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It seems to take two weeks ish to get updates on to the google index, which seems fair enough as I imagine googles index of the whole internet could be rather large.

However, the some changes to my sitemaps don't seem to be being picked up, and today noticed that indexed pages had gone done. The current status shows 118 pages indexed, however two days ago was at 119 with no changes to sitemap :

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Google will choose what they want to index regardless of your sitemap. If they don't feel a particular page of your website serves any real purpose or value, then they could choose to drop it from their index.

You can see what pages on your domain are indexed by using the site operator in Google search:-

site:example.com

Or for specific URL's:-

site:example.com/uri-of-page

If there are any pages not indexed that you feel should be indexed, make sure they are linked to from somewhere on your website.

It is common that indexed pages will fluctuate all the time, it is generally nothing to worry about.

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  • the pages aren't linked to by my site, none of the 118 others are either. I can see which pages are indexed using webmaster tools. I don;t need to use google search for it It is something to worry about for me. As it means the pages don;t appear in any search results/get any traffic. Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 10:31
  • Your comment bears no resemblance to your original question. As per your original question, my answer answers that. If you don't feel it does, I'd suggest editing your question with more details as to what the actual problem is.
    – zigojacko
    Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 11:12
  • eh ? No it doesn't. You tell me not to worry about lack of index and to add internal links. I was looking for a deeper understanding of how the indexing works. Its not simply that they must be linked to from my site. As none of the others 118 pages are. And from my limited knowledge, internal site links are probably of very little value to any site. Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 11:38
  • So why not help us all out and explain what the 118 URL's in your sitemap are if they are not linked to from within your website then. Your question clearly asks why your index count has reduced when no changes to your sitemap. Your comments are on about something else entirely. Please rewrite your question to ask exactly what it is you're having a problem with.
    – zigojacko
    Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 13:52
  • huh ? what difference does the subject matter of my site make? Most dynamic sites don't link to themselves - blog.codinghorror.com/the-importance-of-sitemaps. Yes I do clearly ask why the index count has reduced. Your answer is to not worry about it, add an internal link, and also tell me how to see the index using the google search (which is just repeating the info I already have from webmaster tools). None of these points are helpful in my case. Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 13:56

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