VDL Indexing & Search Visibility Scanner

Check why important WordPress pages are not showing in Google before lost visibility costs you traffic. VDL Indexing & Search Visibility Scanner checks sitemap coverage, robots.txt, noindex tags, canonical URLs, redirects, title tags, and meta descriptions so site owners can see which pages are discoverable, risky, invisible, or expected. It also includes a single-page checker for important URLs and exportable fix-first reports for developers, SEOs, or site owners. This is not a ranking tracker, SEO content generator, backlink tool, or generic SEO suite. It focuses on technical discoverability signals. Common problems it helps catch

• Important pages missing from your sitemap
• Pages accidentally marked noindex
• Canonical tags pointing somewhere unexpected
• Redirect chains that confuse discovery
• robots.txt or sitemap problems
• Public pages with weak title or meta description signals
• Utility pages correctly excluded from search

Built for

• Site owners checking why pages are not showing in Google
• SEOs doing a quick WordPress technical visibility audit
• WooCommerce stores checking product/category discoverability
• Agencies preparing fix-first reports for clients
• Developers reviewing sitemap, canonical, robots, and noindex issues

What it checks

• single important URL visibility checks
• WordPress discourage search engines setting
• robots.txt reachability
• sitemap reachability
• sitemap reference in robots.txt
• homepage status
• selected public pages and recent posts
• noindex robots meta
• canonical tag status
• title tag presence
• meta description presence
• sitemap coverage gaps
• basic redirect chains

Visibility Map Results are grouped into:

• Homepage
• Pages
• Posts
• Sitemap
• Robots

Each result is classified as Discoverable, Risky, Invisible, or Expected with a priority label. The priority engine separates true visibility blockers from mild metadata cleanup. Results also include a visibility impact label and classification reason so site owners can see why an item is urgent, moderate, low-impact, or expected. What to fix first The dashboard groups findings into:

• Fix now: true visibility blockers
• Fix soon: discovery and coverage risks
• Optional cleanup: metadata and content polish
• Expected: utility, legal, search, and system exclusions

Expected results are common utility-page signals, such as noindex on checkout or account pages, that should not be treated like broken public-page visibility. Single page checker Paste an important URL from the current site to quickly see whether it appears indexing-ready, blocked, missing from the sitemap, canonicalised elsewhere, redirected, or in need of review. Best first use Paste the page you care about most first. The single page checker shows whether that URL looks indexing-ready, blocked by noindex, missing from the sitemap, canonicalised elsewhere, redirected, or only needs metadata cleanup. Then run a full scan to build the fix-first report. Fix-first report Run a full scan to create a local report grouped into Fix now, Fix soon, Optional cleanup, and Expected exclusions. Export CSV or HTML to share with a developer, SEO, or site owner. Likely important pages The scanner highlights pages commonly important for search visibility, such as the homepage, shop pages, product pages, top-level pages, and posts. Utility pages such as cart, checkout, and account pages are kept calm when noindex is expected. External services The scanner runs locally against the current site and does not require an external API. The "Get Help Fixing This" button is a normal external link to VaultDevLabs. No scan data is sent automatically. The link may include summary counts and the current site URL in the URL query so you can request a manual review. Optional manual review The plugin can show a local visibility report in wp-admin. If you want help interpreting the results, the "Get Help Fixing This" link opens VaultDevLabs in your browser. No scan data is sent automatically.

0.5.1

• Updated WordPress.org positioning around indexing checks, sitemap checks, noindex, and pages not showing in Google.
• Renamed the public plugin title to "VDL Indexing & Search Visibility Scanner" while keeping the existing slug and text domain.
• Added a best-first-use section and clearer FAQ wording around Google indexing limits.

0.5.0

• Reframed the dashboard around the question "Why is this page not showing in Google?"
• Added a clearer single important URL checker with an on-screen diagnostic result card.
• Added a report value panel for building and exporting a fix-first checklist.
• Improved admin copy around noindex, canonical, sitemap, robots, redirect, title, and meta description checks.

0.4.1

• Improved WordPress.org listing copy around indexing, sitemap coverage, noindex, canonical, robots, redirects, and fix-first visibility audits.
• Updated screenshot captions and support wording while keeping the scanner local and diagnostic.

0.4.0

• Redesigned the admin dashboard as a decision-first Visibility Command Center.
• Added grouped diagnostic cards for Fix now, Fix soon, Optional cleanup, and Expected findings.
• Added client-side filters for all findings, priority groups, important pages, expected items, and cleanup.
• Added Visibility Journey strips derived from existing HTTP, robots, noindex, canonical, and sitemap signals.
• Moved the full table into a secondary Detailed results section and improved local export placement.
• Improved likely important page and since-last-scan panels for faster scan interpretation.

0.3.1

• Added translator comments for placeholder strings flagged by Plugin Check.
• Removed unnecessary CSV stream close to avoid filesystem-operation warnings.
• Documented AJAX nonce verification for Plugin Check static analysis.

0.3.0

• Added classification reasons to results, admin table, and CSV/HTML exports.
• Added Visibility Impact labels: Critical, Moderate, Low, and Expected.
• Updated hero status logic so optional cleanup does not overstate visibility risk.
• Added Likely Important Pages panel and importance reasons.
• Polished Since Last Scan comparison with new, resolved, unchanged, new critical, and new moderate counts.
• Expanded exports with impact, classification, importance, comparison, site URL, and generated timestamp fields.

0.2.0

• Added priority engine with Fix now, Fix soon, Optional cleanup, and Expected labels.
• Added What To Fix First panel so visibility blockers are separated from mild metadata hygiene.
• Added page context detection for homepage, posts page, WooCommerce product/shop/cart/checkout/account, legal/privacy, archives, search pages, posts, pages, and public URLs.
• Added previous-vs-latest scan comparison summary for new, resolved, and unchanged actionable issues.
• Added priority and context columns to CSV and HTML exports.

0.1.1

• Added expected handling for common utility pages such as cart, checkout, account, legal, search, category, and tag pages when noindex is likely intentional.
• Reduced noisy top issues by excluding expected utility noindex findings from critical issue ranking.

0.1.0

• Initial standalone local scanner with Visibility Map dashboard, sitemap/robots checks, invisible page scan, retest URL, and export links.