SEO finding
The number of indexable pages moved sharply since the previous crawl
SEO Error Severity: High
Part of the audit Indexability. Finding id: seo.indexableCountChange.
What it costs you
A sharp change in the number of indexable pages is rarely planned. Search engines act on it within days or weeks.
What to do
Find what changed between the two crawls and decide whether it was meant.
What it checks
- Number of searchable pages changed
How to fix it
Find what added the pages
- List the pages that are new in this crawl and group them by template or folder.
- Look for new URL parameters, filters or pagination that became crawlable.
- If they were not meant to be indexed, give them a canonical to the main page or a noindex, then crawl again.
How to check: The next crawl shows a count close to the one before the change, or the new count is confirmed as intended.
Find what removed the pages
- List the pages that were indexable in the previous crawl and are not now, and group them by template or folder.
- Check for a new noindex, a new robots.txt rule, new canonicals or pages that now answer with an error.
- Undo the change if it was not intended, then crawl again.
How to check: The next crawl shows a count close to the one before the change, or the new count is confirmed as intended.
A real case
A web agency found that a client's WordPress site had been left on 'Discourage search engines', which keeps every page out of search, for a few years. Search traffic recovered once the box was unchecked.
Thresholds
| Name | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
max_change_pct | 20 | Report when the number of indexable pages rose or fell by at least this percentage between two crawls. |
How to verify by hand
The release log of the site, and the page indexing report in Search Console over the same dates.
What this relies on
A site does not gain or lose a fifth of its indexable pages between two crawls unless something was released or broke.