You open Google Search Console, check your reports, and suddenly there’s a wall of warnings, non-indexed URLs, and messages that look like something is seriously wrong with your website.
Your heart sinks. You start wondering — are my pages broken? Is Google ignoring my site? Do I need to drop everything and fix all of this right now?
Take a breath. You are not alone in this, and the good news is: most of these messages are not actually errors.
Google Search Console is incredibly powerful, but it’s also one of the most misunderstood tools in the world of SEO. It surfaces everything it encounters on your website — including gray areas, in-progress states, and situations that look alarming on the surface but are completely normal underneath.
This guide walks through every common “scary-looking” message in Search Console, explains what each one truly means, and tells you clearly what to do (or not do) about it. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to read these messages without unnecessary stress.
Before We Start: Two Things to Always Keep in Mind
1. Not Indexed ≠ Your Content Is Missing From Google
This is the most important thing to understand. Google indexes content at what it calls the canonical URL — the main, preferred version of a page. If a URL is not indexed, it doesn’t automatically mean your content is gone from Google. The same content may be perfectly indexed under a slightly different URL.
2. Most Messages Mean “Not Yet” – Not “Something Is Wrong”
A huge number of Search Console messages are simply Google saying it hasn’t gotten to something yet. Google crawls billions of pages across the entire web. Your site is one of many in a very large queue. Delays are normal. “Not evaluated” or “not yet processed” is not the same as “failed” or “broken.”
Keep both of these in mind as you read through the messages below.
Non-Indexed URL Messages
These messages appear when Google has encountered a URL but decided not to index it — or hasn’t gotten around to processing it yet. Each one has a specific meaning that’s worth understanding.
Message: “Discovered — Currently Not Indexed”
Where you’ll see it: Page Indexing report
What it sounds like: Google found my page and decided not to index it. There must be something wrong with the page quality or content.
What it actually means: Google found the URL — most likely through your sitemap or an internal link — but it has not yet crawled or visited the page at all. Because it hasn’t crawled the page, it hasn’t made any judgment about it. It’s simply sitting in a queue waiting its turn.
This is almost always a crawl budget situation, not a content quality issue. Crawl budget refers to the number of pages Google will crawl on your site within a given time period. Every website has one, and larger sites or sites with many URLs can find that Google gets to some pages much slower than others.
Common causes:
- Your site has a large number of pages and Google hasn’t gotten to all of them yet
- Low-value pages (filter pages, tag archives, parameter-based URLs) are consuming crawl budget that should go to your important pages
- Your site is relatively new and hasn’t built up enough authority for Google to crawl it frequently
If you’re also noticing that some pages that were previously indexed have suddenly disappeared from your reports, that’s a separate but related issue — our guide on Why Did My Indexed Pages Drop So Suddenly explains the most common reasons behind sudden indexing drops and what you can do about them.
What to do:
- Do not try to “fix” the individual page — there’s likely nothing wrong with it
- Look at your site’s overall crawl budget health: are there unnecessary URLs being crawled that shouldn’t be?
- Remove or block low-value pages from being crawled (via robots.txt or noindex) so budget goes to pages that matter
- If the page is important, use the URL Inspection Tool to request indexing — this gives it a gentle nudge
- Be patient: once crawled, if the page has good quality content, it should get indexed
Message: “Alternate Page with Proper Canonical Tag”
Where you’ll see it: Page Indexing report
What it sounds like: My page isn’t indexed. Something is wrong with it.
What it actually means: This page has a rel=canonical tag in its HTML that tells Google “this is not the main version — the main version is over there.” Google read that tag, respected it, and correctly chose not to index this version. This is the system working exactly as designed.
The canonical version of this page — the URL your tag points to — is the one that should be indexed.
A quick example to make this clear:
Imagine you have two URLs:
https://example.com/red-shoes— your canonical, preferred versionhttps://example.com/red-shoes?color=red— a filtered or alternate version
If the second URL has a canonical tag pointing to the first, Google will index the first and skip the second. That second URL would show up in your report as “Alternate page with proper canonical tag.” That’s correct behavior.
What to do:
- Check that the canonical URL (the one being pointed to) is actually indexed — use the URL Inspection Tool to verify
- If the canonical URL is indexed and visible in Google Search, there is absolutely nothing to fix here
- This message is a confirmation that Google followed your instructions, not a warning that something went wrong
Message: “Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical”
Where you’ll see it: Page Indexing report
What it sounds like: I have a duplicate content problem. This is hurting my SEO.
