How to Fix 11 Google Search Console Errors Easily

Google Search Console is an essential part of every SEO toolbox, but how you can fix google search console errors if you get an email from google about errors from your website? Google search console helps in monitoring and correcting the errors in your website. Google Search Console allows you to analyze how your website is performing well.

It helps you in understanding the factors that help with the organic results. Google search console allows you to submit new content for crawling and indexing to improve your website visibility in the SERP.

Examples of Google Search Console Errors Notifications

If the Google search console detects any new index coverage issue on your website, you will receive an email from google. These errors can be fixed and resolved in the google search console.

How to Fix Google Search Console Errors
Errors – Fix Google Search Console Errors

If you've logged into Google search console recently, you most likely have seen some of these notifications:

  • Submitted URL not found (404)
  • Redirect error
  • Submitted URL marked ‘noindex.’
  • The submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404
  • Server error (5xx)
  • Soft 404 errors
  • Text too small to read
  • Clickable elements too close together
  • Content wider than screen
  • Submitted URL has crawl issue.
  • Site not mobile-friendly
  • Discovered – Currently Not Indexed

More related articles for you:

Don't freak out when you encounter issues in your Google Search Console account. Errors are common and anticipated in many situations.

If you are new to the google search console, we would highly recommend navigating the google search console help website for some articles and training videos to get you started.

Your first goal should be to resolve any CRAW ISSUES or NOT FOUND (404) issues, as these are errors that directly affect your rankings.

1. Redirect Error

This is when a redirect to a page isn't working correctly. Check your .htaccess file and your redirect rules to sort these google search console errors.

2. Submitted URL Not Found (404)

This is probably the most common coverage issue you'll see from Search Console. It means that a page submitted to Google is returning a 404 status code. This usually occurs when a page is deleted from a site but not from the sitemap.

Checking for errors in your Search Console should be a part of your SEO routine. Always optimize all your pages.

Fix Google Search Console Errors

Sitemap WordPress plugins such as Yoast will automatically delete them from the sitemap. Still, for non-WordPress sites, removing the page from the sitemap will have to be done manually.

3. Submitted URL Excluded as Soft 404

If you're in the habit of using the URL inspection tool to speed up the indexing process for your pages, this notification may bother you.

The Googlebot will periodically crawl your website, looking for site updates and new pages. For well-maintained websites, you can expect your pages to index in a matter of hours – for some different websites, this could mean waiting days or weeks for your pages to index. But according to us, you don't need to worry about too much if you get these google search console errors.

4. Submitted URL Blocked By robots.txt

Fix Google Search Console Errors
Errors – Fix Google Search Console Errors

These URLs are blocked because of the site's robots.txt file and are not indexed by Google. This means Google has not found signals strong enough to warrant indexing these URLs. If they had, the URLs would be listed under “Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt.”

5. Indexed, Though Blocked By robots.txt

Robots.txt file instructs Google's bot on which page to view and which page should not be considered. When you have submitted a web page for indexing, it's blocked by the robots.txt file. This error means “Google has found your page and also got instructions to ignore the robots file.

You will receive a mail from Google Search Console in case of any issues. Find this error from Google Search Console -> Coverage.

Use robots.txt tester to test and validate your robots.txt files.

6. Server Errors (5XX)

Google's crawlers couldn't reach your web server, usually during server maintenance hours. Keep an eye on this to ensure you don't have a problem with your hosting provider.

7. Alternative Page with Proper Canonical Tag

These URLs are duplicates of other URLs and are properly canonicalized to the preferred version of the URL. Action required: none.

8. Soft 404 Errors

Fix Google Search Console Errors
Soft 404 Error – Fix Google Search Console Errors

If your page is moved, replace them with the permanent 301 redirect, which is the proper way of redirecting your users. If it throws a soft 404 Error by mistake, then use the URL inspection tool. Sometimes the error is thrown just because of the Thin and Duplicate content. Sometimes it might be due to some technical glitch that leads to duplicate content issues.

9. How to Find Mobile Usability Issues

With Google's push towards mobile-first indexing, you really want to make sure your website works well for smartphone users. Here's how to find mobile usability issues in Google Search Console:

How to Fix 10 Google Search Console Errors Easily
Mobile Usability – Fix Google Search Console Errors
  1. Click “Mobile Usability” (under Enhancements).
  2. Make sure that “Error” is selected.
  3. If there are any errors, you’ll be able to go to the Details box and learn which Errors are causing mobile issues.
  4. You can also double-click on any Error type to see the affected page URL.

10. Excluded by Noindex Tag

The “noindex” robots meta tag tells Google to “not index” this web page. Your page must be crawled and indexed by the Googlebot to appear in a Google search result. So if you have set a page to “noindex,” it will not appear in any Google searches.

How To Fix Excluded by Noindex Tag Error:

This problem involves changing the meta tag from “noindex” to “index.” How you do this will depend on your CMS.

In WordPress, you may have a plugin called Yoast, which offers you both page-level settings, and sitewide settings to noindex certain content types.

After removing the tag, resubmit the URL to Google through the URL inspection tool.

You may also like to read:

11. Discovered – Currently Not Indexed

Google Search Console Errors: How to Find and Fix Them on Your Site
Currently Not Indexed – Fix Google Search Console Errors

Cause: Google knows the page exists but was unable to crawl it.

Fixing this error: Make sure Googlebot can access your site, isn't bogged down by an excessive crawl delay (specified in your robots.txt file), or is generally overloaded.

FAQs About How to Fix Google Search Console Errors

  1. What is Google Search Console?

    Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results. 

  2. What is the coverage issue in Google Search Console?

    The New Index Coverage Issue notices are part of Google's rollout of a new Search Console. It shows how well Google has indexed a site, showing changes over time. It also presents warnings about error URLs and indexing issues.

  3. What is an HTTP 404 error in Google Search Console?

    The HTTP error 404, or more commonly called “404 error”, means that the page you are trying to open could not be found on the server. This is a client-side incident which means either the page has been deleted or moved.

Conclusion – Fix Google Search Console Errors

We have covered some common Google Search Console errors and the cause and fixed them in simple steps. With the help of tools, you could fix any Google search console errors quickly. Identifying the errors becomes more straightforward and helps you improve the rankings.

Make sure that your pages can be crawled and indexed by Google with no problem at all. While submitting a sitemap does not directly affect your rankings, it will help Google notify you of any errors that might negatively impact your website's rankings.

We will be happy to hear your thoughts

Leave a reply

About Pro Blog Solutions

Pro Blog Solutions pull together information on a range of topics like WordPress, affiliate marketing, mobile apps, how-to guides, tutorials, web hosting, Android, make-money blogging, etc. Our efforts are to constantly improve the industry-leading solutions for the web in collaboration with our sponsors.

Trending on Web

Recommended for you

Sign up, and keep yourself up to date with our latest blog updates & offers!

© 2016-2023 Connect Motive Media. All Rights Reserved
Pro Blog Solutions