The first time I opened Google Search Console and saw a list of errors, I closed the tab and pretended I had not seen them.
There were red numbers, warning icons, and labels I did not understand. Coverage errors. Crawl anomalies. Pages not indexed. It looked like my website was falling apart. I did not know what any of it meant, and the language Google used to describe the problems made it feel more confusing than helpful.
That was a mistake I paid for with months of invisible pages and lost traffic.
When I finally sat down and learned what each error actually meant — in plain, simple terms — I realised something important. Google Search Console errors are not a sign that your website is broken beyond repair. They are Google telling you exactly what is wrong and exactly where to look. Once you understand the language, the errors become one of the most valuable tools you have for improving your website's search performance.
This guide will explain the most common Google Search Console errors in simple English, what each one means for your website, and exactly what to do to fix them.
What Is Google Search Console and Why Do Errors Matter?
Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that shows you how Google sees your website. It tells you which pages are indexed, which keywords bring visitors to your site, how fast your pages load on mobile, and — most importantly for this article — what errors and problems Google has found while crawling your website.
And according to Google's Search Central documentation, indexing issues, crawl errors, and Core Web Vitals can directly affect how pages appear in search results. Website owners can monitor these issues through Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights.
Errors in Google Search Console are not just warnings to ignore. They are direct signals from Google about problems that are preventing your pages from being crawled, indexed, or ranked properly. Every error you leave unfixed is a page that may be invisible in search results — regardless of how good the content on that page is.
Fixing Search Console errors is one of the highest-impact things you can do for your website's SEO. And unlike keyword research or link building, most errors have clear, specific fixes that you can apply yourself without a developer.
Before diving into error types, run a free technical SEO audit on your website at Rankests — rankests.com — to get a clear picture of your site's current health alongside your Search Console data. Both together give you the most complete view of what needs fixing.
Error One — Page Is Not Indexed
This is the most common and most impactful error in Google Search Console. It means Google has found your page but decided not to include it in its search index — which means the page will not appear in search results at all.
There are several reasons Google might not index a page, and Search Console tells you which reason applies to each affected page.
Crawled — currently not indexed. Google visited the page but chose not to index it. This usually means Google found the content thin, low quality, or too similar to other pages on the web. The fix is to improve the content on those pages — make it longer, more detailed, more useful, and more original.
Discovered — currently not indexed. Google knows the page exists but has not yet visited it. This often happens on newer websites or pages that have no internal links pointing to them. The fix is to add internal links from other pages on your site pointing to the unvisited page, and to make sure your XML sitemap is submitted in Search Console.
Duplicate without user-selected canonical. Google found multiple versions of the same page and could not determine which one is the main version. The fix is to add a canonical tag to each page pointing to the definitive version you want Google to index.
Noindex tag detected. Someone — possibly you, possibly a plugin — added a noindex tag to this page telling Google not to index it. If this was unintentional, find and remove the noindex tag. Check your SEO plugin settings for each affected page.
Error Two — Page With Redirect
This error means a URL in your sitemap or internal links is redirecting to another URL. Google prefers to index the final destination URL directly rather than following redirects.
The fix is straightforward. Find the pages in your sitemap or internal links that are using redirected URLs and update them to point directly to the final destination URL. This removes unnecessary redirect hops and makes it easier for Google to crawl and index your content efficiently.
Redirect chains — where one URL redirects to another URL that redirects to another URL before reaching the final page — are a more serious version of this issue. Each hop slows Google down and wastes crawl budget. Fix redirect chains by updating all original URLs to redirect directly to the final destination in a single step.
Error Three — Not Found (404)
A 404 error means Google tried to visit a page on your website and found nothing there. The page does not exist at that URL.
404 errors happen when you delete a page, change a URL, or move content without setting up a redirect from the old address to the new one. They also happen when another website links to a URL on your site that no longer exists.
