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Discovered - currently not indexed

Discovered - currently not indexed: what it means and how to fix

Google knows the URL and has not crawled it yet. Discovery is not a bug to force.

This status means Google has the URL, usually from a sitemap or a link, and has not fetched it. It is a queue, not a penalty. New sites and low-value URLs sit here for a long time.

Sending the URL to an indexing endpoint will not move it up. Google still has to decide the host is worth crawling.

Give the URL a reason to be crawled: a link from a page that already gets visits, a sitemap that lists only real pages, and a server that answers quickly with the content in the HTML.

What to check

  • Confirm the URL returns HTTP 200 without a login wall or interstitial.
  • Remove dead URLs from the sitemap so the crawl budget is not spent on them.
  • Add an ordinary HTML link from a page Google already indexes.

Fix prompt

Example prompt

Google has discovered this URL and has not crawled it. Return HTTP 200 with the content in the HTML, keep the URL in the sitemap, and link to it from an indexed page. Do not call an indexing API.

Check a URL · Crawlers · Glossary

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