# How would you identify index bloat?

> Do not define index bloat simply as "too many indexed pages."

Compare:

**Indexed URLs**

against:

**valuable, intentional, indexable URL inventory.**

Look for:

- internal search pages;

- parameter URLs;

- duplicate pages;

- thin archive pages;

- obsolete pages;

- generated combinations;

- soft 404-like pages.

Then determine whether these URLs are actually appearing in Google's index and whether they create a meaningful search-management problem.

The goal is not the smallest possible index. It is an index containing the pages that should represent the site in Search.

## Sources

- [Google Search Central — Canonicalization](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization)
- [Google Search Central — Crawl Budget](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawl-budget)

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Answered by Abhinav Krishna (https://www.theseocentral.com/author/abhinav-krishna)
Source: https://www.theseocentral.com/technical-seo-faq/how-would-you-identify-index-bloat