How I fix WordPress pages that Google has not indexed.

01Technical SEO

Confirm the exact indexing state

“Not indexed” describes the outcome. Search Console and the live URL help narrow the cause.

I inspect the preferred URL, then compare Google’s selected canonical, crawl status, indexing allowance and rendered page with the live response. I also check whether Google indexed another URL instead.

A sitemap report cannot explain a specific exclusion on its own.

02Technical SEO

Check access and noindex rules

The preferred page needs a usable response and no accidental noindex directive.

Themes, SEO plugins, staging plugins and server headers can all add directives. I inspect the final response, not only the WordPress editor.

• The canonical page returns HTTP 200
• No maintenance, password or firewall block
• No meta robots or X-Robots-Tag noindex
• Robots.txt allows the resources needed to render the page
• WordPress Reading settings allow search engines

03Technical SEO

Check canonicals and duplicate URLs

Google may group a crawlable page under another URL when the canonical signals or content are too similar.

I compare the rel=canonical, redirects, internal links and sitemap entry. Parameters, category archives, HTTP and HTTPS, www variants and trailing slashes should not compete with the preferred URL.

Canonical annotations are signals, so the rest of the site should support the same choice.

04Technical SEO

Use the sitemap as a preferred URL list

The XML sitemap should contain canonical, indexable URLs. Being listed does not guarantee indexing.

I check that the page is in the right sitemap, the sitemap returns 200 and the URLs are absolute. Redirected, noindex, duplicate and error URLs should be removed.

When a WordPress plugin generates the file, I change its settings or post-type rules instead of editing the XML by hand.

05Technical SEO

Add crawlable internal links

An important page should be linked from relevant pages that Google can already reach.

A service page, related article or navigation path can provide that link. An orphan page or a URL available only through site search is harder to discover and place in context.

Anchor text should say what the destination covers.

06Technical SEO

Inspect the rendered template

The content, title, canonical and links need to exist in the output Google processes.

Some WordPress builders delay content, return nearly empty initial HTML, duplicate headings or let several plugins output canonical and robots tags.

I fix the template or plugin conflict so the same correction applies to the affected page type.

07Technical SEO

Decide whether the page needs its own index entry

A technically valid page may still duplicate another page or add too little information.

I combine near-duplicates, define the page's question, add first-party detail and link it to the relevant service or topic.

After the fix, I update the internal signals, request a recrawl when useful and monitor the result. Indexing is never guaranteed.