Ultimate Guide to Google Indexing for Bloggers [2025]

From Someone Who Almost Quit! Being totally honest, there was a moment in late 2023 when I seriously considered shutting down my travel blog,

I’d been writing for three years, publishing what I thought were solid destination guides and itineraries.

My content was original, helpful, and based on real travel experiences. But suddenly, my traffic plummeted by 80%. Pages that had been ranking well for months just… disappeared.

At first, I thought it was a temporary glitch. Maybe Google was having issues. But weeks turned into months, and my carefully crafted articles were nowhere to be found in search results. I was writing into the void.

Sound familiar? If you’re reading this, you’re probably going through something similar.

The good news? I figured it out (eventually), and I’m going to share everything I learned so you don’t have to go through the same frustrating journey I did.

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Google Indexing?

Let me start with the basics I wish I’d understood from day one when I started blogging. Google indexing isn’t just some technical thing that happens automatically – it’s actually the foundation of everything we do as bloggers.

Think of it this way: Google indexing is like getting your book into the library system.

First, the librarian (Googlebot) has to visit your library and actually look at your book (that’s crawling).

If they like what they see and think it belongs in the collection, they add it to the catalog system (that’s indexing). Only then can people find your book when they search the catalog (that’s ranking).

Here’s what threw me off initially: crawling → indexing → ranking happen in sequence, but they’re completely separate processes.

I was so focused on SEO and ranking that I completely missed the indexing step. My pages weren’t even making it into Google’s catalog, so all my keyword research and optimization work was pointless.

The Moment I Realized Something Was Wrong

It started with a simple vanity search. I Googled the exact title of my latest Rome itinerary post – something I’d spent weeks perfecting.

Nothing. Not on page one, not on page ten. It was like the post didn’t exist.

That’s when I discovered the site: search operator, which became my new best friend (and biggest source of anxiety). I started searching site:thedigtialmalik.com and watched in horror as Google showed me fewer and fewer of my pages over time.

The breaking point came when I realized that out of my 128+ blog posts, Google was only showing about 40 in search results.

Where were the other 65 posts? Had I been wasting months of work?

How I Finally Figured Out What Was Going On?

Here’s exactly how I diagnosed my indexing problems, step by step:

Step 1: I Set Up Google Search Console (Finally)

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I’d been blogging for over nine months without properly setting up Google Search Console.

I had a basic installation, but I wasn’t actually using it to monitor my site’s health.

If you haven’t done this yet, stop reading and go set it up right now. Seriously!

Go to search.google.com/search-console, add your website, and verify ownership. I used the DNS verification method through my domain provider (much easier than I thought it would be).

Once I had real data flowing in, the problem became crystal clear. In the “Pages” section under “Indexing,” I saw a breakdown that made my stomach drop:

• Indexed: 63 pages
• Not indexed: 128 pages

Google was literally ignoring 51% of my content.

Step 2: I Investigated Why Pages Weren’t Being Indexed

This is where Google Search Console became invaluable. Under the “Not indexed” section, I could see exactly why

Google was rejecting my pages:

• “Discovered – currently not indexed”: 78 pages
• “Crawled – currently not indexed”: 31 pages
• “Blocked by robots.txt”: 12 pages
• “Page with redirect”: 6 pages

Each category told a different story about what was wrong with my site.

Step 3: I Used the URL Inspection Tool to Dig Deeper

For every problematic page, I used the URL Inspection Tool (the search bar at the top of Search Console).

This tool became my detective kit. For each URL, it told me:

• Whether the page was indexed
• When it was last crawled
• Any specific issues preventing indexing
• What Google actually saw when it visited the page

This is where I discovered some shocking truths about my own website that I’ll share with you.

The Technical Issues That Were Killing My Indexing

And How I Fixed Them…

Problem #1: The Sneaky Robots.txt Disaster

On my Travel Blog I had 12 pages blocked by robots.txt? I had no idea what that meant initially. Turns out, my robots.txt file (found at yourdomain.com/robots.txt) was blocking Google from crawling important sections of my site.

I’d installed some SEO plugin months earlier, and somehow it had added this line to my robots.txt:

Disallow: /destinations/

My entire destinations section – my best content – was off-limits to Google! I felt like such an amateur.

