Indexing: How Google finds and stores content

What does indexing mean?

Indexing is the step after crawling: search engines store found pages in their index, a huge database. Only indexed content can appear in search results.

How does the process work?

1. Crawling: The bot follows links and finds new content.
2. analysis: Content is read and evaluated in a structured way.
3. indexation: Relevant content is added to the search database.

Typical indexing issues

• Faulty Robots.txt is blocking pages
• Absence of XML sitemaps
• Duplicate content (multiple versions of the same page)
• Technical errors (404, 500)

How to ensure clean indexing

• Provide current XML sitemaps
• Configure Robots.txt correctly
• Set canonical tags
• Check regularly with Google Search Console

Indexing — step-by-step guide

How to make sure your pages are indexed

1. Check indexing status
   → In the Google Search Console See if the page is in the index.
2. Submit an XML sitemap
   → Make sure that your sitemap is stored and up to date.
3. Manually submit a URL
   → Use the URL inspector in the Search Console for important pages.
4. fix errors
   → Check Robots.txt, canonicals, and status codes. Correct 404 or 500 errors.

TL; DR

Indexing means that search engines add content to their database. Only indexed pages can rank — clean technology is a prerequisite.