Glossary
Indexability
Indexability is a page’s eligibility to be stored in a search engine’s index after it has been crawled. A page may be crawlable but excluded because of a noindex directive, canonical choice, duplicate content, low-value signals or other indexing decisions.
In plain terms
A bot can read the page, but indexability determines whether the engine can keep it for retrieval.
Why it matters
AI systems that rely on search indexes cannot retrieve a page that was never indexed or was consolidated elsewhere.
How to apply it
- Check index directives and canonical tags.
- Give important topics distinct, useful pages.
- Inspect indexing reports rather than assuming a successful crawl is enough.
Example
A crawler fetches a comparison page, but its noindex directive prevents the page from entering the searchable index.
Sources
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