What it actually means: Google detected that this URL is very similar to (or identical to) another page on your site, but you haven’t told Google which version is the preferred one — there’s no canonical tag on the page. Google figured this out on its own and chose not to index this version, picking another one instead.
The key point: Google still handled this correctly. It found the duplicate, picked a winner, and indexed that one. The situation is resolved — just without your explicit guidance.
What to do:
- You can add a
rel=canonicaltag to make your preference explicit — and this is good practice for keeping things clean - But it is not urgent — Google has already resolved the situation
- Check that whichever URL Google chose as the canonical is actually indexed and accessible
- Over time, adding proper canonical tags across your site reduces these “Google decided for me” situations
Message: “Duplicate — Google Chose Different Canonical Than User”
Where you’ll see it: Page Indexing report
What it sounds like: Google is ignoring my canonical tag. My SEO setup is broken. Google doesn’t trust me.
What it actually means: You set a canonical tag telling Google your preferred URL, but Google disagreed and chose a different one. This sounds like a conflict, but here’s the reassuring part: a version of the page is still indexed. One canonical was chosen — just not the one you specified.
Google treats canonical tags as strong signals, not binding instructions. If other signals contradict your canonical tag, Google may override it.
This situation — where Google overrides your canonical and indexes a different version than intended — is one of the more frustrating indexing scenarios to diagnose. This dedicated guide on Incorrect Canonical URL Causing Indexing Issues walks through exactly why this happens and the step-by-step fixes to get Google to respect your preferred canonical.
Common reasons this happens:
- The URL you marked as canonical gets fewer internal links than the alternate version
- The URL you marked as canonical has a domain mismatch (HTTP vs HTTPS, www vs non-www) that Google considers less consistent
- The alternate version loads faster or has a cleaner URL structure
- External websites link more often to the alternate version
What to do:
- Make sure your preferred canonical URL is used consistently across all internal links on your site
- Make sure your preferred URL is the one submitted in your sitemap
- Make sure there are no redirects on your preferred URL — it should load directly without any bouncing
- Over time, these consistent signals help Google align with your preference
- If this is happening in relation to multilingual pages and hreflang tags, review your hreflang implementation carefully — that setup adds another layer to how Google picks canonicals
Message: “Redirect Error”
Where you’ll see it: Page Indexing report
What it sounds like: My redirects are broken. Users and Google are hitting dead ends when they visit these URLs.
What it actually means: Something went wrong technically when Google’s systems tried to follow and evaluate the redirect on this URL. But here’s the key nuance — the redirect itself may be working perfectly fine. Google’s redirect checker can sometimes fail to follow a redirect correctly due to its own internal processing, even when the redirect functions normally for real users and during Googlebot’s regular crawling.
Redirect errors in Search Console are often confused with genuine crawl errors — but they’re different things. If you want to understand the full picture of what crawl errors actually look like and how to properly diagnose them, this guide on What Are Crawl Errors and How to Fix Them breaks down each error type and the correct fix for each one.
This is especially common with:
- Conditional redirects (for example, redirecting mobile users to a different page version)
- Redirects with unusual or complex parameters
- Temporary (302) redirects that behave differently for different types of visitors
What to do:
- Test the URL yourself in a browser and confirm it redirects to the correct destination
- If it works correctly for you, the redirect is almost certainly fine
- Don’t try to “fix” individual redirect URLs based on this message alone
- These messages tend to resolve on their own over time as Google recrawls
Live Test & Rich Results Tester Messages
These messages appear when you use Google’s URL testing or Rich Results testing tools to preview how Google sees a specific page.
Message: “Other Error” (Shown in Page Resources During Rendering)
Where you’ll see it: Live URL Test or Rich Results Test, in the page resources section
What it sounds like: Something broke during rendering. Google can’t read my page properly. My JavaScript or CSS is failing to load.
What it actually means: This message almost always means Google’s test tool tried to load a resource — a JavaScript file, CSS file, font, or image — and it got skipped. Not because the resource is broken, but because the test tool hit its crawl budget limits before it could fetch it. Critically, no actual HTTP request was even made to the resource. Nothing failed. It just didn’t get requested in the first place.
This is one of the most misunderstood messages in Search Console. People see “Other Error” and assume their page has a major rendering problem, when in reality Google’s test tool simply ran out of budget before fetching every resource.
