Last updated on:
30.10.2026
Indexing
Indexing means a page is stored in Google's index and can appear in results. Why it is the first thing to check before buying any link.
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Indexing is the step in which a search engine stores a crawled page in its index so it can appear in results. Crawling and indexing are not the same: Google can crawl a page and decide not to index it, which happens more often than most site owners realise.
Why this belongs in a link building glossary
Because a link pointing to an unindexed page is money burned. The link passes its signal to a page that cannot rank, since it is not in the index at all. This is the single most expensive mistake in link buying, and it is invisible unless you check.
How to check in two minutes
Search for site:yourdomain.com/the-page. If nothing comes back, the page is not indexed. The Search Console URL inspection tool gives the reason: blocked by robots.txt, marked noindex, seen as a duplicate of another page, or simply judged not worth indexing.
The most common causes
A noindex tag left over from staging. A canonical pointing at a different page. Thin content that Google crawled and dismissed. Or a robots.txt rule that blocks an entire directory, which is how whole sections quietly disappear.
What to do before you buy
Confirm the target page is indexed, then buy the placement. In that order. If the page is not indexed, fix the cause first, because no number of links repairs it.
Related: link building · duplicate content · URL structure
About the author
Julian Kirfel
Co-Founder & CMO
Julian Kirfel is Co-Founder and CMO of Linkbroker.de and an expert in scalable SEO strategies, digital PR and link building. As a former board member with marketing responsibility and founder of several e-commerce brands, he brings deep operational understanding. During Linkbroker's build-up phase, he was responsible for sales and the delivery of client projects and helped numerous companies establish SEO as their leading growth channel. Today he leads the development and marketing of the marketplace and shares his experience in expert articles (including on OMR), on LinkedIn and on the company's YouTube channel.