WordPress pages not indexed: causes and fixes
WordPress makes extra tag, archive, and image pages that compete with your real posts. One setting can hide your whole site.
The three most common reasons on WordPress
Excluded by 'noindex' tag
Why it happens: The setting Settings > Reading > Discourage search engines from indexing this site adds noindex to all your pages. People often forget to turn it off after building the site.
The fix: Clear that checkbox. Then check each post's setting in your SEO plugin, which can also add noindex.
Crawled - currently not indexed
Why it happens: Tag, author, and date pages repeat the same post previews. Google keeps a few and skips the rest.
The fix: In your SEO plugin, set these pages to noindex and take them out of the sitemap. Keep category pages that have their own introduction.
Duplicate without user-selected canonical
Why it happens: Image pages, ?replytocom= comment links, and page 2, 3, and 4 of lists make extra addresses for the same content.
The fix: Turn off image pages, or send them to the image or the post they belong to. Most SEO plugins have a setting for this.
Where your sitemap is
WordPress 5.5 and later makes a sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml. Yoast SEO and Rank Math replace it with /sitemap_index.xml. Submit the one your site shows, and only one.
Settings that hide pages on WordPress
- Discourage search engines from indexing this site in Settings > Reading.
- A maintenance or coming-soon plugin that shows visitors an error or a login page.
- Security plugins that block bots can block Google too. Check their logs.
To tell Bing about changes too, see IndexNow on WordPress.
Questions
Which sitemap should I submit, /wp-sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml?
Open both in a browser. Submit the one that loads. With Yoast or Rank Math active, that is /sitemap_index.xml.
Should tag pages be indexed?
Only when a tag page has many posts and its own introduction. Most sites do better with tag pages set to noindex.