“Discovered – Currently Not Indexed”: How I Fixed It on My Own Site

A few weeks ago, Search Console was showing my newer blog posts as “Discovered – currently not indexed”. Google knew the pages existed. It just hadn’t bothered to crawl them.

This post covers what that status means, what I changed to fix it, and what happened next, including a problem in my own data that I wasn’t looking for.

What does “Discovered – currently not indexed” mean?

It means Google has found the URL (usually through your sitemap or a link) but hasn’t crawled it yet, so it can’t appear in search results.

It’s different from “Crawled – currently not indexed”, where Google has looked at the page and decided not to include it. “Discovered” means Google hasn’t even looked yet. In effect, it’s decided your page isn’t a priority.

On a large site, that can be a crawl capacity issue. On a small site like mine, with a couple of dozen pages, crawl capacity isn’t the problem. The far more likely reason is that Google doesn’t yet trust the site enough to spend time on it.

That was my diagnosis: Search Console showed the site had effectively no external authority. So instead of chasing a technical bug, I looked for anything that made the site look less trustworthy, less clear, or less worth crawling.

What I changed to fix it

None of these is a magic switch. Together, they make the site clearer and more consistent, and that’s the point.

1. Removed a script that made the site look ad-driven

The site was loading Google’s AdSense script on every page, but there wasn’t a single ad unit anywhere, and no ads.txt file. Visitors saw no ads and the site earned nothing. Every page still carried a third-party ad script, and Google’s systems saw an ad-monetised site. I removed it.

2. Made the sitemap tell the truth

My sitemap was stamping every page with the date of the latest deploy. So every time I fixed a typo in one post, the sitemap claimed every page had changed. Google stops trusting lastmod dates once they’re consistently wrong, so I changed them to reflect real content updates only.

3. Tightened who I am, everywhere

There’s more than one “Jayne Hamilton” online, plus an agency with a similar name, so Google needs help working out which entity this site belongs to. I added my Webflow profile to the sameAs links in the site’s schema (it already linked to this site, but the site never claimed it back). I also made the site, the schema and a new Google Business Profile all say the same thing about location: New Zealand. I’ve written more about why that consistency matters in Schema Markup for Small Business.

4. Merged thin posts

Five posts were 300–600 words each. On a site Google is already reluctant to crawl, thin pages pull down the impression of the whole site. I merged them into stronger, related posts and 301-redirected every old URL to its replacement, so no links were lost. How to Do a Content Audit walks through how to decide what to merge.

5. Requested indexing for the stuck posts

In Search Console, I used URL Inspection → Request indexing on the posts that were stuck. On its own this rarely fixes the underlying problem, but once the other issues are dealt with, it nudges Google to look again.

What happened

The posts I checked are now all “Submitted and indexed”. The most recent one was crawled and indexed the day after I published it.

I can’t tell you which change did it. I made several at once, and Google doesn’t say why it changes its mind. What I can say is that the site went from “not worth crawling” to “crawled within a day”.

The problem I wasn’t looking for: fake impressions

While checking the results, I looked at the Performance report and something didn’t add up.

From mid-July to September, daily impressions climbed from around 50 a day to around 1,000, with an average position near the top of page one. Then in October they dropped to about 30 a day. Clicks barely moved the whole time.

So I broke it down by query. Over two months, one query accounted for 4,745 impressions at an average position of 1.9, with zero clicks:

does virtualjayne.com have a blog

No human searches like that. It looks automated, most likely tools or AI systems checking the site. And when I filtered it out, my real search terms (things like Google Ads audit checklists and AI search audits) were sitting around position 25–35. That’s page three.

So the impressions I might have celebrated were mostly not people. The site’s real visibility is lower than the graph suggested, and that’s the number I’m now working on.

What I’d tell you

Don’t trust a single Search Console number. Before you celebrate (or panic about) an impressions graph, break it down by query and ask whether real people would type those searches.

And if your pages are stuck at “Discovered – currently not indexed”:

On a small site, assume it’s a trust problem, not a technical one. Look for anything that makes the site less clear or less credible.
Remove things that send the wrong signal: unused scripts, misleading sitemap dates, thin pages.
Make your identity consistent across your site, schema and Google Business Profile.
Then request indexing. It works far better once the underlying problems are fixed.

If your issue is broader than one status message, Why Is My Website Not Showing on Google? covers ten things to check, in order.

FAQ

What does “Discovered – currently not indexed” mean in Google Search Console?

It means Google knows the URL exists but hasn’t crawled it yet, so the page can’t appear in search results. It usually means Google hasn’t prioritised the page, often because the site doesn’t yet have much authority or the page doesn’t look worth crawling.

What is the difference between “Discovered” and “Crawled – currently not indexed”?

“Discovered – currently not indexed” means Google hasn’t visited the page yet. “Crawled – currently not indexed” means Google has visited it and decided not to index it, which usually points to a content quality or duplication issue on that page.

How long does it take for a discovered page to be indexed?

There’s no fixed timeframe. It can be days or months. Improving the site’s overall quality and consistency, and then requesting indexing in Search Console, is the most reliable way to speed it up.

Does requesting indexing in Search Console work?

It helps Google notice the page again, but it doesn’t override Google’s judgement. If the underlying reason is low trust or thin content, a request alone often won’t stick. Fix the cause first, then request.

Why do I have lots of impressions but no clicks?

Check which queries the impressions come from. If they’re concentrated in odd queries with no clicks, such as questions about your own domain, they may be automated rather than real searchers. If they’re real queries, you’re probably ranking too low (page two or three) for anyone to click.