How to Fix “new reason preventing your pages from being indexed” Search Console Issue

Have you ever come across the message “New Reason Preventing Your Pages From Being Indexed, “indicating some of your pages were not indexed because of unknown issues? Don’t panic; this is one of the common issues of pages not getting indexed on Google. 

And you’re not alone if you’re puzzled about why your pages aren’t showing up in search results. The new reason preventing your pages from being indexed might be an update in Google’s indexing protocol. 

While some of these issues are not automatically a cause of concern, others may require immediate attention to fix. Some of the most common search console indexing issues are Not Found(404) errors, video not being indexed, and page redirects. 

So, today, we will explore two of the many reasons your pages are not indexed and understand how we can review and fix these issues in GSC. We will also understand how this update affects your content and lay down some strategies to fix – New Reason Preventing Your Videos from Being Indexed. 

So, let’s get started.

Understanding “Not Found (404)” Errors?

Not found (404) is one of the most commonly identified reasons in Google Search Console for pages not being indexed on the site. 

Now, you might wonder what 404 errors are. Why is it hindering the indexing process, or how do I fix non-indexed pages that appear on Google? Fret not; we are here to clear the confusion and help you resolve the 404 errors in GSC. 

In case of 404 errors, Google cannot index your page because it responds with a 404 HTTP response code with no content on the page. This means the server couldn’t find the particular page and thus responded with a 404 error. Let us understand the 404 errors in the blog post more briefly. 

What does it mean?

Simply put, Not Found – 404 errors occur when a web crawler tries to crawl a particular page, but the page is deleted, replaced, or moved. Thus, you get a message that the page cannot be found with a 404 error. 

In most cases, Google does not index these pages as, in its view, the 404 pages do not have any contextual value. This means that it does not deliver any valuable information and, thus, is not indexed by Google. 

Now, if you see the error message in the Google search console, this probably means: 

Google bot tried communicating with the server to retrieve the given page. However, the server failed to find the ULR for the page and thus responded with a 404 HTTP response code. 

Many website owners do not understand these issues and thus leave the issues to persist. However, it is wise to check for the reasons to fix the issues before Google views them as constant issues and devalues website performance.  

Generally, 404 errors do not affect your site’s search performance. So, in most cases, you can bypass them. However, it is important to ensure that these and other invalid URLs redirect a proper 404 HTTP response code and that the site’s robots.txt file does not block them.

Also Read: How Search Engine Works – Crawling, Indexing, & Ranking?

How do you identify 404 issues in Google Search Console?

Now that you understand why your pages are not indexed and the role of 404 errors, you must know how to identify these issues in GSC. Let’s hope you can easily point out these issues in your GSC: 

• Firstly, if you have received any mail from Google for pages not being indexed with a reason stated as 404 errors, you can simply just click on the link there, and it directly take you to your Google search console account. You will get a list of 404 errors and can simply review the links given. 

• If not, you can also go directly to your Google search console> pages> not-indexed> not found(404), and you will see a list of 404 URLs 

• Click on the URLs and inspect to see the source from where the link is getting crawled. You can inspect the links individually to get more details.

• Export the complete list by clicking on the “export button” in the top right corner and download the list in CSV format or an Excel sheet.

• Now, you can easily review the URLs, inspect them, and see which needs to be fixed/ redirected to be indexed by Google. 

How do you fix the “Not Found 404” errors in GSC?

The whole point of this blog is to understand these errors and help you fix them to avoid any issues or impact on your site rankings. So, let’s get to the business now!

Inspect and analyze the URLs

• Start with analyzing the list you exported previously from the Google search console and understand the reason behind the 404 error. If your site is large and has many pages, you can also use an SEO crawler tool like Screaming Frog to get all the details quickly. 

• Next, ensure that your GSC XML site does not include any 404 error page. It should only include pages with a 200 status code. However, if you find these pages in 404, it can mean that a submitted page has been removed, the sitemap needs to be updated, and it contains errors. Thus, always ensure that you update your XML sitemaps if anything changes on the site, especially URL structure. 

At this stage, if you think the 404 pages are insignificant, should not exist, and will not affect your website significantly, you can leave the issues as they are. If you still need to, you can continue with the next steps. 

Set up 301 redirects

You must consider redirecting your 404 error pages in case you have moved your content to another symbolic page. You can also redirect it to another related page on your website. You want your users to be led to a more useful page. 

Once you have properly redirected these pages, Google will most certainly recrawl the pages, and the Not Found 404 pages will be displayed as “Page with redirect” in GSC. 