How I fixed it: I edited my robots.txt file to remove the problematic Disallow lines. Within a week, those pages started getting crawled again.

Problem #2: Accidental Noindex Tags Everywhere

This was the most frustrating discovery. I found that 23 of my best posts had <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tags in their HTML. These tags literally tell Google “don’t index this page.”

I traced this back to a setting in my SEO plugin that I’d accidentally enabled. When I was testing the site before launch, I’d turned on “discourage search engines” and apparently never turned it off properly.

How I found them: In Google Search Console, I used the URL Inspection Tool on problematic pages. Under “Page indexing,” it clearly showed “Blocked by ‘noindex’ tag.”

How I fixed them: I went through my SEO plugin settings and removed the noindex tags. Then I used the “Request indexing” feature in Search Console for each affected page.

Problem #3: The Canonical Tag Nightmare

Here’s something that took me weeks to understand: canonical tags. I discovered that many of my posts had canonical tags pointing to completely different URLs – sometimes my homepage, sometimes random posts.

For example on my travel blog, my “Best Food in Thailand” post had a canonical tag pointing to my “Thailand Itinerary” post. Google was essentially being told “don’t index this Thailand post, the post is the real version.”

How I found this: I used a free tool called SEOptimer to check each problematic URL. It showed me exactly what the canonical tag was pointing to.

How I fixed it: I went through each post and either removed incorrect canonical tags or made sure they pointed to the correct URL (usually the post’s own URL).

Problem #4: My Site Was Slower Than I Thought

Page speed wasn’t just hurting my user experience – it was affecting my crawl budget. Google wasn’t willing to wait around for my slow pages to load, so it was crawling fewer pages overall.

I tested my site speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights and was horrified to see scores in the 20s and 30s. My blog was packed with unoptimized images, too many plugins, and a bloated theme.

How I fixed it: This was a bigger project, but I:

• Compressed all my images using TinyPNG
• Removed unnecessary plugins (I had 47 active plugins!)
• Switched to a faster hosting provider
• Implemented a caching plugin

My scores improved to the 70s and 80s, and I noticed Google started crawling more pages more frequently.

The Content Issues That Were Harder to Admit

The Painful Truth About “Thin Content”

Google Search Console kept showing me pages flagged as “Discovered – currently not indexed.” After digging deeper, I realized these were mostly my older posts that were, frankly, pretty thin.

I had posts like “Best Things to Do in Laos” that were literally under 1500 words with no real detail, no personal experience, and no unique value. I’d been so focused on publishing frequently that I’d sacrificed quality.

How I fixed this: I had two choices for each thin post:

1. Expand it with real value (personal experiences, detailed tips, updated information)
2. Delete it entirely (which I did for about 30 posts that couldn’t be saved)

For the posts I kept, I made sure each one was at least 1,500 words and included:

• Personal anecdotes from my actual visits
• Specific practical tips you couldn’t find elsewhere
• Updated information (prices, hours, contact details)
• Original photos

The Duplicate Content Problem I Didn’t Know I Had

This one was sneaky. I discovered I had multiple posts covering essentially the same topic with very similar content. For example:

• “15 Days Bali”
• “72 Hours in Bali”
• “Bali in 10 Days”

To me, these felt like different posts. To Google, they looked like duplicates trying to game the system.

How I identified duplicates: I used a combination of:

• Putting phrases from my posts in quotes in Google search
• Using Siteliner to scan my entire site for similar content (duplicate Content)
• Manually reviewing my post titles and topics

How I fixed it: I consolidated similar posts into single, comprehensive guides. Instead of three separate Bali posts, I created one detailed “Ultimate Amsterdam Weekend Guide” that covered everything.

The Algorithm Updates That Changed Everything

Here’s the part that almost broke me: even after fixing all these technical issues, I was still struggling with indexing. That’s when I learned about algorithm updates and their impact on indexing.

The September 2023 Helpful Content Update hit travel bloggers particularly hard. Google was basically saying, “We want content from people who’ve actually been there and done that, not generic travel advice.”

I realized that some of my older posts, while technically correct, read like they were written by someone who’d never actually visited the places I was writing about. They were based on research rather than experience.

