The Comprehensive Guide to Valid Pages in Google Search Console’s Coverage Report

Google Search Console’s coverage report lists several reasons a page might be “valid”. What does this mean? Is there something you need to do about this?

What’s wrong with a “valid” page in Google Search Console’s coverage report?

Nothing. These are in Google right now and appear that you want them. However, you should check to make sure something isn’t supposed to be hidden.

What notifications does the Google Search Console Coverage report give for valid pages?

• Submitted and indexed- This page is in Google’s index because it was submitted to Google (manually or through an XML sitemap). Now, you need an SEO campaign, so people can find it.
• Indexed, not submitted in sitemap- This page is in Google’s index despite not being listed in an XML sitemap. This means the Google spider found it by crawling the web.
• Indexed; consider making as canonical- Although this page is in Google’s index, there are duplicated pages out-there.

How can you remove a submitted and indexed page from Google’s index?

1. Remove the page from your XML sitemap.
2. Remove any internal links to that page.
3. Add a “noindex” robots meta tag to the page or require login to view the page. Treat this page like a “Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt” warning from Google Search Console.

How can you remove an indexed, not submitted in sitemap page from Google’s index?

You should add a “noindex” robots meta tag to the page or (better) require a login to view the page. Treat this page like a “Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt” warning.

What should you do with a page indexed; consider making as canonical from Search Console?

Add a canonical tag to this page and all duplicated pages that are like this page. The canonical tag, as Google is suggesting, should point to this original page.

Don’t forget to look at your excluded pages report in Google Search Console, too.

To learn more about valid pages in Google Search Console, read:  https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203