# Indexing Monitoring
Indexing monitoring helps you understand which of your pages are in Google's index and why some pages might not appear in search results.
## What is Indexing? [#what-is-indexing]
When Google crawls your website, it adds pages to its index. Only indexed pages can appear in search results. Common indexing issues include:
* Pages not discovered by Google
* Pages discovered but not indexed
* Pages blocked by robots.txt
* Pages with noindex directives
## How It Works [#how-it-works]
VitalSentinel integrates with Google Search Console's URL Inspection API to provide:
1. **URL inspection data** - Status of individual URLs
2. **Coverage reports** - Overview of indexing across your site
3. **Issue tracking** - Problems affecting indexing
4. **Mobile usability** - Mobile-friendliness issues
5. **Rich results** - Structured data detection and validation
6. **AMP status** - Accelerated Mobile Pages detection (if applicable)
Indexing monitoring requires connecting your Google Search Console account. See [Google Search Console Integration](/features/google-search-console).
## Properties & Coverage [#properties--coverage]
Indexing monitoring works across one or more Google Search Console properties per domain. Manage them from the **Properties** tab.
### Choosing properties [#choosing-properties]
* **Add the properties** you want checked from the Search Console properties that match this domain.
* **Route URL paths** into groups so each property covers the right part of your site.
* Each property is inspected at up to roughly **2,000 URLs per day**. The Properties page shows each property's daily quota, today's progress, and the estimated time for a full re-check cycle.
### Priority URLs [#priority-urls]
Pin the pages that matter most as **Priority URLs**. These are re-checked every day before anything else, so a regression on a key page surfaces quickly.
### Plan limits [#plan-limits]
The number of Search Console properties you can monitor for indexing depends on your plan:
| Plan | Indexing properties | Subpath properties |
| -------- | ------------------- | ------------------ |
| Free | 1 | Root only |
| Starter | 3 | Root only |
| Lite | 10 | Allowed |
| Standard | 35 | Allowed |
| Advanced | 100 | Allowed |
On **Free** and **Starter**, only whole-site properties can be monitored: Domain properties, or URL-prefix properties at the site root. **Lite** and above can also add subpath (URL-prefix) properties such as `https://example.com/shop/`.
## Dashboard Overview [#dashboard-overview]
### Key Metrics [#key-metrics]
The dashboard header shows four tiles:
| Metric | Description |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Indexed pages | URLs in Google's index (coverage state "Submitted and indexed"), shown as a share of your sitemap |
| URLs with problems | URLs in a problematic coverage state, shown as a share of your sitemap |
| Sitemap progress | Percentage of sitemap URLs re-checked since the last full pass |
| Time since full re-check | Days since the last complete inspection sweep |
### Status Breakdown [#status-breakdown]
VitalSentinel surfaces Google's coverage states using Google's exact wording, so the figures line up with what you see in Search Console. Common states include:
* **Submitted and indexed** - In Google's index, can appear in results
* **Crawled - currently not indexed** - Google found it but chose not to index
* **Discovered - currently not indexed** - Known to Google but not yet crawled
* **Blocked by robots.txt** - Crawling is blocked by a robots.txt rule
* **Excluded by 'noindex' tag** - A noindex directive keeps it out of the index
* **Duplicate without user-selected canonical** - Treated as a duplicate with no canonical set
* **Soft 404** - Returns 200 but looks like an error page to Google
The dashboard tracks roughly 19 coverage states in total.
### Dashboard Sections [#dashboard-sections]
Below the metric tiles, the Overview page has three cards:
* **Indexing trend** - How your URLs moved between coverage states over time, across a window you choose.
* **What changed in the last 7 days** - Status changes Google made to your URLs, such as pages newly indexed or newly dropped.
* **Where issues are right now** - URLs with problems grouped by reason, so you can jump straight to the ones that need fixing.
