Analyzing index coverage is key in SEO – both for websites large and small.
If you liked my post about small website SEO website vs large website SEO, you’re going to like this one too.
In this article I’ll show you how you can use Google Search Console (GSC) to easily analyze index coverage.
Analyzing index coverage of large websites
An easy method involves filtering by sitemap in Google Search Console (GSC).
If a site’s XML sitemaps are submitted individually, you get a clear picture of the total pages discovered by Google. You’ll see a breakdown of the indexed vs non-indexed pages. Plus you’ll get insight into the reasons behind the indexing status.
Look at the example below, each of these sitemaps should be submitted to Google.
The effectiveness of this method hinges on how you have organized your sitemap.
If content is randomly grouped, sitemap filtering won’t be much help. But, with content neatly grouped by sub-folder and type – you’ll be in luck.
You can see exactly how many pages from different segments are indexed by Google.
Here’s how to do it:
- Select ‘Pages’ in GSC.
- Click the drop-down at the top.
- Select the sitemap of interest.
- Scroll down to see the overview metrics and exclusion reasons.
If a site’s individual sitemaps haven’t been submitted, add them to GSC. You won’t see data immediately, the data will start from the day you upload your sitemaps to GSC.
And that’s it… that’s how easy it is to check the indexing status of large websites. Break a big project into smaller chunks and analyze one part of your website at a time.