However, make sure not to deliberately redirect pages to unrelated other pages or rush the process just to get the pages indexed. Make sure to redirect the pages to contextual-related pages, or it can lead to more issues in GSC, like “Soft 404 errors.” 

Related: How To Easily Track 404 Pages And Redirect Them In WordPress?

Inspect internal and external links in the 404 page 

If you think that a certain page on your website is useless and it’s okay to return to a 404 error, check for all the internal and external links on the page. Even if the page is not important, it is crucial to monitor the links it has, and it should not have extensive internal and external links. 

In this case, you can replace the internal links with links to the related pages responding with the 200 status code. 

About the external links, you can contact the websites linking to your site to update the existing links. Alternatively, you can make a 301 redirect to a current page or create a new page with new related content to redirect or set up a 401 HTTP status code. 

Use Google Search Console Tools

You can also use GSC tools to fix the 404 errors displayed on your GSC account. 

• Submit the new URLs to the search console as you update and redirect or change URLs. This helps Google index the pages quickly. 
• If you have updated new content on the old URL redirect, you must request that Google recrawl and index the updated pages.
• Once the 404 issues are fixed, you can mark these issues as resolved in GSC and notify Google of the resolved issues. 
• When you have redirected a 404 URL, you can block the particular page in GSC and avoid wasting any more time crawling on the page. 

Related: Google’s Updated Version Of Helpful Content Update

Understanding Page Indexing Issues Detected Page With Redirect In GSC 

When you see “Page with redirect” in the Google search console, it signifies that your pages are not indexed as the users/crawlers are trying to navigate to the page, and it is redirecting them to another URL. 

This causes Google to index the targeted URL instead of the original page. 

Therefore, the Google bot cannot crawl and index that page. Instead, it crawls the target page, causing “Page with redirect” in the Google search console. 

Is “Redirect” bad news?

Getting “Page with redirect” is not always bad news. It could also mean that your site has several pages that are of no use, and there are other pages better suited to display that content to the users. For example, moving URLs from unsecured HTTP code to HTTPS is a way to redirect pages and users to a more useful page version. 

You can also use redirection, as explained in the above sections, to avoid duplicate content on the site. When you redirect duplicate content to the canonical version of the content, google will be able to crawl and index these pages. 

Reason Redirects Causes Indexing Issues In GSC 

While a page with redirects can be a great way to optimize the duplicate content on your site, it can also cause problems with, indeed, if not appropriately addressed. 

Two types of redirects can be the reason your pages are not indexed on Google. 

First, the redirects created by mistake and have not been addressed by you. Second, any temporary redirects you made that have been seen as permanent received by the Google bot. 

• 301 are permanent redirects that signify that the page redirected is no longer serving any purpose, and you don’t want it to be indexed. Instead, you want the users and Google bot to crawl to the final page and get it indexed. 

• 302 are temporary redirects, which are created on a temporary basis, for example, when there is quick fixing on the site. The page is still important to you, and you need it to be indexed. 

These temporary redirects can be seen as permanent redirects by Google and can be dropped out while indexing. So, you need to pay attention to the temporary redirects and get Google’s focus back on the original page as soon as possible. 

How To Fix “Page With Redirect 

It’s time to address the elephant in the room: How do you fix a page with a redirect in the Google search console? If you think some of these pages are important and need fixing, follow the below-given steps to fix them:

• Go to GSC, go to pages, and then a page with a redirect section to see the list of pages not indexed. 
• You can filter the URLs using a pyramid button on the right side to a particular folder and export the entire report to an Excel sheet.
• Further, you can also inspect each URL with the magnifying button or inspection tool at the side of the URL 
• Go to the live test option, which will show you all the data on the final URL you want to target for indexing. 
• If you want to skip all the above steps and want a temporary solution for the time being, you need to remove all the faulty redirects. 

Understanding – New Reason Preventing Your Videos From Being Indexed

The primary cause of the video indexing challenge is Google’s policy of indexing merely one video per page. This policy restricts the indexing of additional videos found on the same page, even when multiple videos are present. 

There is also an issue of metadata inconsistencies when Google combines metadata from multiple URLs and assumes a point to the same video, which can prevent successful video indexing. 

These indexing errors can appear in several forms, such as ‘Video not processed’ or ‘Video not found on host service,’ indicating indexing challenges. But how do these developments affect your video’s visibility?

How it Affects Your Video’s Visibility

Video content in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is growing in importance, and indexing is vital for video visibility. Issues like ‘Video Not Found on Host Service’ can directly impair video visibility. It can also lead to user errors when a video is deleted or marked private. 

