Indexation for UK adult sites: reading the Page indexing report

A1Decide what should be indexed

Before reading any report, list the page types that belong in search: the safe-for-work landing page, category and product pages, guides, help pages, and location pages for premises. Everything else, including the age check, account areas, baskets, filter combinations and anything explicit behind the check, should stay out. The report only makes sense against that list. The reasoning behind that split sits in the age gate SEO note.

B2The statuses that matter

C3A monthly routine

1. Set the indexed total beside your list of pages that belong in search.
2. Open each status and sample a few URLs. Are they the types you expected?
3. Use URL Inspection on any important page that is missing, to see what Google fetched.
4. Check that the sitemap lists only pages that should be indexed.
5. Note what changed since last month and why.

D4When the gate gets in the way

If open pages show as excluded or not indexed, the age check may be wrapping them by mistake, or a noindex meant for gated pages may be applied site-wide. URL Inspection shows exactly what Google received. Crawlers should meet the same experience as an unverified visitor, never a special route past the check.

E5Filters and duplicates

A large "Discovered, currently not indexed" count on a shop often traces back to filter URLs or product variants. The fix is covered in our note on faceted navigation, and the wider technical work on adult technical SEO.

F6Sitemaps that match your intentions

Your XML sitemaps should list only the pages you want in search: open category, product, guide, location and help pages. Leave out gated pages, filter URLs, internal search results and anything carrying noindex. A sitemap that includes pages you do not want indexed sends a mixed signal and makes the Page indexing report harder to read, because Google reports on what you submitted. Generate sitemaps automatically from the same rules that decide which pages are open, so they stay right as the site changes.

G7Pages that should be indexed but are not

1. Inspect the URL in Search Console and read the reason given.
2. Check that the live page returns 200, carries no noindex and points its canonical at itself.
3. Check that it is linked from at least one indexed page, such as its category or a guide.
4. Read the page as a stranger would: is it thin, duplicated or very similar to another page?
5. Improve or merge it, then request indexing once, and give it a few weeks.

On adult sites, the most common hidden cause is the age check or a noindex meant for gated templates wrapping an open page by mistake.

H8Pages that are indexed but should not be

Gated pages, old filter URLs or test pages sometimes appear in search. For pages that must never be public, the first fix is on the server: make sure they return nothing to an unverified visitor or crawler. Then add noindex where the page can still be fetched, and remove it from sitemaps and internal links. Search Console's removals tool hides a URL quickly while the permanent fix takes effect, but it is temporary and is not a substitute for fixing the cause.

J9After a migration or redesign

Indexing changes most after a move to a new platform, theme or domain. Before launch, record the indexed totals by page type. After launch, check the Page indexing report weekly for two months, with particular attention to redirects, pages newly marked as noindex and pages excluded as duplicates. Compare the totals with your baseline; a sudden fall in indexed category or product pages almost always has a single technical cause that can be found and fixed. Common culprits are a staging noindex tag left in the live templates, redirects that chain through several steps, and an age check accidentally applied to every page.

K10What good looks like

On a healthy UK adult site, the indexed total is close to the number of open pages you want in search, new products and guides are indexed within days, and the excluded statuses consist mostly of pages you chose to keep out. The figures will never match exactly, and they do not need to. What matters is that the differences are understood and stay stable from month to month. Filters are covered in our note on faceted navigation, and the wider technical work on technical SEO.

L11Reading the report without panic

The Page indexing report can look alarming on adult sites, because many pages are excluded on purpose. Before reacting to a large number, ask three questions: is this a status I expect for the page types involved, has the number changed sharply since last month, and are any of the affected pages ones I want in search? If the answer to all three is no, the report is telling you the site is working as designed. Sudden changes, and open pages in unexpected statuses, are what deserve attention. Keep a short monthly note of the totals by status, so a change stands out against the usual pattern rather than against memory.

M12Speeding up indexing of new pages

New products and guides are indexed faster when they are linked from pages Google visits often, such as the home page, category pages and recent guides, and when they appear in an up-to-date sitemap. Requesting indexing in Search Console helps for a handful of important pages, such as a new category, but it is not a way to push large numbers through. On a site where crawling is spent on filter URLs, fixing that problem usually does more for new pages than any request, as our note on faceted navigation explains. Guides and categories that link to new products also help, since search engines follow those links on their next visit.

N13Sources cited

• Google Search Central documentation
• Ofcom

Read the originals here; this guide summarises them and may lag behind later updates.

QQuestions