Search Console URL Inspection tool

What the tool does

URL Inspection is the Search Console feature for asking Google directly about a single page. Google's help page describes it as providing "information about Google's indexed version of a specific page" and a way to "test whether a URL might be indexable." For site owners it is the most authoritative of the methods compared in how to check if a URL is indexed, because the answer comes from Google's records rather than from interpreting search results.

Running an inspection

1. Open Search Console and select the property containing the URL.
2. Paste the fully qualified URL into the inspection bar at the top of any screen, or click the inspect icon next to a URL in a report such as the Page indexing report.
3. Wait for the indexed result to load.
4. Read the status card, then expand Page indexing.

The URL must be in the currently opened property. Google directs people inspecting URLs they don't own to other public tests, which do not report index status.

Reading the status

Google adds a caveat to the first status: it "doesn't actually guarantee that your page will appear in Search results", because the tool does not check every condition, such as manual actions or removals. For a definitive test, Google suggests searching for the URL on Google, which is what quoted-URL and inurl: checks do.

The Page indexing section

Expanding the section shows the fields that explain the verdict:

• Discovery: sitemaps and a referring page Google may have used to find the URL.
• Last crawl and Crawled as: when Google last fetched the page, and with which user agent.
• Crawl allowed?: whether robots.txt permits crawling.
• Page fetch: whether the server returned the page.
• Indexing allowed?: whether a noindex rule blocks indexing. Google notes this always reads "Yes" if robots.txt blocks crawling, because the noindex cannot be seen.
• User-declared canonical and Google-selected canonical: the URL you asked for and the URL Google chose. A mismatch means the inspected URL is not the one in the index; see canonicalization and index checks.

Blocks found here are the same ones covered in noindex and robots checks.

Indexed view versus live test

The default result is the last indexed version, "not a live test". Test live URL fetches the page now. Use it after fixing something, because the indexed view will keep showing the old problem until Google recrawls.

Google's documentation is explicit that a passing live test is not an indexing promise. The live test does not evaluate duplicate or canonical status, quality, manual actions or the states "Crawled - currently not indexed" and "Discovered - currently not indexed". A page can show "URL is available to Google" and still not be indexed. Those two states are explained on interpreting not-indexed results.

Request indexing

From an inspection result an owner can click Request indexing. Google runs a quick check and, if it passes, adds the URL to its crawl queue. The help page lists limits: submitting a request does not guarantee indexing, there is a daily limit on requests, and for many URLs Google recommends a sitemap with <lastmod> values instead. Request indexing is not available for URLs on sites you do not own, which is the gap resubmission workflows for backlinks address.

Limits

• Ownership: only URLs inside verified properties.
• One at a time: each inspection covers one URL.
• Daily caps: Google mentions per-property daily limits for inspections and for live tests. Through the Search Console API, the published URL inspection limits are 2,000 queries a day and 600 a minute per site.
• Data lag: the Google-selected canonical can be a few hours behind the index.

These caps are why owners of large sites combine inspection with property-wide reporting, and why anyone checking third-party URLs uses bulk index checking instead. The publisher's IndexChex index checker is one such tool; it reports whether a URL appears in search but, unlike URL Inspection, not the reason it is missing. The canonical URL glossary entry covers the canonical fields in more depth.