A new page for AC replacement has been live for a week. You type its exact title into Google and it isn't there.
A friend says, "Check Search Console." You open it, and the first thing you see is a gray line: "Discovered - currently not indexed."
Here's how I'd set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools as of October 2026, and how to read what they show you. Menus move, so I describe each step by what it does and use the names the help pages use today.
What do these tools show that analytics can't?
They show how a search engine sees your site: whether it can reach your pages, which ones it kept and which searches showed you.[1]
Search Console is Google's free tool for site owners. Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's, and it's free too.[2] Google says you don't have to sign up to appear in its results.[1]
How do you add your site and prove it's yours?
In Search Console, choose Add property, then a website property. There are two kinds:
- Domain property: covers every version of your address, including www, http, https and subdomains. It requires a DNS record, a line of text added where your domain is managed, and one added by hand can take up to two or three days to start working.[3][4]
- URL-prefix property: covers only addresses that begin exactly as you typed them. It offers several ways to verify.[3]
I'd pick the Domain property if you can log in where you bought the domain, or can ask whoever can. If not, use a URL-prefix property for your https address. Each other version your site supports, like http or non-www, needs its own.[3]
For a URL-prefix property, Google lists an HTML file, an HTML tag, a Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager code, or your domain provider.[4] On Wix or Squarespace, check their help pages first, because Google says some builders verify for you.[4]
Otherwise I'd use the HTML tag, a line your web person pastes into your home page's header. Google says you can add a second method in case the first one fails,[4] and I'd add one.
Once verification works, leave it alone. Google says it keeps checking for the file, tag or DNS record you used, and your access ends after a grace period if it's gone.[4] Tell your web person before they tidy the page header or the DNS settings.
Also check who owns the property. If your web person set it up under their own Google account, ask them to add you as an owner and verify it yourself too. Google says a property needs at least one verified owner, or nobody can open it.[5]
In Bing Webmaster Tools, the quick way is Import, using your Search Console account. Bing says the sites you choose are verified automatically, and your sitemaps come along.[6] To add a site by hand, Bing offers an XML file, a meta tag or a DNS record.[6]
Do you need a sitemap, and what is IndexNow?
Not strictly, but I'd submit one. A sitemap is a file that lists your pages. Google says a small site, about 500 pages or fewer, probably doesn't need one if links from the home page reach every page.[7]
Google calls a submitted sitemap only a hint,[8] but the Sitemaps report shows whether Google could read it.[7]
Your site software has probably made one already: Google says that's likely on WordPress, Wix or Blogger.[8] Submit its address in the Sitemaps report. Ordinary edits don't need a resubmit, because Google rechecks the file on its own.[7]
IndexNow is a different idea: instead of waiting for engines to notice a change, your site tells them a page was added, updated or deleted. Bing and a few other engines support it, and Google isn't on indexnow.org's list.[9]
Bing's help page strongly recommends IndexNow and says many site tools have it built in.[10] You prove ownership with a small text key file at your site's root.[11] I'd switch it on if your site software offers it, and not build anything for it by hand.
Which screens are worth ten minutes a month?
I'd open three screens each month. Google emails you about new problems, so there's no need to sign in daily.[12] It suggests checking about once a month, or after you change the site.[12]
- Page indexing shows which pages Google kept and why it skipped others. Its page says a site under 500 pages probably doesn't need it and can search site:yourdomain.com instead.[13] I'd still look monthly, since the reasons are listed there.
- Performance shows clicks, impressions and the searches and pages behind them.[14] Our lead tracking post covers reading it beside your own records.
- Sitemaps shows Success, Has errors or Couldn't fetch for each file you submitted.[7]
Bing has an AI report: AI Performance, announced as a public preview in February 2026.[15] It counts how often Copilot and Bing's AI summaries cite your pages, and a citation isn't a click.[16] Our guides to showing up in Google's AI answers and getting ready for AI search cover the rest.
What do the gray statuses mean, and which are normal?
Gray means not indexed, which Google says is often fine: a duplicate, a removed page or a page you blocked on purpose shouldn't be indexed.[13] Your important pages should be green.[13]
| Status | What Google says | What I'd do |
|---|---|---|
| Discovered - currently not indexed | Found, not visited yet. Usually, a visit was expected to overload the site, so Google rescheduled it. | Check that a page on your site links to it. Then wait. |
| Crawled - currently not indexed | Visited, not indexed. It may or may not be indexed later, and there's no need to resubmit. | Read the page as a stranger would, then add what a customer would ask. |
| Duplicate without user-selected canonical | Not an error. Google picked another page as the main version (the canonical) and won't show this one. | Inspect the URL. Act only if Google chose the wrong version. |
| Alternate page with proper canonical tag | It points to the right version, which is indexed. Nothing to do. | Nothing. |
| URL marked 'noindex' | The page told Google to leave it out. Fine if you meant that. | On a service page, find where the tag comes from and remove it. |
A roofer in Waco opens the report
- The site has 40 real pages. The report shows 34 indexed URLs and 26 not indexed.
- Nothing to fix: Page with redirect, 9 (old http and non-www addresses); Alternate page with proper canonical tag, 6; Duplicate without user-selected canonical, 5.
- Discovered - currently not indexed, 4: all new pages, each linked from the Services page. Wait.
- URL marked 'noindex', 2: a thank-you page, which is right, and the new roof repair page, which isn't. A leftover from the staging copy. Fix that first.
Illustrative examplemade-up numbers · use your own
If a page you need is missing, start with our ten-minute check.
What does Request indexing do, and what should you skip?
It asks Google to crawl (visit) one page. Paste the page's address into the bar at the top of Search Console, and the URL Inspection tool shows whether Google has it. If it's missing, press Request indexing, and if the page passes a quick check, Google queues it.[17]
There's a daily limit on requests, and Google doesn't say how many.[17] Asking again for the same URL won't get it crawled any faster, and Google's recrawl page says crawling can take a few days to a few weeks.[18] A request doesn't promise the page will appear at all.[18]
So I'd ask once per page, and not check it every morning. On a new site, Google says the first request should be the home page.[13]
Bing has a matching pair: URL Inspection checks whether a page is indexed,[19] and Submit URLs accepts up to 10,000 a day per domain.[10] Bing also says repeated manual submissions don't speed up indexing.[10] Our posts cover Bing's redirect status and webmaster guidelines.
What I'd skip:
- Paying for an indexing service. Google says it never accepts money to include or rank sites, and it warns about anyone advertising a "priority submit."[20]
- Sending ordinary pages through Google's Indexing API. Google limits it to job posting and livestream video pages.[21]
- Giving an outsider more than read access. Google says to grant only that when someone offers an audit.[20]
If the screens still read like another language, work through the twelve checks of a contractor website audit yourself, or have our website audit check whether Google can crawl and understand your service pages. The Expert Action Plan is $149: the same report plus a 30-minute consultation, for owners who'll make the fixes themselves.
Indexed doesn't mean ranked
These tools show whether you can be found. They can't make a page rank. Google says even a page marked "URL is on Google" may not appear in results.[17]
The numbers lag, too. Google says data takes a few days to show up,[4] and Bing says about 48 hours.[6]
Help pages change, and the ones behind this post were checked on October 5, 2026. Before you act, re-read Google's Page indexing report and URL Inspection pages, and Bing's URL Submission and Add and Verify Site pages.