Indexability
A technical SEO condition that determines whether a search engine can include a page in its index; the first prerequisite for Google AI Search readiness
What is Indexability?
Indexability is the condition that determines whether a search engine can include a page in its index. If a page cannot be indexed, it is unlikely to appear in regular Search, AI Overviews, or AI Mode supporting links.
Indexability is not the same as page availability. A page may be visible to users while still being blocked from indexing by technical settings.
Common checks
| Check | Meaning |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | The page returns a valid 200 response |
noindex |
The page is not excluded from indexing |
| Canonical | The representative URL is clear |
| robots.txt | Crawling paths are not blocked |
| Sitemap/internal links | Search engines can discover the page |
Why it matters for AI Search
Before Google AI Search can use a page as a supporting source, Google Search must be able to discover and index it. That makes noindex, canonical, status code, and sitemap checks higher priority than llms.txt for Google-specific readiness.
Related Terms
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