How many of your pages are actually indexed by Google?

Here's a number worth knowing: how many of your pages are actually in Google's index. Not how many you've published, but how many Google has chosen to store and is willing to show. The gap between those two figures is one of the most diagnostic signals in SEO, and most site owners have never looked at it.

Our indexed-pages check estimates this by querying how many of your URLs Google reports knowing about. (It runs when a search API key is configured, so it's one of the checks that appears depending on setup.)

Why the indexed count matters

Publishing a page doesn't guarantee it gets indexed. Google crawls it, evaluates it, and decides whether it's worth keeping. So the indexed count is really Google telling you how much of your site it considers worth storing. Reading it:

Indexed ≈ published: healthy. Most of your content is eligible to rank.
Indexed ≫ published: you may have a duplicate-URL problem. Parameters, filters, or session IDs can spawn thousands of near-identical pages. (See canonical URLs.)
Indexed ≪ published: the interesting one. Google knows about far fewer pages than you've made. Something is keeping them out.

That last case is where the real diagnosis happens.

Why pages don't get indexed

When your indexed count is low, it's usually one of these:

Accidental noindex. A directive (in the meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header) is telling Google to skip pages. This is the first thing to rule out; see indexability.
Blocked crawling. A robots.txt rule stops Google fetching pages, so it never gets far enough to index them.
Thin or duplicate content. Google crawls the pages but judges them too thin or too similar to others to bother indexing. The fix is content, not configuration.
Poor internal linking. Pages with nothing linking to them ("orphans") are hard for Google to discover. Strong internal linking helps it find everything.
Crawl budget on large sites. Very big sites can have pages Google simply hasn't gotten to yet, especially if crawl budget is wasted on duplicates and dead ends.
Newness. Recently published pages take time. A low count on a young site is often just patience.

How to check it yourself

Our audit gives you an estimate, but the authoritative source is Google Search Console:

Open the Pages report (formerly "Index Coverage"). It shows exactly how many pages are indexed and, crucially, why the rest aren't, grouped by reason ("Excluded by noindex," "Crawled – currently not indexed," "Duplicate," and so on).
Use URL Inspection on a specific page that's missing to see its precise status and request indexing.
Compare the indexed total against your sitemap's URL count. A big shortfall is your signal to dig in.

Search Console is free and the single best tool for this. If you take one action from this post, connect it.

What to actually do about a gap

Rule out the blockers first: noindex tags, X-Robots-Tag headers, and robots.txt disallows. These are quick and account for most surprises.
Check for duplication inflating or fragmenting your URLs, and fix canonicals.
Improve thin pages or consolidate them. Three weak pages on a topic often do better merged into one strong page.
Strengthen internal links so every page you care about is reachable in a few clicks from the homepage.
Be patient with new content, but make sure your sitemap is submitted so Google knows it exists.

Common mistakes

Assuming published means indexed. It doesn't. Google decides.
Ignoring the "Crawled – currently not indexed" bucket, which usually points at thin or low-value content.
Not connecting Search Console, and so flying blind on the one report that explains why.
Chasing 100% indexation. You don't need every utility page indexed. Thank-you pages, filters, and internal search results are fine to leave out. Aim for your valuable pages being indexed, not literally all of them.

FAQ

How do I see how many pages Google has indexed?

Use the Pages report in Google Search Console. It's the authoritative count and explains why excluded pages aren't indexed. Our audit provides an estimate when a search API is configured.

Is a low indexed count always bad?

Not always. New sites need time, and it's fine for utility pages to stay out. It's a problem when valuable pages you want found aren't getting indexed.

Why would Google crawl a page but not index it?

Usually because it judges the page thin, duplicative, or low-value. The fix is improving or consolidating the content, not a technical toggle.

What's the difference between crawling and indexing?

Crawling is Google fetching the page; indexing is Google deciding to store it and make it eligible to rank. A page can be crawled but not indexed.

Key Takeaways

The indexed-page count is Google's measure of how much of your site it considers worth storing; compare it against your published page count to find problems.
When the indexed count is far below the published count, the usual causes are accidental noindex directives, robots.txt blocks, thin or duplicate content, poor internal linking, crawl-budget limits on large sites, or simply newness.
The Pages report in Google Search Console is the authoritative source: it shows the exact indexed count and groups excluded pages by reason.
Aim for your valuable pages to be indexed, not 100% of every URL. Utility pages like thank-you pages, filters, and internal search results are fine to leave out.

Want a quick estimate of how much of your site Google has indexed, and the checks that affect it? Run a free audit. More in the SEO explainers.