Google Search Console Errors: A Complete Guide to Finding and Fixing Them
Anyone who's spent time in Google Search Console knows the feeling. Traffic dips, and you open the Page Indexing report to find cryptic labels like "Crawled currently not indexed" or "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" staring back at you.
But it's not random; each one is Google telling you exactly why a page isn't behaving as expected.
Ignore them, and they cost you quietly: unindexed pages can't rank, redirect chains leak authority, and a broken sitemap means Google may not even know your new content exists.
The good news is none of it's a mystery once you know what to look for. Below, we'll cover the 10 errors you're most likely to hit, what's causing each one, how much it can hurt your SEO, and exactly how to fix it.
1. How to Fix "Crawled: Currently Not Indexed" in Google Search Console?
Google determined that the page should not be indexed on the basis of quality/relevance; this is an indexing error, not a technical error that will appear on the list of reasons “why pages have been indexed” in the page indexing report.
Its Impact:
- Page never appears in search results
- Wasted resources on pages that Google skips.
- Can indicate low-quality content, which in turn affects how Google indexes other pages of your site.
- Lost traffic potential for otherwise valuable content
How to Fix It
- Improve content depth and originality; thin and generic pages are the main issue.
- Fix duplicate and near-duplicate content by merging pages or using canonical tags.
- Add internal links from strong, relevant pages to increase importance.
- Get backlinks to prove the page is important.
- Use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing after improvements.
- Do a site-wide audit if the error is present in many URLs.
2. How to Fix "Discovered: Currently Not Indexed" Error in Google Search Console?
Google has the URL in its index but is still in the process of crawling, which may have to do with us not being a priority for the crawl, usually because of heavy server load issues or that the content was not found to be of much value.
Also, this is different from the “Crawled currently not indexed” case in that our issue is that Google hasn’t gotten to the page yet at all.
Impact:
- The page isn't ranked at all because it isn’t even being crawled.
- Google is to put less of your site’s content in the queue.
- In large sites with crawl budget issues.
- Can present issues with server response or weak site structure.
How to Fix It
- Improve server response speed; slow sites will be crawled less aggressively.
- For better results, put in more internal links, which will help us to find and rank your pages.
- Submit that page to your XML sitemap if it isn’t already included.
- Reduce low-value URLs (duplicate params, thin pages) competing for crawl budget.
- Request indexing manually via the URL Inspection tool.
- Check the crawl stats report for server errors or crawl rate drops.
3. How to Fix "Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical" Error?
Google has identified many pages with very similar or the same content; from what I can tell, you haven’t specified a canonical tag to note the master copy. Google is therefore deciding which page to present.
Impact:
- Splits ranking signals across duplicate pages
- Dilutes link equity between versions
- The wrong or no page may get indexed and ranked.
- Wastes crawl budget on redundant URLs
How to Fix:
- Add a canonical tag to that same page.
- Use 301 redirects for true duplicates.
- Correct issues with URL params (tracking codes, session IDs) that cause duplicate entries.
- Ensure all internal links direct to the main version.
4. How to Fix "Google Chose Different Canonical Than User" Error?
What it is: You have put in a canonical tag for a page, but Google went with a different URL, which they determined is the better representative and indexed
Impact:
- Your choice of URL may not be indexed or ranked.
- Ranking factors that you did not choose for a page.
- May present the wrong page (with different content/CTAs) to search.
- Google reports out on duplicate content issues within your site.
How to Fix:
- Canonical pages should have better content, internal linking, and backlink profile than the duplicate.
- Correct inconsistent canonical tags in similar pages.
- Remove or noindex the duplicate if it’s not required.
Check for crossovers (sitemap, hreflang, redirects) which point to different destinations. Use the URL Inspection tool to see what URL Google chose and why.
5. How to Fix "Submitted URL Blocked by Robots.txt" Error?
What it is: A URL submitted for indexing via a sitemap has been indexed and subsequently has instructions in your robots.txt file preventing Google from crawling that URL. Therefore, this situation creates two conflicting instructions.
Impact:
The affected pages will never be indexed while the block remains active, regardless of how great your content is. If major pages are affected, it could mean a large amount of lost visibility.
How to correct this problem:
- Open your robots.txt file (usually located at yourdomain.com/robots.txt) and look for the disallow rule that prevents the indexing of this page.
- If you want this page to be indexed, you will need to remove or change the disallow rule.
- Check to make sure the disallow rule change is working by using the robots.txt tester in Search Console.
- Double-check your sitemap to ensure it contains only URLs that you want to have crawled and/or indexed.
- Once the robots.txt change has been made, you can request a validation in Search Console.
6. How to Fix "Excluded by Noindex Tag" Error in Google Search Console?
What it means: The page has a noindex tag sitting in its meta code or HTTP header, which is basically a direct instruction telling Google not to put it in search results.
