Google Search Console (GSC) is the primary interface for monitoring a website's indexing status and search performance. It is standard for GSC to report a variety of "errors" or "exclusions"; however, many of these are routine technical occurrences rather than critical failures. Understanding the distinction between Crawling (the discovery phase) and Indexing (the inclusion phase) is vital for maintaining a healthy search presence. Not every URL discovered during a crawl is intended for public search results.

Publishers typically identify indexing issues through the Pages report in GSC, characterized by the following:

• Excluded URLs: A significant discrepancy between the number of "Indexed" pages and "Not Indexed" pages.

• Status Flags: Specific technical labels such as "Blocked due to forbidden access (403)," "Not Found (404)," or "Redirect error."

• Non-Critical Labels: Statuses like "Crawled - currently not indexed" or "Discovered - currently not indexed," which indicate a URL was found but not prioritized for the index.

1. Evaluating Reporting Necessity

The first step in troubleshooting is determining if the flagged URL is a functional content page. Ezoic utilizes various JavaScript and tracking scripts (e.g., /detroitchicago/, /ezais/, or /porpoiseant/) to manage ad delivery and site performance.

• Status: These scripts are technical assets, not consumer-facing content.

• Outcome: Google will frequently report 403 or 404 errors for these files. These reports are safe to ignore and do not result in SEO penalties, as search engines expect to encounter technical scripts during a standard site crawl.

2. Addressing Duplicate and Canonical URLs

Google aims to index only the authoritative version of a piece of content. If multiple paths exist to the same data, GSC will exclude the secondary versions.

• Duplicate Status: Labels such as "Alternative page with proper canonical tag" indicate that Google has successfully identified your preferred URL and excluded the duplicate as intended.

• Action: Use the URL Inspection Tool to verify that the "Google-selected canonical" matches your "User-declared canonical." If they align, no further action is required.

3. Resolving Critical Indexing Barriers

If a high-value content page is excluded, audit the following technical areas:

• Robots.txt Directives: Review your file at domain.com/robots.txt to ensure no Disallow rules are inadvertently blocking content directories.

  • Add the following to your robots.txt file: 

User-agent: *
Disallow: /detroitchicago/
/porpoiseant/
/beardeddragon/
/tardisrocinante/
/parsonsmaize/
/edomontonalberta/
/ezais/

• Meta Tags: Inspect the page HTML (Ctrl+U) for a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag. This directive explicitly instructs Google to exclude the page.

• Server Accessibility: Ensure the page returns a 200 OK status. Errors like 401 (Unauthorized) or 5xx (Server Error) indicate that Googlebot was blocked by a server-side permission or a hosting failure.

Robots.txt Optimization:

To streamline GSC reporting, you may proactively restrict Googlebot from crawling technical Ezoic directories. Adding Disallow: /ezais/ and Disallow: /detroitchicago/ to your robots.txt file will reduce the number of irrelevant error flags in your dashboard.

Monthly Indexing Audit:

Conduct a monthly review of the "Pages" report. Focus resources exclusively on URLs intended for search visibility and ignore exclusions related to tracking, parameters, or technical scripts.

Sitemap Accuracy:

Maintain a clean XML sitemap that contains only 200-status, canonical URLs. This ensures Google allocates its "Crawl Budget" to your most valuable content.

Content Quality Thresholds:

For pages marked "Crawled - currently not indexed," the primary solution is often an increase in content depth or utility. Google reserves index space for content that demonstrates high E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

If you need further assistance with Google Search Console errors, please log in via support.ezoic.com to make use of our dedicated resources for support. We're here to help!