The fix depends on the situation. If the page was moved, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new correct URL. If the page was deleted and the content no longer exists anywhere on your site, the 404 is acceptable — but make sure no internal links on your site are still pointing to that deleted URL. Use the Broken Link Finder on Rankests — rankests.com — to find and fix any internal links pointing to 404 pages.
Error Four — Server Error (5xx)
A 5xx error means Google tried to visit your page and your server failed to respond correctly. The page exists, but the server could not deliver it.
These errors are usually caused by server overload, a misconfigured hosting setup, or a faulty plugin causing your website to crash under load. They are more serious than other errors because they can affect many pages at once and cause significant drops in crawling and indexing.
The fix starts with your hosting provider. Log into your hosting dashboard and check for any error logs or server issues. If you are on shared hosting and your server is consistently overloaded, upgrading to a faster hosting plan may be necessary. Also, deactivate plugins one by one to identify if a specific plugin is causing server errors.
If 5xx errors appear only occasionally and then resolve themselves, your server may be temporarily overloaded during high-traffic periods. A caching plugin can reduce server load significantly by serving cached pages instead of generating them fresh on every visit.
Error Five — Mobile Usability Errors
The Mobile Usability report in Google Search Console shows pages that have problems on mobile devices. Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, these errors directly affect your search rankings.
The most common mobile usability errors are text too small to read, clickable elements too close together, and content wider than the screen.
Read the related article: The Free Technical SEO Audit Checklist for 2026
For text too small to read, increase your base font size to at least 16 pixels in your theme or CSS settings. For clickable elements too close together, increase the padding and spacing between buttons and links so each one is easy to tap accurately on a touchscreen. For content wider than the screen, find the element causing horizontal overflow — usually a fixed-width image or table — and set it to scale responsively within the screen width.
After fixing mobile usability errors, use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to request re-indexing of the affected pages. This tells Google to re-crawl those pages and update its assessment of their mobile usability.
Error Six — Core Web Vitals Issues
The Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console shows pages that are failing Google's speed and user experience measurements — Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift.
Pages marked as Poor in this report are being penalised in rankings compared to pages with Good scores. Pages marked as Needs Improvement are borderline and worth fixing before they drop into the Poor category.
The fixes for Core Web Vitals issues depend on which specific measurement is failing. For poor LCP — slow loading of the main content — compress your images and remove render-blocking resources. For poor INP — slow response to clicks and taps — reduce the amount of JavaScript running on your pages. For poor CLS — content jumping around during loading — add explicit dimensions to your images and reserve fixed space for ads and embeds.
Run your website through the free audit at Rankests — rankests.com — to see your Core Web Vitals scores alongside all your other technical issues in one place.
How to Fix Errors Efficiently
Working through Search Console errors one by one is the right approach, but doing it efficiently saves time and gets faster results.
Start with the errors that affect the most pages. If 30 pages have a noindex error and 3 pages have a 404 error, fix the noindex issue first — it has the biggest impact on your search visibility.
After fixing a group of errors, use the Validate Fix button in Google Search Console to tell Google you have addressed the issue. Google will then re-crawl the affected pages and update the report. This process usually takes a few days to a few weeks, depending on how often Google crawls your site.
Check your Search Console errors at least once a month. New errors can appear anytime you make changes to your website — new content, updated plugins, changed URLs, or a new theme. Catching them early means fixing them before they affect your traffic.
Conclusion
Google Search Console errors are not something to fear or ignore. They are Google communicating directly with you about what is preventing your website from performing at its best in search results.
Understanding what each error means — and knowing the specific fix for each one — turns Search Console from a confusing dashboard full of red numbers into one of the most powerful free tools available for improving your website's search visibility.
Start by running your free technical SEO audit at rankests.com to identify your most critical issues. Then open Google Search Console, work through each error type using the fixes in this guide, and validate your fixes as you go.
Every error you fix is one more barrier removed between your content and the people searching for it.
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About the Author
Kester Terna is an SEO specialist and founder of Rankests, where he helps website owners identify technical SEO issues, improve search visibility, and grow organic traffic.