What to do:
- In the test tool, click “View Tested Page” and look at the screenshot Google captured
- If the screenshot looks normal — your page displays correctly, text is readable, layout is intact — then this error is not affecting how Google understands your page
- Only take action if the screenshot shows your page is broken, blank, or significantly distorted — that would mean a missing resource is genuinely causing a rendering problem
- You can also try running the test again; sometimes different resources get fetched on different test runs
Message: “Pages That Aren’t Indexed Can’t Be Served on Google”
Where you’ll see it: Page Indexing report or URL Inspection
What it sounds like: None of my pages are on Google. My entire site might be unindexed.
What it actually means: This message is tied to a specific URL that isn’t indexed. It’s not making a statement about your entire site — just that one URL. And the reason it’s not indexed may be completely intentional: it could be an alternate version, a redirect, a filtered URL, or a page you’ve intentionally blocked.
A good way to sanity-check your overall indexing situation — rather than panicking at individual URL messages — is to read this breakdown of Why Your Web Page Is Not Appearing in Google, which covers every legitimate reason a page might be missing from search results and how to tell the difference between a real problem and a non-issue.
Google regularly crawls URLs that were never meant to be indexed. They show up in reports, but your real content pages are likely perfectly fine.
What to do:
- Search
site:yourdomain.comon Google to see which pages are actually indexed - If your main pages appear in results, your content is on Google and this message is about a different, non-critical URL
- If key pages are missing from search results, that’s when you investigate further — but don’t judge by this message alone
Message: “URL Will Be Indexed Only If Certain Conditions Are Met”
Where you’ll see it: URL Inspection results
What it sounds like: There are specific problems preventing my page from being indexed. I need to find and fix those conditions right away.
What it actually means: This is a generic notice that the page appears indexable based on technical checks, but Google makes no guarantee that it will actually be indexed. Google does not index every page it can access — it makes judgment calls about what belongs in its index based on content quality, uniqueness, usefulness, and many other factors.
This message isn’t pointing to a specific problem. It’s just Google being honest: “We can index this if we choose to, but we don’t promise we will.”
What to do:
- Make sure the page has strong, original content that genuinely helps users
- Make sure it’s linked from other pages on your site (internal linking signals that you consider this page important)
- Make sure it loads quickly and is mobile-friendly
- These factors influence whether Google considers a page worth including in its index
Message: “URL Is on Google But Has Issues”
Where you’ll see it: URL Inspection results
What it sounds like: My page has errors. It’s on Google but broken in some way. I need to fix these issues urgently.
What it actually means: Your page is indexed and showing on Google — that’s the main thing. The “issues” are almost always about structured data (schema markup), not about the page itself. Google is saying: “This page is indexed fine, but it’s missing some structured data that would allow it to appear in enhanced search features.”
It’s also worth knowing that even when a page is fully indexed, it can sometimes appear to perform strangely in GSC — for instance, showing a high ranking position without generating actual clicks or traffic. If that’s something you’re experiencing alongside this message, this guide on GSC Shows High Average Position But Website Not Ranking explains the disconnect between GSC position data and real-world search visibility.
For example, if you have a product page but your schema doesn’t include review data, Google will flag that review structured data is missing. But that just means your page can’t appear in the rich product results that display star ratings. The page itself is fully indexed and ranking.
What to do:
- Click through to see the specific issue listed
- If it’s about structured data you genuinely don’t have (reviews you haven’t collected, prices that don’t apply, etc.), you don’t need to fix it
- If it’s about data you do have but haven’t added to your schema yet, adding it could unlock richer search appearances
- Remember: your page is already on Google. This is about enhancement opportunities, not a survival issue
Message: “URL Is Unknown to Google”
Where you’ll see it: URL Inspection results
What it sounds like: Google has no knowledge of this page at all. It’s completely invisible to Google.
What it actually means: Google hasn’t processed this URL yet. “Unknown” means there’s no result in its system — not that the URL was rejected or deemed unworthy. Google may already be aware of the URL through your sitemap or internal links, and it’s simply queued up and waiting to be crawled.
There’s no way to check Google’s internal discovery queue from the outside — you only find out the result when Google actually processes a URL. Until then, it shows as “Unknown.”
What to do:
- Use the URL Inspection Tool to request indexing — this moves the URL up in priority
- Make sure the page is linked from other pages on your site so Googlebot can find it through crawling
- Submit or re-submit your sitemap to ensure Google has the URL on its radar
- Check that the page isn’t accidentally blocked by robots.txt or carrying a noindex tag
Message: “No Referring Sitemap Found”
Where you’ll see it: URL Inspection, discovery details
What it sounds like: My sitemap isn’t working. Google isn’t reading it. My pages are not being discovered properly.
