> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://speedy-index.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# "Discovered – currently not indexed" on donor pages

> What the Discovered – currently not indexed status means for pages hosting your backlinks, how to confirm it, and the fix sequence with observable outcomes.

## When you see this

`Discovered - currently not indexed` appears in two places:

* Search Console, **Pages** report, under "Why pages aren't indexed" - for properties you own.
* The URL Inspection tool / API, field `coverageState` - the response also shows an empty `lastCrawlTime`.

The exact meaning: Google knows the URL but has never fetched it. For a page hosting a link to your site (a donor page), the link has not been read at all.

<Note>For third-party donor pages you cannot open Search Console. The equivalent signal is: the URL is absent from a live index check AND the site owner's report shows this status, or the page is absent from the index for 14+ days after placement.</Note>

## Why it happens

* **Deferred crawl**: Google postponed the fetch to avoid overloading the host - the official explanation in the Search Console help. Evidence: rising average response time in the host's Crawl Stats.
* **Weak internal linking**: the page is 3+ clicks deep or linked only from pagination. Evidence: zero internal links from crawled hub pages.
* **Low host crawl rate**: the whole site gets few Googlebot visits. Evidence: sparse Googlebot hits in server logs.
* **Queue displacement**: large sites generate URLs faster than their crawl budget covers. Evidence: the status concentrates on one section or URL pattern.

## Fix

<Steps>
  <Step title="Confirm the state">
    For your own property, inspect the URL: `coverageState` reads `Discovered - currently not indexed`, `lastCrawlTime` is empty. For a batch, run the [bulk indexation check for backlinks](https://en.speedyindex.com/google-index-checker/) and keep the URLs reported as not indexed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Remove delivery blockers">
    Request the page with a Googlebot user agent. Expected: `HTTP/2 200` in under \~2 seconds, no `X-Robots-Tag: noindex`, no `Disallow` covering the path. Any failure here explains the deferral and must be fixed first (or the donor replaced).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create crawl paths">
    If you control the host: link the page from a frequently crawled hub and refresh `lastmod` in the sitemap. Expected outcome within 1-2 weeks: `lastCrawlTime` gains a date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit for crawling">
    For third-party donors, submit the URL list to an indexing service. Expected outcome: a day-7 report splitting the list into indexed / not indexed / errored.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Verify

Fixed looks like one of two states: the page appears in a live index check with its title, or the inspection verdict changes to `Submitted and indexed`. A move to `Crawled - currently not indexed` is partial progress - the fetch happened; the remaining problem is selection, not delivery.

<Warning>Submitting URLs that still carry `noindex`, return `404`, or sit behind `Disallow` wastes the submission - these states are filtered by pre-check, not fixed by it.</Warning>

## Related

* [Method: index.inspect - URL Inspection API reference](https://developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/v1/urlInspection.index/inspect)
* [Detect the status at scale with a Python script](https://uskotoivo81-netizen.github.io/detect-discovered-currently-not-indexed-url-inspection-api/)
* [Google index checker API (reference)](/api/google-index-checker)


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