Are your pages crawled but not indexed?

You know that feeling when Google politely shows up, has a look around, then quietly backs out without indexing anything. No note. No explanation. Nothing.

You’re not alone. You’re also not broken. Your site isn’t cursed. And no, Google hasn’t put you on a secret naughty list for using AI, writing too much, or forgetting to add a table of contents.

This post exists because you’re probably staring at Search Console thinking, “But it’s good content. I worked on it. I even liked it.”

I’ve been there. I live there. I occasionally make tea there.

So, let’s talk about what’s actually going on.

Crawled but not indexed, translated into human

When a page is crawled but not indexed, Google has read it and decided, politely, to do nothing with it.

That decision usually isn’t about one fatal flaw. It’s about a slow build-up of small signals that say, “This doesn’t quite earn its place yet.”

That’s true whether the content was written by you, by AI, or by the dangerous combo of both at 1am.

Google isn’t asking, “Was this written by a human or a robot?”

It’s asking, “Does this feel finished, intentional and worth returning to?”

That question hits harder than any algorithm update.

The awkward truth about human and AI content

Human-written content can still be vague, repetitive, overlong, under-explained, or quietly pointless. We don’t talk about that enough.

AI-written content can be sharp, clear, structured and genuinely helpful if it’s guided, edited and challenged properly.

The problem is content that feels like it stopped one step short of being useful.

I call this the “Yeah, but…” problem.

• Yeah, but it doesn’t answer the question fully.
• Yeah, but it never commits to a point.
• Yeah, but I’ve read this before, just with different synonyms.
• Yeah, but I still have no idea.

Google feels that hesitation. So do readers.

Where pages usually lose Google’s interest

You’ll recognise at least one of these. Probably several.

Don’t worry, I’m not judging. I have written half of them myself over the years.

• Intros that warm up forever but never land a point
• Headings that look helpful but say nothing new
• Sections that exist because “SEO said so,” not because a human needed them
• AI drafts that were cleaned up but never reshaped
• Human drafts that never got edited because they “felt fine”

Fine is the most dangerous word in content.

What I actually do when I help pages get indexed

This isn’t about sprinkling keywords or adding another FAQ at the bottom like a sacrificial offering.

When you work with me, you get someone who reads your page the way Google and a tired human both would.

Slightly impatient. Quietly sceptical. Looking for a reason to care.

I help you:

• Clarify the actual purpose of the page
• Tighten the first 200 words so they earn attention
• Cut sections that dilute focus
• Rewrite parts that sound correct but say nothing
• Shape AI content so it reads like intent, not output
• Strengthen human content so it stops rambling and starts helping
• Or rewrite the entire thing if required

Sometimes that means less content. Sometimes it means deeper content.

Often it means saying the quiet part out loud.

Why this works right now

Indexing is harder than it used to be. Not because Google hates you, but because the web is noisier and lazier at the same time.

There’s a lot of content and not much conviction.

Pages that get indexed tend to feel deliberate. They answer real questions cleanly. They don’t hedge every sentence. They don’t apologise for existing.

That’s the gap I help you close.

• Not by fighting AI.
• Not by pretending humans never write rubbish.
• But by editing like someone who actually wants the page to survive.

If this sounds familiar, it’s probably not an accident

If you’ve got pages sitting in “crawled but not indexed” limbo, that’s a signal. Not a punishment.

A signal that your content is close, but not quite crossing the line.

That’s my favourite place to work.

If you want help rewriting, editing, or rescuing pages so Google and readers both take them seriously, you know where to find me.

I’ll bring the red pen, the empathy and just enough humour to keep us sane.

You wrote something worth publishing. Let’s make sure it actually gets published.