How to Fix: Homepage is Not Indexable by Search Engines

If you’ve received a critical warning in SureRank saying: “Homepage is not indexable by search engines.”

This guide will help you understand what it means, why it matters, and how to fix it.

What’s the Problem?

For your website to appear in Google or other search engines, your homepage must be indexed. Indexing means permitting search engines to include your page in their listings.

Sometimes indexing gets turned off accidentally:

• During WordPress setup
• Through theme or page builder settings
• From another SEO or caching plugin
• By a “noindex” tag in your homepage settings

When that happens, your homepage becomes invisible to search engines, even if the rest of your site works fine.

Why This Matters for SEO

Your homepage is the front door to your website. It’s usually the first page people find when searching for your brand or business.

If indexing is blocked:

• Search engines cannot display your homepage in results.
• Visitors may never find your site.
• You lose valuable traffic and brand visibility.

How to Fix This

Step 1 – Check WordPress Visibility Settings

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > Reading
2. Look for the option “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”
3. Make sure this box is unchecked.

Step 2 – Check Homepage SEO Settings

1. Open your homepage in WordPress
2. Edit SureRank settings.
3. Under Advanced Check Robot Instructions, the No index option is unchecked.

Step 3 – Review Other Plugins or Theme Settings

• If you’re using another SEO plugin, caching tool, or page builder, check that it’s not adding a noindex tag.
• Disable duplicate SEO plugins to avoid conflicts (see our guide on multiple SEO plugins).

Step 4 – Test Your Page

• Visit your homepage and view the source code (Right-click > View Page Source)
• Search for noindex – if found, something is blocking indexing.
• Use Google’s URL Inspection Tool in Search Console to confirm whether your homepage is indexable

Step 5 – Re-run Site SEO Analysis

• After making changes, Re-run Checks in SureRank.
• The warning should disappear. Homepage is indexable by search engines.

Summary

To appear in search results, your homepage must be indexable.

• Uncheck “Discourage search engines” in WordPress
• Ensure your homepage indexing setting is enabled in SureRank
• Remove duplicate or conflicting SEO settings

Once corrected, search engines will be able to index your homepage, helping more people discover your website.