Common Google Search Console Errors and How to Fix Them
Solving Google Search Console Errors: A Step-by-Step Guide
Photo by Lauren Mancke on Unsplash
Google Search Console (GSC) is an essential tool for monitoring website performance and identifying technical issues that may impact SEO. Here are some common errors you may encounter in GSC and steps to fix them to ensure your site’s indexing and ranking are optimized.
1. 404 Error (Page Not Found)
What It Means: This occurs when a requested page cannot be found on your server.
How to Fix:
Redirect the URL to a relevant page if it was removed intentionally.
Update internal links pointing to the deleted page.
Restore the page if it was deleted accidentally.
2. Server Error (5xx)
What It Means: A 5xx error indicates a server issue that prevents Google from accessing the page.
How to Fix:
Check your server logs to understand the cause (such as server overload or maintenance).
Contact your hosting provider if the error is persistent.
Optimize server resources if high traffic is causing the error.
3. Mobile Usability Errors
What It Means: These errors relate to how your site performs on mobile devices, which is crucial for Google’s mobile-first indexing.
How to Fix: Address specific issues like the viewport not set, small font size, clickable elements too close together, etc.
Use responsive design practices and test the site on multiple devices to ensure it is mobile-friendly.
4. Soft 404 Error
What It Means: Google detected that a page might be empty or doesn’t provide valuable content, treating it like a 404 even if it technically exists.
How to Fix:
Add relevant content to the page.
Redirect the URL to a more useful page if the page isn’t necessary.
5. Redirect Errors
What It Means: Problems with redirect chains or loops, which can confuse Google and negatively impact user experience.
How to Fix:
Ensure each URL has only one direct redirect.
Avoid long redirect chains (i.e., multiple redirects from one page to another).
Fix redirect loops where a URL redirects back to itself or another page in the loop.
6. Submitted URL Blocked by robots.txt
What It Means: This error appears if you’ve submitted a URL for indexing, but it’s blocked by the robots.txt file.
How to Fix:
Edit your robots.txt to allow Google access to the blocked URLs.
If blocking is intentional (like for admin pages), remove those URLs from your sitemap.
7. Submitted URL Marked “Noindex”
What It Means: This indicates that a page you’ve submitted has a “noindex” directive, telling Google not to index it.
How to Fix:
Remove the “noindex” tag if you want the page indexed.
Exclude the URL from your sitemap if the page is meant to remain hidden.
8. Page with Redirect in Sitemap
What It Means: The sitemap has URLs that lead to redirected pages, which can confuse search engines.
How to Fix:
Update the sitemap to include only the final destination URLs.
Remove outdated URLs from your sitemap to keep it accurate.
9. Crawl Anomaly
What It Means: This error appears when Google encounters unspecified issues while attempting to crawl a URL.
How to Fix:
Investigate server logs to look for potential issues with server settings.
Run Google’s URL Inspection Tool to gather more insights about the affected page.
10. Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical
What It Means: Google found duplicate pages and did not identify a canonical version.
How to Fix:
Use the rel=“canonical” tag to specify the primary page.
Ensure that all duplicate pages reference the chosen canonical URL.
11. AMP Errors
What It Means: Issues in AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) may prevent the page from loading correctly on mobile.
How to Fix:
Use Google’s AMP Test Tool to identify errors.
Correct errors by updating your AMP HTML code to meet Google’s standards.
12. Security Issues
What It Means: Google detected possible security problems, such as malware or hacked content.
How to Fix:
Clean your site if compromised by malware.
Enable HTTPS for security.
Request a review from Google after resolving the issues.
Fixing these errors not only helps Google better understand and rank your site but also improves user experience. Regularly monitoring GSC ensures a healthy, SEO-friendly website that performs well in search results.