What it actually means: Google doesn’t have a record of discovering this specific URL through your sitemap. But this matters a lot less than it sounds. How Google discovers a page has no impact on how well that page gets crawled, indexed, or ranked.
Sitemaps are purely a discovery tool. They help Google find URLs it might not encounter through regular link-following. Once a URL is discovered — whether through a sitemap, an internal link, or an external link — it enters the same processing pipeline regardless of how it got there.
Also worth noting: if a URL is showing “Unknown to Google,” the sitemap status shown alongside it is also essentially unknown. It doesn’t mean the sitemap failed — it means the sitemap’s status for that URL hasn’t been checked yet because the URL itself is still unprocessed.
What to do:
- If the page is indexed and performing well in search, the sitemap discovery status is completely irrelevant
- If the URL is “Unknown to Google,” focus on getting it discovered through internal links and manually requesting indexing
- Make sure your sitemap is submitted in Search Console and kept up to date
Message: “Sitemap Temporary Processing Error”
Where you’ll see it: URL Inspection, discovery details
What it sounds like: My sitemap is broken or corrupted. Google can’t process it at all.
What it actually means: Google had an internal technical issue when it tried to check your sitemap at that specific moment. This is a Google-side problem, not a website-side problem. It doesn’t mean your sitemap file is invalid or inaccessible — it just means Google’s processing hit a temporary snag.
Sitemap processing issues in GSC — whether temporary errors or pages that simply aren’t being picked up — are more common than most people realize. Pages Not Crawled/Indexed – Sitemap Not Processed explains the full range of sitemap-related indexing problems and exactly what to check when your sitemap isn’t doing what you expect.
What to do:
- Open your sitemap URL directly in a browser to confirm it loads correctly
- If it loads fine, your sitemap is working — the processing error was on Google’s end
- Resubmit your sitemap in the Search Console Sitemaps section if the error persists for more than a week
- This type of error typically resolves itself without any action from you
Sitemap Report Messages
Message: “Couldn’t Fetch” or “Sitemap Could Not Be Read”
Where you’ll see it: Search Console → Sitemaps
What it sounds like: Google tried to access my sitemap and failed. My sitemap is broken and all the URLs in it are being missed.
What it actually means: In the vast majority of cases, this message means Google simply hasn’t tried fetching your sitemap yet — it’s in the queue. You won’t get a specific, descriptive error message unless Google has actually attempted the fetch and run into a problem. “Couldn’t fetch” in this context is often a placeholder for “not yet attempted.”
If Google had tried and genuinely failed, the error would usually be more specific — something like a 404 response, a server timeout, or a malformed XML error.
What to do:
- Visit your sitemap URL directly in a browser (for example,
yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) and confirm it loads correctly - If it loads fine, your sitemap is accessible and this status is simply “not checked yet”
- If you get an error when visiting the sitemap URL directly, that’s a real issue to investigate — check that your sitemap file is correctly formatted and publicly accessible
- There is no guarantee Google will fetch every submitted sitemap quickly — patience is required
HTTPS Report Messages
The HTTPS report checks whether your site is properly served over a secure connection. Messages here can sound alarming but are usually just status indicators.
Message: “HTTPS Not Evaluated”
Where you’ll see it: Search Console → HTTPS report
What it sounds like: There’s a problem with my SSL certificate or HTTPS configuration. My site might not be secure in Google’s eyes.
What it actually means: Google hasn’t run its HTTPS evaluation on your site yet. This is a “pending” status, not a failure message. Google hasn’t found a problem with your HTTPS — it just hasn’t checked yet.
HTTPS is a confirmed (though small) ranking signal for Google, so it does matter. But this message is not telling you anything is wrong.
What to do:
- Check your site manually: open your website in a browser and look for the padlock icon in the address bar
- If the padlock is there and your SSL certificate is valid, your HTTPS is working correctly for users right now
- Give Google time to run its evaluation — it will update the report once it processes your site
- If your SSL certificate is expired or your browser is showing a security warning, that’s a real issue to fix immediately — but that will be obvious from trying to visit your site, not just from this Search Console message
Enhancement Report Messages
Enhancement reports cover structured data and rich result eligibility. Messages here are almost always about missing optional data, not broken pages. Your pages remain indexed and functional regardless of what these reports show.
Message: “Video Is Not the Main Content of the Page”
Where you’ll see it: Enhancements → Video
What it sounds like: My video markup is broken. Google can’t see my video. My video SEO isn’t working.