### URL Inspection Details [#url-inspection-details]
For each URL, you can see:
| Field | Description |
| ------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Index Verdict | PASS, PARTIAL, FAIL, or NEUTRAL |
| Coverage State | Current indexing status, in Google's wording |
| Robots.txt State | Whether robots.txt allows crawling of the URL |
| Page Fetch State | Result of Google's last fetch attempt |
| Last Crawl Time | When Google last crawled the page |
| Crawled As | DESKTOP or MOBILE |
| Google-selected Canonical | The page Google considers canonical |
| User-declared Canonical | The canonical you declared on the page |
| Mobile Usability | Mobile-friendliness verdict |
| Rich Results | Detected structured data types |
| Referring URLs | Pages linking to this URL |
## URL Status Categories [#url-status-categories]
### Submitted and indexed [#submitted-and-indexed]
Your page is in Google's index. This means:
* Google has crawled the page
* Content was deemed indexable
* Page can appear in search results
### Crawled - currently not indexed [#crawled---currently-not-indexed]
Google crawled the page but didn't add it to the index. Common reasons:
* **Low-quality content** - Thin or duplicate content
* **Soft 404** - Page looks like an error but returns 200
* **Duplicate content** - Very similar to another page
* **Low value** - Not useful for searchers
**What to do:**
* Improve content quality
* Add unique value
* Check for duplicate content issues
### Discovered - currently not indexed [#discovered---currently-not-indexed]
Google knows the URL exists but hasn't crawled it yet. Reasons:
* **Crawl budget** - Site has too many URLs
* **Low priority** - Page seems less important
* **Recent submission** - Not yet processed
**What to do:**
* Wait for Google to crawl (can take weeks)
* Improve internal linking
* Submit sitemap
### Blocked by robots.txt [#blocked-by-robotstxt]
The page is blocked in robots.txt. If intentional, this is expected. If not:
**What to do:**
* Check your robots.txt file
* Remove blocking rules for important pages
* See [Robots.txt Monitoring](/features/robots-txt-monitoring)
### Excluded by 'noindex' tag [#excluded-by-noindex-tag]
The page has a noindex directive. Check:
* Meta robots tag: ``
* X-Robots-Tag HTTP header
**What to do:**
* Remove noindex if the page should be indexed
* Keep noindex for pages that shouldn't appear in search
## Submitting URLs [#submitting-urls]
### Via Sitemap [#via-sitemap]
The best way to inform Google about your pages:
1. Create an XML sitemap
2. Reference it in robots.txt
3. Submit in Google Search Console
### URL Inspection [#url-inspection]
Review the status of specific URLs:
1. Open **Indexing** in VitalSentinel and go to the **Inspections** tab
2. Filter or search for the URL, then open its detail drawer to see its coverage state, canonical, and last crawl
3. Pin important pages as **Priority URLs** so they are re-checked daily
4. Use "Request Indexing" in Search Console if you need Google to recrawl immediately
## Common Issues [#common-issues]
### Crawl Budget Issues [#crawl-budget-issues]
If you have many pages, Google may not crawl them all. Solutions:
* Remove low-quality pages
* Improve site speed
* Fix redirect chains
* Block non-essential pages
### Duplicate Content [#duplicate-content]
Multiple URLs with the same content. Solutions:
* Use canonical tags
* Implement redirects
* Remove duplicate pages
### Redirect Chains [#redirect-chains]
Multiple redirects slow crawling. Solutions:
* Redirect directly to final URL
* Update internal links
* Fix redirect loops
### Soft 404s [#soft-404s]
Pages that look like errors but return 200. Solutions:
* Return proper 404 for missing content
* Add content to thin pages
* Redirect to relevant pages
## Best Practices [#best-practices]
### Check New Content [#check-new-content]
After publishing:
1. Wait a few days for discovery
2. Check indexing status
3. Request indexing if needed
### Fix Issues Promptly [#fix-issues-promptly]
Indexing issues can:
* Delay content appearing in search
* Reduce organic traffic
* Impact SEO performance
## Data Source [#data-source]
Indexing data comes from the Google Search Console API. You must connect your GSC account to use this feature.
See [Google Search Console Integration](/features/google-search-console) to connect your account.
## Alerts [#alerts]
Set up alerts on any coverage state. Each alert triggers when that state's share of your URLs changes by more than a set percentage (default 15%). Examples:
* **Submitted and indexed** - Alert when the indexed share drops
* **Crawled - currently not indexed** - Alert when more pages are crawled but skipped
* **Discovered - currently not indexed** - Alert when discovery outpaces crawling
* **Blocked by robots.txt** - Alert when more pages become blocked
* **Soft 404** - Alert when soft-404s rise
See [Setting Up Alerts](/alerts/setting-up-alerts) for configuration details.
## Related Features [#related-features]
Connect GSC for indexing data
Check for blocking issues
Get notified of indexing problems