What Is the URL Inspection Tool?
The URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console lets you see exactly how Google views any URL on your verified property. Enter a URL and Google returns the last known crawl status, the rendered HTML, any indexing issues, and whether the page is in Google's index.
You can also use it to request that Google re-crawl a page — making it useful for submitting individual URLs manually.
How to Access It
Open Google Search Console, select your property, and click "URL Inspection" in the left sidebar. Enter any URL from your property and press Enter.
Reading the Results
The tool returns several key pieces of information:
- Coverage status — whether the page is indexed, excluded, or has an error
- Last crawl date — when Googlebot last visited the page
- Crawl allowed — whether robots.txt permits crawling
- Page fetch — whether Google can actually download the page
- Indexing allowed — whether a noindex tag is blocking indexing
- Canonical URL — which URL Google considers the primary version
- Referring sitemaps — whether the URL appears in any submitted sitemap
Common Statuses and What They Mean
- URL is on Google — indexed and available in search results
- URL is not on Google — not currently indexed; see the "Why?" section for details
- Duplicate, Google chose different canonical — another URL is being indexed instead
- Excluded by 'noindex' tag — a noindex directive is preventing indexing
- Crawled, currently not indexed — Google crawled but decided not to index; usually a content quality signal
- Discovered, currently not indexed — found but not yet crawled
Requesting Indexing
After inspecting a URL, you can click "Request Indexing" to ask Google to recrawl it. The request is rate-limited, is not guaranteed to result in indexing, and has no promised processing time.
For sitewide discovery, maintain an accurate sitemap and internal links. The Google Indexing API is not a bulk replacement for URL Inspection; it is limited to eligible JobPosting and livestream BroadcastEvent pages. Learn more in our Search Console indexing guide.
Limitations
- Manual request indexing is limited to a few URLs per day per property
- You cannot submit URLs in bulk via the UI
- The tool only works for properties you own and have verified
- Results show the last known state — may not reflect changes made in the last few hours