Search Console’s Coverage report groups every indexing problem Google’s crawler encountered — pages it couldn’t reach, pages it chose not to index, pages blocked by mistake — into categories that all look similarly alarming in the dashboard, even though some need urgent attention and others are Google behaving exactly as intended.
Read the specific error label, not just the count
Open Search Console’s Coverage (or Pages) report and look at the actual labels under “Why pages aren’t indexed” rather than just the total count — “Excluded by noindex tag” is often intentional and fine, while “Server error (5xx)” or “Redirect error” point to something genuinely broken that needs fixing.
Search Console coverage error remediation
Search Console coverage errors sorted into what's actually broken and what's Google working as intended.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
This or something else?
| Coverage report shows errors you believe are genuine problems | This fix covers it |
| Pages are excluded but you’re not sure if that’s intentional | This fix covers it; we confirm which is which |
| Search Console isn’t set up at all yet | Google Search Console verification & sitemap submission |
| The site has a broader crawling or robots.txt issue, not specific coverage errors | Worth mentioning; may be related and covered by this fix |
What you are seeing
- Pages listed under “Error” or “Excluded” categories in the Coverage or Pages report
- A sudden increase in errors after a site change, migration, or plugin update
- Pages you expect to be indexed showing as not indexed
- Server errors or redirect errors specifically flagged
- A discrepancy between your sitemap’s page count and what’s actually indexed
Common causes
- A robots.txt rule accidentally blocking pages that should be crawlable
- A noindex tag applied more broadly than intended, such as by a staging-site setting left on
- Server errors intermittently affecting pages when Google’s crawler visits
- Redirect chains or loops confusing the crawler about a page’s final destination
- Duplicate content causing Google to choose a different canonical version than expected
What we do
- Review every error category and identify which are genuine problems versus expected exclusions
- Trace the specific cause for each real error found
- Fix robots.txt, noindex, redirect, or server-level issues as identified
- Request re-indexing for corrected pages through Search Console
- Monitor for the errors clearing over the following days
- Report on what was fixed and what was confirmed as intentional, not an error
What is included
- Genuine coverage errors identified and fixed
- Re-indexing requested for corrected pages
- A written explanation of what was fixed versus intentionally excluded
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- Content decisions about which pages should or shouldn’t be indexed — that’s your call, which we implement
- Guaranteeing a specific re-indexing timeline, since that’s controlled by Google’s own crawl schedule
- Fixing errors on pages you’ve deliberately chosen to keep unindexed
- Ongoing monitoring of coverage reports as a standing service
Questions about this fix
Why do some 'errors' seem to not actually be problems?
Search Console groups intentional exclusions (like noindex pages) in similar-looking categories to genuine errors, which is exactly why reading the specific label matters more than the alarming-looking count.
How long until fixed pages show as indexed again?
That depends on Google's own crawl schedule for your site, which we can't control directly — we request re-indexing, but the timeline is ultimately Google's.
Could this be affecting my search rankings right now?
Genuine errors on pages you want indexed can affect visibility, yes — which is part of why distinguishing real problems from intentional exclusions matters before assuming the worst.
Will this fix increase my total indexed page count?
Potentially, if genuine errors were preventing pages you want indexed from being crawled correctly — though the goal is correctness, not maximising count for its own sake.
What if some pages are correctly excluded and I want them to stay that way?
We confirm that with you before touching anything — intentional exclusions aren't something we'd change without your explicit confirmation they should be indexed instead.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
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Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.