Google search console only indexed 3 pages out of 20k. No reason given !
- Thread starter MrJane
- Start date
hisene
Registered Member
- Jun 17, 2026
- 56
- 18
Sure, it could be a factor for new domains too. I would definitely examine other factors such as quality of the content, crawl signals, and internal links first.
- Sep 1, 2009
- 1,274
- 346
You can check for content, weak internal linking, low site authority, and too many similar urls. With 20k pages, Google may not see enough value or priority to index them all.
WeiChen1232
Newbie
- Jun 16, 2026
- 25
- 1
20k page, but only 3 indexed? The first things that I would check out would be duplication nd internal linking problems. the fact that google crawl certain URLs does not necessarily mean that they are considered important.
- Nov 26, 2015
- 4,774
- 1,058
Only 3 of 20,000 pages being indexed usually means there is a major indexing/crawling issue. Common causes are Crawled/Discovered currently not indexed, noindex tags, canonical/duplicate issues, robots.txt restrictions, thin pages, or sitemap problems.
yes its adult and its brand new
- Jun 9, 2020
- 6,611
- 3,269
use indexing services and submit your main pages to GSC for indexing. After that, it starts crawling other pages as well.
MadOnGrind
Junior Member
- Jan 8, 2026
- 153
- 75
The "brand new + 20k pages" combo is probably the whole story. Crawling 20k URLs costs Google something, and on a domain with no history it has no reason to spend that yet.
One thing nobody's mentioned: tube setups usually spin up huge numbers of near-identical URLs on their own (tag pages, category pagination, sort params, the same video sitting under two tags). If most of your 20k is that, Google seeing it and shrugging is the expected outcome, not a bug.
What I'd do instead of chasing it site-wide: pick maybe 30 pages you actually want ranking, put them in their own sitemap, and make sure they're reachable in a click or two from the homepage. Then watch whether those move over a couple of weeks. If they index and the rest doesn't, you've learned it's a priority problem rather than a technical block.
Worth ruling out the boring stuff first though. Does one of those unindexed URLs pass URL Inspection cleanly, or is it showing a canonical pointing somewhere else?
One thing nobody's mentioned: tube setups usually spin up huge numbers of near-identical URLs on their own (tag pages, category pagination, sort params, the same video sitting under two tags). If most of your 20k is that, Google seeing it and shrugging is the expected outcome, not a bug.
What I'd do instead of chasing it site-wide: pick maybe 30 pages you actually want ranking, put them in their own sitemap, and make sure they're reachable in a click or two from the homepage. Then watch whether those move over a couple of weeks. If they index and the rest doesn't, you've learned it's a priority problem rather than a technical block.
Worth ruling out the boring stuff first though. Does one of those unindexed URLs pass URL Inspection cleanly, or is it showing a canonical pointing somewhere else?
my root domain page or the homepage is indexed. non of the rest!
this is aged domain since 2007 mate. i just purchased it as a new owner
quicksolution
Registered Member
- Jul 14, 2023
- 70
- 21
Maybe Google is still checking the page or the content quality is too low. Try improving the page and request indexing again.
MarketSellCap
Registered Member
- Jan 3, 2026
- 56
- 14
The domain may be old, but the current site is still new. Start with a smaller group of good pages and see if Google indexes those before trying to push all 20k pages.
- Oct 10, 2023
- 1,233
- 416
The fact that it's a 2007 domain changes this. you didn't start with a completely new domain, so I would check what happened on that domain before you bought it.
was this an expired domain you re registered, or did you buy it as a running site? that changes what I would look at.
Either way, pull it up on the Wayback Machine and see what it was used for before your content went up. If it was something totally different, or already had a history of poor quality content, that's worth knowing.
I would also check the links report in GSC and look at the old backlink profile. If there is a lot of spam from before you bought the domain, I would want to know that before assuming the 20k pages are simply a crawl budget problem.
A homepage indexing while almost nothing else does could still mean either thing, a domain trust issue from before, or a straightforward crawl priority problem. I would inspect a sample of the unindexed URLs in gsc and check their canonical, indexability, and whether Google sees them as valuable enough to index. If everything looks clean, the domain’s past is probably the reason.
was this an expired domain you re registered, or did you buy it as a running site? that changes what I would look at.
Either way, pull it up on the Wayback Machine and see what it was used for before your content went up. If it was something totally different, or already had a history of poor quality content, that's worth knowing.
I would also check the links report in GSC and look at the old backlink profile. If there is a lot of spam from before you bought the domain, I would want to know that before assuming the 20k pages are simply a crawl budget problem.
A homepage indexing while almost nothing else does could still mean either thing, a domain trust issue from before, or a straightforward crawl priority problem. I would inspect a sample of the unindexed URLs in gsc and check their canonical, indexability, and whether Google sees them as valuable enough to index. If everything looks clean, the domain’s past is probably the reason.
- Oct 20, 2013
- 9,877
- 1,607
You can check the reasons shown under page indexing instead of trying to force indexing. Also, check how many are “crawled currently not indexed” vs “discovered currently not indexed,” then check sitemap, internal links, canonicals, noindex tags and duplicate/thin pages.
Also, make sure the important pages are linked well from the site before requesting indexing.
Also, make sure the important pages are linked well from the site before requesting indexing.