Indexed ≠ Visible: The Selection Layer in AI Mode Search
AI Mode turns one question into many retrieval tasks. Visibility is governed by a selection layer beyond indexing and ranking—here’s how to diagnose and adapt.
Indexing
Index selection (2026): why Google crawls your pages but refuses to store them
“Crawled — currently not indexed” is not a verdict on your writing. It is an index selection decision: Google is choosing what becomes core memory for your site. This essay explains the mechanism, how to diagnose whether you’re failing hard gates or priority, and what changes the outcome without creating noise.
Crawled but not indexed reasons (2026): 9 causes and what to do first
If Google crawled your page but did not index it, the bottleneck is rarely “one on-page fix”. This page lists the most common causes (technical gates + prioritization), how to tell them apart fast, and the few actions that reliably change the outcome.
Indexed but not visible in search (2026): what it means and how to diagnose it
If a page is indexed but not visible in search, the failure is usually not “indexing” — it’s retrieval and selection. This page defines the symptom, shows the fast diagnosis path in GSC, and points you to the right fix depending on whether you have impressions, rankings, or nothing at all.
How Google decides what to index (2026): the cost/value/risk model behind storage
Google indexing is not “did we submit a sitemap?”. It is a storage decision driven by cost, value, and risk. This article explains the decision logic, the common misconceptions, real-world scenarios, and what changes the system’s willingness to keep your URLs.