Impact: Sometimes this is fine; a lot of sites put noindex on thank-you pages or internal search results on purpose, and that's not a problem. The issue is when this tag ends up on a page you actually want people to find. It just quietly disappears from search, and most people don't even notice until traffic starts dropping.
How to fix it:
- Check the page's HTML head section or its HTTP response headers for a noindex directive
- If the page should be indexed, remove the tag and confirm the fix using the URL Inspection tool
- Look through your CMS or SEO plugin settings too — a lot of platforms slap noindex on certain templates or categories automatically, without you ever setting it
- Check other pages using the same template so you're not fixing one page while five others have the same issue
- Once it's fixed, resubmit the page for indexing
7. How to Fix "Page With Redirect" Error in Google Search Console?
What it tells you: You submitted a URL, but it redirects somewhere else, so Google indexes that other page instead of the one you gave it. That's really all this means it's not necessarily broken, just a redirect doing its job.
Impact: Problems start when you've got chains (redirect A to B to C to D), loops that never resolve, or redirects sending users somewhere unrelated. All of that eats into crawl budget and spreads your link equity thin across multiple hops instead of one strong page.
How to fix it:
- Check that the redirect actually makes sense and lands on the right page
- Cut out chains; point straight to the final URL instead of bouncing through several redirects
- Fix any loops fast, since these stop indexing altogether
- Go back and update your sitemap and internal links so they point to the final destination directly, not the old redirected URL
- Stick to 301 redirects when the move is permanent
8. How to Fix "Not Found (404)" and Soft 404 Errors in Google Search Console?
What It Means: A ‘regular’ 404 means that the page does not exist. A ‘soft’ 404 means that the server responded with a “200 OK” success status, which means the page can be displayed for the user; however, because there is no real content on the page, it will confuse Google as to whether or not that particular page exists.
Impact: Both types of pages would waste your crawl budget as well as create a poor user experience. In fact, soft 404s lose some credibility with Google in the long run, because they lower Google’s trust of the other technical signals your site sends.
How to fix it:
- If a page was deleted by mistake, just bring it back
- No good reason to bring it back? Redirect to something relevant instead
- For soft 404s, the real fix is server-side: ensure dead pages return a 404 or 410 status instead of a fake 200
- Periodically go through your site and clean up internal links that point to pages that no longer exist
9. How to Fix Sitemap "Couldn't Fetch" Error in Google Search Console?
What it means: Google attempted to access your sitemap file but couldn't retrieve it, usually due to server issues, incorrect formatting, or an invalid URL.
Impact: If Google can't read your sitemap, it may miss new or updated pages entirely, slowing down indexing across your whole site.
How to fix it:
- Verify the sitemap URL is correct and publicly accessible (test it directly in a browser).
- Check that your server isn't blocking Googlebot via firewall rules or hosting restrictions.
- Validate the sitemap's XML formatting using a sitemap validator tool.
- Ensure the sitemap file size and URL count stay within Google's limits (50MB uncompressed, 50,000 URLs per file).
- Resubmit the sitemap in Search Console after fixes and monitor the status.
10. How to Fix "Server Error (5xx)" in Google Search Console?
A "404 error" indicates that the web page does not actually exist. A "soft 404" error is when the server returns a successful status, but the website's contents still show as not found, broken, or nonexistent, and this is what creates confusion in Google's assessment of the page.
Consequences of Both Types of Errors: Both types waste crawl budget and create a poor user experience. Soft 404 errors are the more damaging of the two, though, because they cause Google to become less confident in the technical signals your site sends overall.
How to Correct 404 and Soft 404 Errors on Your Site:
- Genuine 404s: Restore the page if it was deleted by accident, or set up a redirect to something relevant.
- Soft 404s: Make sure "not found" pages return true 404 or 410 status codes, not a 200 OK.
- Regularly audit your site for internal links that point to deleted pages.
- Create a good-looking, helpful custom 404 page so users don't leave your site the moment they hit an error.
- Remove any URLs that no longer exist from your sitemap.
Final Thoughts
Google Search Console errors aren't something to panic over; they're simply Google's way of telling you what's stopping your pages from ranking. Once you understand what each error means, most page indexing errors have straightforward fixes: clean up duplicate content, correct canonical tags, fix server responses, and resolve Google crawl errors before they pile up.
Left unaddressed, these SEO technical issues quietly drain your traffic and rankings over time.
Make it a habit to check your Google Search Console indexing report regularly instead of waiting for problems to stack up. If you're dealing with a website not indexed on Google.
Don't wait; start your audit today. A few small fixes now, and knowing how to index website pages on Google, can mean real ranking gains down the line.
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