URL Inspection and Request indexing: how to get a page indexed

The URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console shows what Google knows about a single URL: whether it is indexed, which canonical Google chose, when Googlebot last crawled it, and whether crawling and indexing were allowed. “Test live URL” checks the version on your server right now, and “Request indexing” asks Google to recrawl the page. Requests need owner or full user access, are subject to a daily quota Google does not publish, and do not guarantee the page will be indexed.

How do you open the URL Inspection tool?

Paste the full URL into the inspection bar at the top of any Search Console screen, or use the inspect link next to a URL in most reports. The URL has to be in the property you have open, so a www URL cannot be inspected from a URL-prefix property for the non-www site.

Permissions matter here. Google’s permissions table gives owners and full users the whole tool and restricted users a fetch-only view, and Google’s documentation says you must be an owner or full user to request indexing.

What does the inspection result show?

The result describes the most recently indexed version of the page, not the live one. At the top is a verdict: “URL is on Google”, “URL is on Google, but has issues”, “URL is not on Google” or “URL is an alternate version”. Underneath, the page indexing section breaks that down:

Field	What it tells you
Sitemaps	Submitted sitemaps (or ones listed in robots.txt) that include the URL
Referring page	A page Google may have used to discover the URL
Last crawl	When Googlebot last crawled the page
Crawled as	Whether the mobile or desktop crawler fetched it
Crawl allowed?	Whether robots.txt blocked crawling
Page fetch	Whether Google could get the page from your server
Indexing allowed?	Whether a noindex rule blocked indexing
User-declared canonical	The canonical your page declares
Google-selected canonical	The canonical Google chose

Below that sit enhancements such as breadcrumbs and other rich results. A lot of diagnosis happens in the canonical pair. When the Google-selected canonical is a different URL from the one you inspected, Google has indexed that URL in place of this one, and Alternate page with proper canonical tag explains when that is fine.

What does the live test add?

“Test live URL” fetches the page as it is now. It is the place to confirm a fix before you ask Google to recrawl, and it is where the screenshot lives: Google’s help says screenshots are not available for the indexed version. “View tested page” adds the HTML returned, the HTTP headers, JavaScript console output and the page resources loaded. A screenshot with your main content missing often points at JavaScript that failed or a resource Google could not load.

Know its limits. Google says a passing live test confirms that Google can access the page for indexing; it does not mean the page will be indexed. The live test cannot tell you whether the page is a duplicate or an alternate, or whether the tested version will be chosen as canonical. Google’s help also notes a per-property daily limit on live inspections.

How does Request indexing work?

1. Inspect the URL.
2. If you have changed the page, run Test live URL first. Google’s help says you cannot request indexing for a page the live test considers non-indexable.
3. Click Request indexing.
4. Leave it alone, and check back with another inspection in a week or two.

Google’s documentation is direct about what the button does and does not do. There is a quota for submitting individual URLs, and the number is not published. Requesting a recrawl of the same URL several times will not get it crawled any faster. Crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. And a request “does not guarantee that the page will appear in the Google Index”. For large numbers of URLs, Google’s advice is to submit a sitemap.

Use it for a new page that matters, a significant update to an important page, or a key page where you have just fixed a noindex, robots.txt or server error. Skip it for pages listed as “Crawled – currently not indexed” that you have not changed; Google’s help says there is no need to resubmit those, and the fix is the page.

What are the URL Inspection API limits?

Search Console’s public API includes the URL Inspection API, whose index.inspect method returns much of the same index data as the web tool: verdict, coverage state, robots.txt state, indexing state, last crawl time, page fetch state, both canonicals, sitemaps, referring URLs and the crawler used. Google’s usage limits page sets the quota:

• 2,000 queries per day and 600 per minute for each site (property)
• 10,000,000 queries per day and 15,000 per minute for each Google Cloud project

Two things the API cannot do. It reports on the indexed version, not the live page; Google’s reference says you cannot test the indexability of a live URL through it. And it cannot request indexing: the Search Console API’s resources are search analytics, sitemaps, sites and URL inspection, none of which submits a URL for crawling. Google’s separate Indexing API is restricted to pages with JobPosting or BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject, and is not a route for ordinary pages.

How do you get Google to index a page?

1. Make it indexable: a 200 status, no noindex, not blocked in robots.txt, and a self-referencing canonical.
2. Make it worth indexing. A page that duplicates another, or says very little, is the classic “Crawled – currently not indexed” case.
3. Link to it from pages Google already crawls and indexes, with descriptive anchor text.
4. Include it in your sitemap; submitting a sitemap covers how.
5. Inspect it, run the live test, and request indexing once.
6. Check again after a week or two. If it sits at “Discovered – currently not indexed”, the problem is crawling, and that post covers it.

URL inspection in QueryWatch

QueryWatch is an independent app, not affiliated with Google, and it reads the URL Inspection API described above. On the free tier you get 5 URL inspections a day, each showing the verdict, coverage state, last crawl, robots.txt state and the Google-selected canonical next to the one you declared. Pro removes the app’s daily cap, though Google’s 2,000-a-day per-property quota still applies, and adds watched URLs: mark the pages that matter and get a push alert when one changes its index verdict or coverage state. Live tests and Request indexing are not in the API, so for those you still need Search Console itself. The app page lists what is free and what is Pro, and Search Console alerts covers the watched-URL alert.

For the full field-by-field reference, see Google’s URL Inspection tool help.