{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "content_item_id": "dictionary-indexability.en",
  "translation_group_id": "dictionary-indexability",
  "locale": "en",
  "type": "glossary",
  "section": "dictionary",
  "slug": "indexability",
  "title": "Indexability",
  "description": "Why a technically eligible page is not necessarily present in an index.",
  "direct_answer": "Indexability is the technical eligibility of a URL and its content for inclusion in a particular search engine's index. It requires accessibility and no blocking directives, but it does not guarantee actual indexing, ranking, retrieval, or user visibility.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Working meaning",
      "paragraphs": [
        "An indexable page generally returns a meaningful successful response, permits crawling, and lacks an applicable noindex directive. Canonicals, duplicates, and quality may affect representation selection. Exact conditions and outcomes depend on the named search engine."
      ],
      "source_ids": [
        "google-crawl",
        "yandex-indexing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "How to distinguish",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Crawlability describes whether a resource can be fetched, indexability whether it can be considered for an index, and indexed an observed presence in that index. A page may be fetchable yet excluded by a directive, or eligible but not selected for storage."
      ],
      "source_ids": [
        "google-crawl",
        "yandex-indexing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Example",
      "paragraphs": [
        "A new URL returns 200, has a self-canonical, and is not blocked by robots.txt. That supports baseline indexability, but it should not be called indexed until Search Console, Yandex Webmaster, or an observable result provides evidence."
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Testing",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Check the HTTP status, meaningful body without mandatory JavaScript, robots.txt, meta robots and X-Robots-Tag, canonical URL, redirects, and access for the named crawler. Then record URL-inspection evidence for each platform separately, with the observation date."
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Interpretation limit",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Even an actually indexed URL may not rank for a target query or appear in an AI feature. Indexability is a readiness layer, not a measure of demand, quality, mentions, or citation."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published_at": "2026-09-11",
  "modified_at": "2026-09-11",
  "data_through": "2026-09-11",
  "next_review_at": "2026-10-11",
  "author": "GeoAeoAle Editorial",
  "origin": "editorial",
  "publisher": "GeoAeoAle Editorial",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "canonical_url": "https://geoaeoale.com/en/dictionary/indexability/",
  "claims": [
    {
      "claim_id": "indexability-scope",
      "text": "An HTTP 200 response and permitted crawling are necessary accessibility signals, but actual indexing must be checked with the target search engine's own evidence.",
      "status": "inference",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "source_ids": [
        "google-crawl",
        "yandex-indexing"
      ],
      "publication_status": "public",
      "confidentiality": "public"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "google-crawl",
      "canonical_url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/technical",
      "title": "Google Search technical requirements",
      "publisher": "Google Search Central",
      "source_type": "official",
      "locale": "en",
      "published_at": null,
      "checked_at": "2026-09-11",
      "sha256": "5fff9bd0dd8ef5fe14fdbc1b7debbf79ef3b8b6b507b21b87ac5e62b2ba25b30",
      "license": "Source terms apply",
      "visibility": "public"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "yandex-indexing",
      "canonical_url": "https://yandex.com/support/webmaster/en/service/site-indexing",
      "title": "How Yandex indexes websites",
      "publisher": "Yandex Webmaster",
      "source_type": "official",
      "locale": "en",
      "published_at": null,
      "checked_at": "2026-09-11",
      "sha256": "1c2adbffc77761e043a9f874418d7000a68f6587bb2c698dd3bcfeb900e2b6df",
      "license": "Source terms apply",
      "visibility": "public"
    }
  ],
  "related_slugs": [
    "ai-visibility",
    "retrieval",
    "source-attribution"
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Test each search engine independently: Google and Yandex can process the same URL differently and update status at different times. An inspection result is valid only for its recorded date."
  ],
  "corrections": []
}