What it actually means: Google has decided that the video on this page isn’t the primary reason someone would visit it. If you have a blog post that includes an embedded YouTube video partway through, Google sees the written content as the main content — not the video. As a result, Google won’t index the page in its video-specific index.
This has no effect on the page being indexed as a regular page. The page is still fully indexable and can rank in regular text search results. It just won’t appear in video-specific search results or the video tab on Google.
What to do:
- If this page genuinely isn’t a video-focused page (like an article that happens to include a supporting video), you don’t need to do anything
- Your page is still indexed and can rank normally in regular search
- If you want the page to be treated as a video page, the video should be the central piece of content — prominently featured above the fold, with strong video schema markup, and the page’s primary purpose should clearly be the video itself
Message: “Missing Field ‘priceValidUntil’ (in Offers)”
Where you’ll see it: Enhancements → Products
What it sounds like: My product structured data has an error. My product listings are incomplete and might not appear correctly in Google Shopping or product rich results.
What it actually means: Your product schema markup doesn’t include a priceValidUntil field. Google flags this as a warning because for some products — particularly promotional or sale prices — the price is only valid for a limited time. Omitting this field could theoretically mean a shopper sees an expired promotional price.
However, priceValidUntil is not a required field. It’s entirely optional. For products with a standard price that doesn’t expire on a specific date, you simply don’t need to include it. Google is flagging it as a courtesy reminder, not as an actual error.
Your product structured data is still valid and complete without this field.
What to do:
- If your product has a limited-time promotional price with a specific end date, add the
priceValidUntilfield with the correct expiry date - If your product has a regular, ongoing price with no expiry, ignore this warning completely — your structured data is fine as-is
- Your product is still eligible for rich results in search regardless of this warning
How to Tell If a Message Is a Real Problem or Not
After going through all of these, here’s a clear, practical framework for evaluating any Search Console message you encounter going forward:
Step 1: Check your most important pages first
Search site:yourdomain.com on Google and look at what comes up. Are your main pages there? Are your key product, service, or content pages appearing? If yes, your site’s core indexing is working fine, and the messages you’re seeing are likely about edge cases or alternate URLs.
Step 2: Ask: Is this URL supposed to be indexed?
Many Search Console messages are about URLs that were never meant to be indexed — old redirect chains, URL parameter variations, alternate versions of pages, staging pages. If a non-critical URL is not indexed, that’s not a problem worth worrying about.
Step 3: Ask: Is this a “not yet” or a “failed”?
If the message includes words like “not evaluated,” “unknown,” “couldn’t fetch,” or “discovered, not crawled,” it almost always means pending — not failed. Google is a slow-moving system at massive scale. Many of these resolve on their own without any action.
Step 4: Check the actual page or resource yourself
Before assuming something is broken, open the URL in a browser. Does it load? Does it redirect correctly? Does the sitemap file display properly? In many cases, a quick browser check confirms everything is working fine and the Search Console message is just a processing delay on Google’s end.
Step 5: Only act if there’s a confirmed real issue
If the page doesn’t load, if the sitemap file throws a 404, if the screenshot in the testing tool shows a genuinely broken page, if users are reporting problems — that’s when you act. Otherwise, monitor rather than react.
If after going through this framework you’re still seeing data in Search Console that genuinely doesn’t add up — numbers that contradict each other, traffic data that doesn’t match what you’re seeing in Google Analytics — that’s a separate issue worth investigating. This guide on Data Discrepancy Between GSC and GA Data explains exactly why GSC and GA often show different numbers and which source to trust for which type of decision.
The Golden Rule for Reading Search Console
Search Console is a reporting tool, not an alarm system. It shows you every single thing Google encounters on your website — including all the in-between states, pending processes, and edge cases. That’s genuinely valuable information. But it doesn’t mean everything it reports requires immediate action.
The biggest mistake most website owners make is treating every non-green status as an emergency. That leads to hours of unnecessary changes, sometimes breaking things that were actually working fine.
Investigate first. Understand what the message actually means. Then decide if action is needed.
In the majority of cases covered in this guide, the answer will be: keep an eye on it, but don’t stress. Your website is probably doing better than Search Console’s warning-heavy interface makes it appear.
And if you want a single reference that covers all the major technical health signals you should actually be monitoring on a regular basis — rather than reacting to individual GSC messages — this Technical SEO Checklist for 2025 gives you a structured audit framework to work from proactively, so you’re never caught off guard by what Search Console surfaces.
And if you’re ever genuinely unsure about a specific message, the Google Search Central Help Community is an excellent place to describe what you’re seeing and get guidance from people who understand these tools deeply.
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