Following up here - this sure seems like a bug. Our package has been out for many months and is having significant usage, but is still not indexed by google. Would love someone to do a quick check to verify what is blocking it.

🕒 Discussion Activity Reminder 🕒

This Discussion has been labeled as dormant by an automated system for having no activity in the last 60 days. Please consider one the following actions:

1️⃣ Close as Out of Date: If the topic is no longer relevant, close the Discussion as out of date at the bottom of the page.

2️⃣ Provide More Information: Share additional details or context — or let the community know if you've found a solution on your own.

3️⃣ Mark a Reply as Answer: If your question has been answered by a reply, mark the most helpful reply as the solution.

Note: This dormant notification will only apply to Discussions with the Question label. To learn more, see our recent announcement.

Thank you for helping bring this Discussion to a resolution! 💬

This is usually on Google’s side, not npm blocking your package.

npm package pages aren’t indexed on a fixed schedule. Google crawls them opportunistically, and indexing (or re-indexing) can lag anywhere from days to weeks, especially for smaller or less-linked packages.

A few important points:

1. npm does not block individual package pages from indexing
2. There’s no guarantee every npm package page will rank or even appear for name-based searches
3. Google sometimes deprioritizes pages that look very similar to many others (which npm pages do)

Why your package might not show up yet:

1. The package page has low external backlinks
2. The package name is short / generic, so Google prefers higher-authority results
3. Google has indexed the page but decided not to surface it for that query
4. Recent metadata changes (README, version bumps) haven’t been re-crawled yet

Things you can try:

1. Search using site:npmjs.com varlock to check if it’s indexed at all
2. Link to the package from GitHub, a README, or a personal site to give it crawl signals
3. Make sure the README is non-empty and clearly mentions the package name
4. Be patient — npm pages often appear suddenly after a re-crawl

Accidental blocking is very unlikely unless there’s a global issue, which would affect many packages, not just one.

If your package listing isn’t indexed by Google, it usually means Google’s crawler either can’t see it, doesn’t think it’s worth indexing, or is being blocked. Here are the main reasons and fixes:

🔍 Common Reasons Why a Package Listing Isn’t Indexed
Noindex meta tag or robots.txt block

If the page has or is disallowed in robots.txt, Google won’t index it.

Duplicate or thin content

If the listing is very similar to other pages (e.g., multiple packages with only minor differences), Google may skip it.

Low authority or crawl priority

New sites or pages with few backlinks may take longer to be crawled and indexed.

Canonical tag pointing elsewhere

If the page has a canonical tag pointing to another URL, Google may ignore it.

Not submitted to Google Search Console

Without submitting the URL, Google may take longer to discover it.

Technical issues

Slow loading, JavaScript-heavy rendering, or blocked resources can prevent indexing.

⚡ Steps to Fix It
Check robots.txt and meta tags → Ensure the page isn’t blocked or marked noindex.

Use Google Search Console → Submit the URL manually for indexing.

Improve content → Add unique descriptions, structured data (schema), and useful details.

Add internal links → Link to the package listing from other indexed pages.

Build backlinks → External links help Google discover and prioritize the page.

Check canonical settings → Make sure the canonical tag points to the correct URL.

🕒 Discussion Activity Reminder 🕒

This Discussion has been labeled as dormant by an automated system for having no activity in the last 60 days. Please consider one the following actions:

1️⃣ Close as Out of Date: If the topic is no longer relevant, close the Discussion as out of date at the bottom of the page.

2️⃣ Provide More Information: Share additional details or context — or let the community know if you've found a solution on your own.

3️⃣ Mark a Reply as Answer: If your question has been answered by a reply, mark the most helpful reply as the solution.

Note: This dormant notification will only apply to Discussions with the Question label. To learn more, see our recent announcement.

Thank you for helping bring this Discussion to a resolution! 💬

Google can and does ideologically punish people in ways similar to shadowbanning. Go ahead and criticize aspects of google in public as an irreversible confirmation.

I would love to know what caused this... Was really hoping someone on the npm team could dig in and try to help figure it out, but no luck so far - just info about their internal noindex headers which are applied to new packages.

If you search "npm varlock" you'll see many of our plugins as results but not the main package, despite the main package now having >10k weekly downloads, and the plugins having much less and varying levels of downloads.

🕒 Discussion Activity Reminder 🕒

This Discussion has been labeled as dormant by an automated system for having no activity in the last 60 days. Please consider one the following actions:

1️⃣ Close as Out of Date: If the topic is no longer relevant, close the Discussion as out of date at the bottom of the page.

2️⃣ Provide More Information: Share additional details or context — or let the community know if you've found a solution on your own.

3️⃣ Mark a Reply as Answer: If your question has been answered by a reply, mark the most helpful reply as the solution.

Note: This dormant notification will only apply to Discussions with the Question label. To learn more, see our recent announcement.

Thank you for helping bring this Discussion to a resolution! 💬