The indexability of a webpage refers to the ability of search engines, like Google, to add the page to their index – a massive database of billions of web pages. This process is called indexing, and it's a crucial step that allows your website's pages to be ranked and displayed in search results.
Indexing happens after crawling, which is when search engine bots discover and analyse the content of your web pages. Once a page is crawled, search engines like Google will index it, adding it to their database for potential inclusion in search results.
To ensure that your web pages can be effectively indexed, there are several steps you can take:
Configure your robots.txt file correctly
The robots.txt file is a set of instructions that tells search engine crawlers which areas of your website they can and cannot access. Ensure that your robots.txt file is not blocking important pages or directories from being crawled and indexed.
![robots-txt-example](https://www.blendb2b.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blend01/Pages/Pillar%20Pages/SEO%20Website%20Design/robots-txt-example.webp?width=464&height=292&name=robots-txt-example.webp)
Cloudflare: What is robots.txt?
Update and submit your XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website, making it easier for search engines to discover and crawl them. Regularly updating and submitting your XML sitemap to search engines can help ensure that new or updated content is quickly indexed.
![blend-sitemap](https://www.blendb2b.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blend01/Pages/Pillar%20Pages/SEO%20Website%20Design/blend-sitemap.png?width=1548&height=930&name=blend-sitemap.png)
Focus on creating original, high-quality content
Search algorithms want to deliver high-quality, unique content to searchers. Duplicate or scraped content does not add value. Google will generally only rank one instance of copied text, so original content is key for SEO value.
Optimise technical aspects
Factors like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and a secure connection (HTTPS) can affect how easily search engines can access and index your pages. Ensure that your website is technically optimised for search engines.
Attract high-quality backlinks
Backlinks from reputable and relevant websites can signal to search engines that your content is valuable and worth indexing. However, avoid practices like link buying or participating in link schemes, as these can result in penalties.
![ahref-backlink report-min](https://www.blendb2b.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blend01/Pages/Pillar%20Pages/SEO%20Website%20Design/ahref-backlink%20report-min.png?width=2934&height=1670&name=ahref-backlink%20report-min.png)
Ahrefs backlink report
Properly handle HTTP status codes
The way you handle redirects and broken links can influence how search engines index your site.
301 redirects: When you permanently move a page to a new URL, implement a 301 (permanent) redirect. This tells search engines that the page has been permanently relocated, allowing them to transfer any ranking signals to the new URL and index the new location.
404 errors: If a page on your site returns a 404 (not found) error, it indicates to search engines that the page no longer exists. While an occasional 404 is normal, too many can signal to search engines that your site has a lot of broken pages, which can negatively impact indexing and rankings. Aim to fix or redirect any pages returning 404 errors.
Effectively tagging multi-lingual pages
For multilingual websites, implementing hreflang tags is crucial for proper indexing by search engines. Hreflang tags help indicate the language and regional targeting of different versions of the same content.
Without hreflang tags, search engines may have trouble differentiating between language/regional versions, leading to issues like:
- Indexing the wrong language version
- Content duplication flags
- Serving irrelevant versions to users