GSC Saying Pages Are Redirected and Not Indexed but They Are

Technical SEO
1

I’m very confused. I changed my WordPress theme to a faster one like Astra about 2 months ago. Since then, my rankings completely tanked. I’m not sure if it’s due to the June Google update or my site changes.

I see some weird things in Google Search Console (GSC), especially in the page indexing report. It’s telling me that many important pages on my site, including the main domain, have redirects and are not indexed. But I can clearly see them indexed in Google search. The pages are all there and included in the sitemap.

I have no idea what’s going on or how to fix it.

From Google Help:

Page with Redirect
This is a non-canonical URL that redirects to another page. As such, this URL will not be indexed. The target URL of the redirect might or might not be indexed, depending on what Google thinks about that target URL.

A canonical URL with a redirect can be indexed.

Any insights or solutions would be greatly appreciated.

2

This is a common SEO headache. Your theme change might have caused temporary ranking fluctuations, but the core issue seems to be those pesky redirects.

Google Search Console is telling you that some important pages are redirecting to themselves, which is confusing the search engine.

This could be due to a theme conflict, plugin issue, or even a recent update.

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Check for Redirects: Use a tool like the Redirection plugin to identify and fix any unwanted redirects.
  2. Update Plugins and Core: Ensure all your plugins and WordPress core are up-to-date.
  3. Test Your Website: Use a website speed testing tool to make sure your site is loading quickly.
  4. Submit Sitemap: Resubmit your sitemap to Google Search Console to help with indexing.
  5. Monitor GSC: Keep an eye on your GSC data for any improvements or new issues.
3

I’ve been through a similar situation after changing a WordPress theme. It sounds like your issue might be related to how the new theme or the redirects are affecting Google’s indexing. When I faced this, I found that checking for any conflicting plugins or incorrect redirect settings was crucial. Ensure that the redirects are correctly set up and that your canonical tags are pointing to the right URLs. Also, it’s helpful to resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console and request indexing for the affected pages. It could be a mix of theme changes and recent algorithm updates, so it might take some time to see improvements.