// blog / indexing and search console
Getting pages indexed, status by status
Getting pages into Google and reading what each Search Console status is really saying. Every post is a job I do myself, written in the order I do it, and it's always the answer first.
What these posts cover
Most indexing trouble shows up as one line in Search Console that nobody's sure how to read. A page is excluded by a noindex tag, blocked by a 4xx, listed as a page with redirect or a soft 404, or it just isn't on Google and the owner can't tell why. Each of those has a different cause, and the fix for one can quietly make another worse.
The posts in this category are the checks I run, in the order I run them: the URL Inspection tool first, then the page itself, then the template or plugin that produced it. They also cover taking a page out of Google on purpose, settling on www or non-www, and working out what a hack left behind. Where a status needs a full explanation, I link the guide to pages Google has found but won't index rather than repeat it here.
If you'd rather hand the whole thing to one person, that's the crawlability and indexing work I do on WordPress sites, and it's scoped in writing on Upwork before anything starts.
When the status is about duplicates, not crawling, the guide to user-selected canonical fixes covers what WordPress does to cause it.
All eleven posts, newest first
Each one opens with the short answer, so you'll know in a few lines whether it's the one you need.
How I check what a Japanese keyword hack did to a site's Google results
After a Japanese keyword hack is cleaned up, I check what it left behind in Google: every spam URL it got indexed, whether each one now returns a 404 or 410, and anything it added to the sitemap or robots.txt. Then I request a review in Security issues. The malware cleanup itself is a security specialist's job.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I choose www or non-www and make a WordPress site stick to one
For SEO, www vs non-www makes no difference on its own, so either version is fine. What matters is picking one and making every other version 301 to it, with the canonical tag, the sitemap and your internal links all naming the same host. Leave both answering and Search Console can report two homepages.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I find and fix soft 404 errors in Search Console
A soft 404 is a page that answers 200 OK but looks empty or missing to Google, so Search Console treats it like a 404 and leaves it out of the index. On WordPress I usually trace it to one of three causes, and each one needs a different fix.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I fix 'Blocked due to other 4xx issue' and 403 errors in Search Console
Blocked due to other 4xx issue means Googlebot asked for the URL and your server refused it with a 4xx code other than a 401, 403 or 404, so Google won't use the page. The 403 line works the same way. On WordPress it's usually a firewall or bot rule, and I find it and let verified Googlebot through.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I fix 'Excluded by noindex tag' on WordPress pages that should rank
Excluded by noindex tag means Google found a noindex rule on the page and left it out on purpose. On WordPress it usually comes from the search engine visibility box, an SEO plugin setting, a staging copy pushed live, or an X-Robots-Tag header. I prove which from the source and headers, fix it there and ask for a recrawl.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I fix 404 errors in WordPress with the right redirect for each URL
To fix 404 errors, I sort them by value first, because most don't need fixing at all. The ones that matter have backlinks, impressions or internal links pointing at them. Each of those gets a 301 to the closest matching page, a 410 if it's gone for good, or stays a 404. None go to the homepage.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I read 'Page with redirect' in Search Console and decide if it needs fixing
Page with redirect usually isn't a fault: Google found a URL that redirects elsewhere, so it won't index that URL; the destination's judged separately. That's what should happen to old URLs and to http or non-www versions. I only act when a listed URL should be indexed itself, or when my own sitemap and links keep naming redirects.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I remove a page from Google search results, and when I don't
To remove a URL from Google for good, I put a permanent signal on the page first, a noindex tag, a 404 or 410, or a login, and only then file a Removals tool request, which hides the result for about six months. For a page on someone else's site, only Google's outdated content tool applies.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I set up Google Search Console verification on a WordPress site
For Google Search Console verification on WordPress, I add a Domain property and verify it with a DNS TXT record. It covers http, https, www and every subdomain at once, and no theme or plugin change can remove it. A URL-prefix property with an HTML tag works, but it only covers one version of the site.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I use the URL Inspection tool before I press Request Indexing
The URL Inspection tool shows Google's stored record for one URL: whether it's indexed, which canonical Google chose, when it was last crawled, and whether a live test can fetch the page now. I read all of it before I press Request Indexing, because the button asks for a sooner crawl and can't overturn Google's decision.
September 28, 2026Read the post →How I work out why a website isn't showing up on Google
When a website isn't showing up on Google, I first check whether Google has it at all, with a site: search and the URL Inspection tool. If it's missing, I look for a block: a noindex, robots.txt, a password, or a new site nothing links to. If it's indexed but invisible, it's a ranking problem.
September 28, 2026Read the post →When you'd rather not do it yourself
The posts show the method. If you'd rather one person did the whole job, here's the service it belongs to, and it's scoped in writing on Upwork before anything starts.
Pages missing from Google? Send me the Search Console report.
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Want this done on your own site?
Book a call on Upwork, send the URL and read-only Search Console access, and you'll get a written scope for the search side before any work starts. There's one person on the whole job, and it's all done remotely.
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