The indexing checklist
The list below breaks this down into the parts that matter most. Read through each one and note anything that applies to your own setup.
- Use a stable public URL for each important route.
- Set a unique title, description and canonical for each page.
- Make important content available in the rendered HTML path.
- Link pages from an accessible hub or navigation.
- Publish a sitemap with canonical URLs.
- Allow crawling in robots.txt unless a page is intentionally private.
Diagnose a missing page
Follow the sequence below from start to finish. The order matters: later steps assume the earlier ones are done.
- Open the exact published URL in a browser.
- Check the response and browser console for route or asset errors.
- Inspect the title, canonical and robots directives.
- Use Search Console URL Inspection after the page is public.
- Resolve duplicate, thin or inaccessible content before requesting indexing.
A page can be in the sitemap and still be excluded. Sitemaps help discovery; they do not override noindex, canonical choices or quality systems.
AI search
Clear entity descriptions, useful answers, credible sources and consistent internal links support both classic indexing and AI citations. Do not replace technical SEO with an llms.txt file or generic AI copy.
Launch readiness checklist
Before making changes, work through the points below. Each one covers a different part of the picture, so treat them as a set rather than picking favourites.
- Custom domain connected with HTTPS enforced on every route.
- Homepage, key landing pages and any blog or docs section return a 200 status when requested directly.
- No route serves a generic loading shell as its only content to a crawler.
- 301 redirects in place for any renamed or removed routes.
- Search Console and analytics verified against the live domain, not the preview URL.
Warning signs something is wrong
A few moving parts are involved here. The points below cover each of them, so you can see the full scope before deciding where to start.
- A page ranks for its own brand name but nothing else after several weeks.
- Search Console shows 'Discovered, currently not indexed' for important pages.
- The cached or rendered HTML in URL Inspection is missing the visible page copy.
- Traffic drops sharply after a redeploy or domain change with no redirect plan.
- Internal search finds a page but Google site: search does not.