Duplication of video indexation can result in losing control over which page Google chooses to rank for a relevant query. Following Google’s advisory, such as adjusting a video’s position on the page or its size, can likely increase site traffic by improving video visibility. 

Leveraging structured data for videos helps to prioritize key moments in content, enhancing search feature visibility. 

But how do we identify these issues on your website?

Identifying the Issue on Your Website

Identifying video indexing issues on your website starts with the URL Inspection tool. This tool can determine if a page with a video is indexed and uncover reasons for potential non-indexing of the video. You can perform a live test using the URL Inspection tool in GSC to visualize how Google perceives the page. 

Google may not index videos that are not prominently displayed, such as those outside the initial viewport or if their size is too small. Video pages with videos that are not considered main may be excluded from the Video Indexing report to streamline the report for site owners.

Let’s now explore the various solutions.

How to Fix the New Video Indexing Problem

There are multiple solutions to address the video indexing problem, such as the basic video indexing process. These include optimizing video metadata, improving video accessibility, and enhancing user experience. 

To further enhance user-friendliness and comply with accessibility guidelines, consider implementing the following strategies for video accessibility: 

• Implement video player controls that are accessible to users with disabilities.
• Remove flashing content, as it can be harmful to individuals with photosensitive epilepsy.
• Consistently test and improve video accessibility, incorporating user feedback and following established standards.
• Educate content creators on the significance of accessibility in video content.

When you implement these solutions, you can ensure that your videos are accessible to not only a target but a wider audience.

Now, let us delve more into these solutions, focusing on at least a third of them for a deeper understanding.

Also Read: 10 Top Reasons To Avoid Hosting Your Own Videos

Optimizing Video Metadata

Optimizing video metadata is a crucial step towards resolving video indexing issues. Here are some tips to help you optimize your video metadata:

• Ensure each video has a unique URL and thumbnail.
• Maintain consistency across schema.org, HTML tags, sitemaps, and mRSS files.
• Align thumbnails with the video’s content, title, and description to provide the viewer with a clear and cohesive message.

By following these tips, you can improve the visibility and discoverability of your videos.

Maintaining one video per page, potentially on a separate landing page with a unique and descriptive title or description, enhances indexability by search engines. Incorporate significant keywords in video tags to help search engines process and classify the video content. 

Use keyword-rich file names for video files to reinforce the content’s relevance to search engines. Lastly, ensure video playback is optimized for various screen sizes and determine video position to make sure formats are available to suit different devices and user preferences.

Improving Video Accessibility

Improving video accessibility is another important aspect of solving video indexing issues. Here are some ways to improve video accessibility:

• Review videos on different-sized screens to ensure proper display across various devices.
• Ensure mobile device compatibility with adaptive aspect ratio and browser support.
• Address video size or format issues through a responsive theme and proper embedding.

Supported video formats such as MP4, WebM, and AVI enable Google to fetch and index video content easily. Stable URLs for video and thumbnail files facilitate better discovery and signalling for Google’s indexing processes. Additionally, including a video transcript provides search engines with more keywords to extract, enhancing indexing potential.

Read: How To Lazy Load Images And Videos In WordPress

Enhancing User Experience

Enhancing user experience plays a crucial role in video indexing. Implementing structured data allows video content to be eligible for rich enhancements. It allows for displaying key moments and featuring in specialized search results such as Google Discover. 

To further improve user satisfaction, ensure videos have perfect contrast, resolution, and brightness across various screens. Provide text descriptions or other alternative information for users who cannot run the video player to prevent them from leaving the site.

Enabling video controls allows visitors to stop, adjust volume, or replay videos, improving their viewing experience. Activating the video preview feature can drive more user engagement as it gives viewers a glimpse of the video content. 

Lastly, to improve the page’s user experience, prevent the video from being hidden or blocked, and make sure it is prominently placed. Use accurate thumbnails that genuinely represent the video content to guide users and enhance their experience.

How to Use Google Search Console for Video Indexing

Having discussed the solutions to video indexing problems, we can now consider a powerful tool for monitoring video indexing performance: the Google Search Console. 

The Video Indexing Report in the Google Search Console reveals the number of videos indexed on your site and how many pages a video can be indexed on. GSC provides valuable insights into your video-indexed performance.

Google Search Console offers several features to help you monitor and optimize the indexing of videos on your website:

• The ‘Coverage’ report identifies pages with videos that are not indexed due to errors.
• The ‘Performance’ report analyzes the search results performance of indexed videos.
• If Google cannot determine the prominent video on a page, it might be due to manipulation attempts or recurring issues in the site design, affecting video prominence and indexing.

