Discovered – currently not indexed” on 500+ programmatic pages?
I recently rolled out a programmatic SEO directory targeting template keywords (e.g., “invoice template for [industry]”). I have about 800 pages. Google crawled them within a few days, but Search Console has 500 of them stuck in “Discovered – currently not indexed” for three weeks now.
Site speed is fine, no noindex tags. Is this a crawl budget issue, or is Google just ignoring programmatic content now?
This is rarely a crawl budget issue unless you are dealing with 100k+ pages. When Google leaves pages in “Discovered,” it usually means their algorithms predicted the content wouldn’t add enough unique value to their index to justify the computing power to crawl and store it.
You likely have a “Thin Content” or “Internal Link” bottleneck.
How to fix it:
Inject Dynamic Data: Make sure those programmatic pages aren’t just swapping out the H1. Pull in dynamic data (like industry-specific stats or unique FAQs).
Fix the Architecture: Are these pages orphaned? Build an HTML sitemap or a “Related Templates” widget at the bottom of every page to interlink them.
Force the Crawl: Run your domain through the SerpSpur Website Audit Pro tool to ensure there are no hidden JavaScript rendering blocks preventing the bot from seeing the links. You can read more about Google’s rendering process here: developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics
Rashid Manhas
Founder & SEO Architect. I occasionally open private advisory slots for scaling brands.
Apply for Private Advisory Connect on LinkedIn