Term
Indexing
Indexing is the process by which a search engine analyzes a crawled URL and adds it to its search index. Crawling ≠ indexing — they are separate steps.
Indexing — explained in more detail
Indexing is the step that follows crawling: the search engine renders the page, extracts content, evaluates quality and duplicates, and decides whether to add the URL to the index. Only indexed URLs can appear in the SERPs — crawled does not automatically mean indexed.
Reasons for non-indexing despite successful crawling: a noindex directive, a canonical pointing elsewhere, content classified as a duplicate, quality below threshold (“Crawled — currently not indexed” in Search Console), or robots.txt blocking rendering resources.
Example / In practice
Check status in Google Search Console: Page indexing shows the indexing status per URL. The URL Inspection tool shows crawl and indexing history for a specific URL. A sitemap suggests indexing but does not force it — Google decides on its own.
Distinction from similar terms
Crawling = finding and downloading the page. Rendering = executing the page (incl. JavaScript). Indexing = structured addition to the search index. Ranking = sorting indexed URLs for a given search query. Only indexed URLs can rank.
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301 Redirect
A 301 redirect is an HTTP status code permanently redirecting one URL to another — the standard for URL changes, domain moves and site migrations.
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