How I Adapted My Content Strategy

I made some hard decisions:

1. I stopped writing about places I hadn’t personally visited (this cut my potential topics by 70%)
2. I went back and rewrote older posts to include personal experiences, mistakes I made, specific recommendations
3. I added author bylines and about pages to establish my expertise and experience
4. I started including original photos from my trips instead of stock photos

The changes were dramatic. Within three months, my indexing rate improved from about 30% to over 85%.

My Step-by-Step Recovery Process

Here’s exactly what I did to get my blog back on track:

Phase 1: Technical Cleanup (Week 1-2)

1. Fixed robots.txt file
2. Removed noindex tags from important pages
3. Corrected canonical tag issues
4. Improved site speed
5. Fixed internal linking structure

Phase 2: Content Audit (Week 3-6)

1. Identified thin content and either expanded or deleted it
2. Consolidated duplicate posts
3. Updated outdated information
4. Added personal experiences to generic posts
5. Improved internal linking between related posts

Phase 3: Proactive Indexing (Week 7-8)

1. Created and submitted a comprehensive sitemap
2. Used “Request indexing” for all improved pages
3. Built internal link networks between related posts
4. Started monitoring indexing status weekly

The Tools That Saved My Sanity

Here are the free tools I used throughout this process:

Google Search Console (obviously) – for monitoring indexing status and identifying issues

URL Inspection Tool – for diagnosing specific page problems (step by step how to use link)

Site: search operator – for quick checks of what’s indexed

PageSpeed Insights – for identifying speed issues

SEOptimer – for checking technical SEO issues like canonical tags

Siteliner – for finding duplicate content across my site

What I Wish I’d Known Earlier

If I could go back and tell my earlier self a few things, here’s what I’d say:

1. Set up Google Search Console from day one and actually use it regularly
2. Quality over quantity always wins – one great post is worth ten mediocre ones
3. Personal experience is your competitive advantage – lean into it
4. Technical SEO isn’t optional – it’s the foundation everything else is built on
5. Monitor your indexing rate monthly – catching problems early is so much easier

Common Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)

Mistake #1: Requesting indexing for every single post, even when I hadn’t made meaningful changes. This doesn’t help and may actually hurt.

Mistake #2: Focusing only on new content while ignoring indexing issues with existing posts.

Mistake #3: Assuming that if a post was indexed once, it would stay indexed forever.

Mistake #4: Not understanding the difference between indexing and ranking – they’re completely different problems with different solutions.

Mistake #5: Panic-deleting content during algorithm updates instead of improving it first.

How to Know If You’re Making Progress

Here’s how I track my recovery:

Weekly: Check Google Search Console for new indexing issues
Monthly: Review overall indexing percentage (indexed pages vs. total pages)
Quarterly: Audit content quality and update outdated posts

My indexing rate went from 28% to 87% over six months. It’s not perfect, but it’s sustainable growth.

The Hard Truth About Algorithm Updates

Let me be real with you: algorithm updates will continue to happen, and they might knock you down again. The September 2023 update wasn’t the last one that affected travel bloggers.

But here’s what I learned: if you focus on creating genuinely helpful content based on real experience, you’ll be more resilient to these updates.

Google’s goal is to surface the most helpful, accurate, and trustworthy content. If that describes your blog, you’ll be fine in the long run.

What to Do Right Now

If you’re struggling with indexing issues, here’s your action plan:

1. Set up Google Search Console properly (if you haven’t already)
2. Check your indexing rate – how many of your pages are actually indexed?
3. Use the URL Inspection Tool on your best posts to see if there are obvious issues
4. Check your robots.txt file at yourdomain.com/robots.txt
5. Run a site speed test and fix the most obvious issues

Don’t try to fix everything at once. I made that mistake and got overwhelmed. Pick one category of issues and fix them systematically.

The Bottom Line

Indexing problems are frustrating, but they’re usually fixable. I went from considering quitting to having my best traffic months ever, and it was all about understanding and fixing the foundational issues that were holding me back.

The key insight that changed everything for me: Google doesn’t owe you anything. You have to earn your place in the index by creating content that’s genuinely useful, technically sound, and based on real expertise.

It’s not easy, but it’s absolutely worth it. Every post you save from indexing limbo is a post that can start driving traffic again.

Every technical issue you fix makes your entire site stronger!

You’ve got this. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember: I was exactly where you are now, and if I can figure it out, so can you.

Forwards ever, backwards never! 🚀

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)