Now, let us discuss how you can use Google Search Console to fix video indexing issues. 

Using the Video Indexing Report

First, navigate to the Video Indexing Report by selecting ‘Video’ from the ‘Enhancements’ section in the sidebar menu of Google Search Console. It provides crucial information on your site’s video indexing status like: 

• How many pages that are indexed on your site contain videos
• Details on pages where videos are indexed or could not be indexed
• A trend graph showing changes over time

You can get specific errors that prevent videos from appearing in search results. Videos that are outside the viewport, too small or too tall, are detailed within the report.

You can filter the Video Indexing Report by sitemap to see indexed page URLs where a video was found by Google. Further, you can troubleshoot issues like pages indexed without a detected video. 

Validating Fixed Issues

Once the video indexing issues are fixed, it is critical to establish the fixes with the URL Inspection Tool to verify whether the video can be indexed. After making changes as per the Video Indexing Report, submit a validation request to Google to re-crawl the affected URLs and verify the fixes. 

Google Search Console provides updates on the validation status, indicating if an issue is resolved or still present or if an error occurred during validation. Monitor the Video Indexing Report regularly after implementing fixes to ensure that the issues have been resolved and that Google indexes the video.

Additional Strategies to Boost Video SEO Performance

Now that we have discussed solutions and strategies to fix “New Reason Preventing Your Videos from Being Indexed”, let us discuss some additional ways to go about it: 

Read: Technical SEO: Tips For 2024

Creating High-Quality Thumbnails

Creating engaging and accurate thumbnails comes off as a strong strategy in video SEO. Effective thumbnails must represent the video with compelling and communicative content.  

It is also important that thumbnails are technically optimized by meeting standards like a minimum size of 60×30 pixels. 

You can apply niche colours and clear call-to-action elements in thumbnail designs to stand out and enhance the overall impact on views and conversions. 

Implement A/B testing for thumbnails to determine the most effective design elements that improve viewer engagement and click-through rates.

Maintaining Structured Data

Structured data is a standardized form for giving information about a video page and classifying the page content. It helps enhance Google’s understanding and display of the video in search results.

By using properties like contentUrl and embedUrl, creators can specify the actual video file or the player URL, respectively, helping Google fetch the video content more effectively.

The use of interaction statistics within structured data can indicate the number of times the video has been watched, providing valuable engagement information to search algorithms.

Submitting Video Sitemaps

Lastly, the submission of video sitemaps to Google Search Console can fasten the crawling process and enhance video indexation. Creating a video sitemap provides a clear overview of the video content on your website. It helps in better indexation, especially when structured data is provided for pages with embedded videos from third-party platforms.

Also read: What Is An XML Sitemap? How To Create A Sitemap In WordPress?

To ensure Google is aware of all video content on your site and to expedite the crawling process, you must regularly update the video sitemap through Google Search Console. 

Looking at technical specifics such as using fully qualified, absolute URLs, including only the canonical URLs in sitemaps, and verifying ownership for cross-site sitemaps is crucial for sitemap efficacy.

Read: Google News SEO Optimization Guide

How To Prevent 404 Errors In The Future 

In order to prevent the 404 issues from popping up on your mail or GSC again, try these fixes to avoid such issues in the future: 

• Update Internal and External Links: Always make sure to improve your internal linking, audit them, and make sure these links point to working/active pages on the site. 
• Update sitemaps: Your XML sitemap or any sub-sitemap must reflect the correct and updated URL structure. 
• Inspect and Clean Links: Make sure to monitor all the links on your site from time to time and clean up or remove any invaluable or broken links. Fix them timely. 
• Monitor site changes: In case of site migration or changes in URLs, make sure to properly redirect the URLs and test them to see if they are working properly. 
• Regularly check for 404 errors: You must do a monthly GSC check-up to find any 404 errors that may persist. This way, you can fix these errors timely and ensure your pages are being indexed on Google. 

Conclusion

It is for sure that whenever you see page indexing issues again, you know what it is about and what to do about it. Before dealing with these errors, you must understand and make it a regular practice to inspect and monitor 404 issues, page redirects, or any other indexing issues showing up in the Google search console. 

You can always inspect, redirect, and update the pages to resolve any indexing issues due to the Not Found 404 error and page redirects. Remember to use the above steps wisely and fix the pages. 

Additionally, remember to practice the fixed estated so that this error does not occur again or prevent your pages from getting indexed by Google. Happy indexing! 

Frequently Asked Questions