How Indexing and Crawling Impact Your Website’s Search Engine Rankings

When we talk about SEO, most people jump straight to keywords or backlinks. But behind every successful SEO strategy lies something more technical – indexing and crawling. These two processes are the foundation of how search engines like Google find, understand, and rank your site.

At Thundr Digital, our work with SEO clients across Edinburgh and the Midlands (and beyond) often starts here: making sure your site can be seen by Google in the first place. Let’s break it down.

What Are Crawling and Indexing?

Crawling: The Discovery Phase

Crawling is how search engines find your content. Google uses bots (called spiders or crawlers) to travel across the web, jumping from link to link, and scanning pages to see what’s new, updated, or worth indexing.

If your website isn’t being crawled properly, it won’t show up in search results no matter how great your content is.

Indexing: The Storage and Evaluation Stage

Once crawled, your page is added to Google’s index, its giant database of web pages. But it’s not just stored; it’s evaluated. Google reviews your page structure, keywords, content quality, and context before deciding where (and if) it should appear in the search results.

Without proper indexing, your pages won’t rank. It’s that simple.

Why Does Crawling Matter for SEO?

Crawlers don’t care how pretty your site looks. What they care about is:

• Clear site structure

• Crawlable links

• Fast-loading pages

• No dead ends (broken links)

• Proper sitemap setup

At Thundr, we use tools like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog to audit client websites and ensure that every valuable page is accessible to search engine crawlers.

Need help with a site audit? Speak to our SEO agency in Edinburgh for expert guidance.

Indexing and Your Visibility in Google

If your site isn’t indexed, it’s invisible.

Indexing is what allows your site to appear in search results. But not every page is guaranteed to be indexed especially if:

• The content is duplicated

• The page is low quality or thin

• It’s blocked by robots.txt or meta tags

• Internal linking is poor or broken

We help our clients fix these issues with strong content structures, canonical tags, proper use of meta directives, and robust internal linking strategies.

Crawling + Indexing = Ranking

These two steps feed directly into how your site ranks on Google. Google won’t rank what it can’t find or what it doesn’t trust.

To rank well, you need:

• A crawlable site

• Content that answers real search intent

• Technical SEO best practices (like schema markup and mobile-friendliness)

• Fast, secure, and user-friendly pages

Our SEO process always includes a technical audit alongside keyword research. Because high rankings start with healthy foundations.

Common Issues (And How to Fix Them)

Duplicate Content

Search engines hate seeing the same thing in multiple places. Canonical tags help point Google to the correct version of a page. We recommend regular content audits to keep things tidy and avoid unnecessary duplicates.

Broken Links

Broken links kill your crawl budget. Google can’t move through your site if it keeps hitting dead ends. Tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs help spot and fix broken internal links quickly.

What About Google Ads and Social Media?

Even if you’re running paid campaigns like Google Ads or Meta Ads, your site still needs to be crawled and indexed correctly to support landing page performance and quality scores. A poorly indexed site can drive up your ad costs and lower conversion rates.

That’s why our campaigns at Thundr always consider the full picture: from technical SEO through to campaign execution. Whether it’s organic search or paid, your website must be in top shape.

Need help running ads alongside a solid SEO plan? Our PPC agency in Edinburgh can guide you.

Final Thoughts

Crawling and indexing may be behind the scenes, but they directly impact whether or not your site shows up and ranks in search results.

At Thundr Digital, we believe in getting the foundations right. Whether you’re just starting or want to boost rankings for an existing site, we’ll help you build a strategy that Google (and your customers) love.