Learn how Google Search Console can help digital archive managers monitor search performance, review core web vitals and detect technical issues that may affect discoverability.
For many custodians of digital archives, understanding how collections perform online can feel complex. The good news is that with Google Search Console, you can get valuable insights into how well a collection is performing.
Google Search Console gives custodians of digital collections essential insights into how Google discovers, crawls, and indexes pages. It also provides feedback on how Google assesses the user experience for those visiting the site, including performance on mobile devices and page load speed.
For Veridian-hosted collections, our team regularly reviews relevant Google Search Console reports as part of ongoing collection monitoring.
How do you check whether collection pages are indexed?
A digital archive is only valuable if people can find and use it. Ensuring that all relevant pages are indexed by Google is critical. If articles, titles, or other pages are not indexed, they won’t appear in search results—limiting discoverability and reducing valuable traffic and new users.
The Page indexing report in Google Search Console shows which URLs Google has indexed and which URLs are excluded.
Where to find it in Search Console: Within the main left-hand menu select Indexing > Pages.
The chart that you’ll then see on screen provides an overview of which pages have—and have not—been indexed by Google, along with the reasons why. Keep in mind that it's common for certain pages to be intentionally blocked from crawling and indexing for valid, strategic reasons — often related to privacy, content ownership, or copyright.
It’s also important to note that it’s completely normal for Google not to index every page of a large collection. Even authoritative domains don’t always have all their pages indexed. Therefore, a collection with five million pages is unlikely to see all of them indexed. Google prioritizes what it crawls and indexes based on factors such as perceived quality, site authority, and user demand, but the exact reasons are not always transparent.
Has the collection’s XML sitemap been submitted?
An XML sitemap helps Google discover the URLs that an organisation considers important. This is particularly useful for large collections with pages organised by publication, date, issue, item or article. Veridian automatically generates and submits sitemaps on behalf of our customers, so they don’t need to worry about this step.
Where to find it in Search Console: Within the main left-hand menu select Indexing > Sitemaps.
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- Crawled - currently not indexed
- Discovered - currently not indexed
- Duplicate or alternate pages
- Any errors (404s, server issues)
Crawled – currently not indexed” and “Discovered – currently not indexed” are not necessarily errors. Investigate patterns rather than treating every excluded URL as a problem.
Related case studies:
How do you check Core Web Vitals?
The Core Web Vitals report uses real-world usage data to identify groups of pages with similar performance issues. For digital collections, image-heavy pages, embedded viewers and complex search interfaces can affect loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability.
This is where a specialized platform—like Veridian—can help. Veridian is designed to present digitized content in a way that’s both user-friendly and performance-optimized, with features that handle large-scale archives efficiently across all devices.
Where to find it in Search Console: Within the main left hand menu select Experience > Core Web Vitals.
You’ll then be presented with the option to view a report on screen that provides a health assessment of your collection’s pages and lets you drill down into why certain groups of pages may be underperforming.
Useful metrics to look at and monitor:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading speed.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Measures responsiveness.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability.
How does Veridian monitor collection search health?
Veridian combines a purpose-built digital collections platform with ongoing technical monitoring. For hosted collections, our team can manage sitemaps, review indexing patterns, monitor Core Web Vitals and investigate issues affecting search visibility or collection performance.
This allows libraries and archives to focus on developing and promoting their collections while Veridian manages much of the underlying technical work.
Ready to improve your collection’s search visibility?
