Google Search Console’s URL Inspection tool or third-party SEO crawlers to analyze the redirect chains.
3. Ensure that redirects are correctly implemented (preferably 301 for permanent moves).

4. Confirm that there are no redirect loops or chains that could cause confusion.

5. Verify Canonical Tags:

6. Ensure each page has a proper canonical link pointing to the preferred version.

7. Avoid conflicting canonical tags that might signal different URLs.

8. Check Indexing Directives:

9. Review the robots.txt file and meta tags to ensure