An r/SideProject thread shipped 800 programmatic SEO pages and got 120 indexed (15%). This walks the honest fix — diagnose, audit quality, fix clusters, re-submit.
Prerequisites
- Google Search Console verified for the domain
- A way to audit page templates
- Scavio API key for topical-density checks
Walkthrough
Step 1: Pull GSC URL Inspection data for the indexed vs not-indexed sample
What does Google actually say?
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// In GSC: URL Inspection → API or bulk export. Tag each URL: indexed, discovered-not-indexed, crawled-not-indexed, excluded.Step 2: Sample 50 of each (indexed vs not-indexed)
Look at the actual content.
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// Diff: word count, unique sentences, structural variety, internal link count, external link count.Step 3: Identify the quality gap (almost always it's there)
Honest audit.
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// Common findings: not-indexed pages have <300 unique words, near-duplicate templates, single internal link in/out, no external citations.Step 4: Per cluster, run topical-density check via Scavio
What do ranking pages cover?
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// Per cluster:
// 'site:competitor1.com TOPIC' + 'site:competitor2.com TOPIC' + AI Overview lookup
// Reddit: 'r/relevant_sub TOPIC question 2026'Step 5: Re-write a sample cluster with depth + internal links
Per-cluster rewrite.
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// 50 pages: rewrite each to cover the depth Scavio surfaced. Add 4-6 internal links + 2-3 external citations.Step 6: Resubmit to GSC and watch indexation rate change
Honest measurement.
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// Per-cluster rewrite → 'Request Indexing' → 7-30 day watch. Indexation rate on revised clusters typically jumps to 60-90%.Python Example
Python
# Time-to-fix: 2-4 hours per 50-page cluster. 16 clusters of 50 = 40-80 hours total. There is no shortcut tool.JavaScript Example
JavaScript
// Content work, not code.Expected Output
JSON
Indexation rate on rewritten clusters jumping from ~15% to ~60-90%.