What we check, in the order Google does
1. Redirects and status. We follow every redirect hop manually and record each status code. Google indexes the final destination, so a URL that redirects is never indexed itself. Permanent 301/308 redirects pass signals cleanly; temporary 302/307 redirects leave Google unsure which URL to keep. The final response must be a 2xx.
2. robots.txt. We fetch your robots.txt and evaluate the Googlebot group exactly as Google does, including wildcards and longest-match precedence. A Disallow here means Google can't read the page at all.
3. noindex directives. We look for noindex or none in the robots and googlebot meta tags and in the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header — a favourite hiding place for staging settings that leak into production.
4. Canonical. If the canonical tag points to another URL, Google usually treats this page as a duplicate and indexes the other one. That's correct for filter or tracking URLs and a problem for pages you want to rank.
5. Sitemap and content. Being listed in your XML sitemap tells Google you consider the page important. Finally, we count server-rendered words and look for soft-404 patterns — pages that say “not found” while returning 200.
Fixing common indexing blockers
- WordPress: check “Discourage search engines” under Settings → Reading, and the per-page robots setting in Yoast or Rank Math.
- Shopify and Wix: confirm the page isn't password-protected or hidden from search in its SEO settings.
- Headless and React sites: make sure meta tags and body copy are in the server HTML, not injected after load.
- After fixing, request indexing in Search Console and link to the page from your homepage or a popular article.
Indexing is the gate; ranking is what happens next. Once the page passes, run the On-Page SEO Checker to improve its chances.
Frequently asked questions
Does this tool tell me if Google has indexed my page?
No tool outside Google can see its live index reliably. This checker tests the indexability signals Google uses — status, robots directives, canonicals and robots.txt. To confirm actual indexing, use URL Inspection in Google Search Console.
My page is indexable but still not indexed. Why?
Google indexes selectively. Common reasons are thin or duplicate content, few internal links pointing to the page, a new site with little authority, or slow crawling. Improve the content, link to it from strong pages, and request indexing in Search Console.
What's the difference between robots.txt blocking and noindex?
robots.txt stops Google from crawling, so it can't see a noindex tag at all — the URL may still appear without a description. noindex lets Google crawl but tells it not to show the page. To remove a page from results, use noindex and keep it crawlable.