By Shad Super in Questions —

How Can the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console Help Determine if a Specific URL Is Indexed?

Summary

The URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console helps determine if a specific URL is indexed by providing detailed information about that URL's presence in Google's index, its crawling and indexing status, and any issues that might prevent it from being properly indexed. Here’s a comprehensive guide to using the URL Inspection Tool effectively.

Accessing the URL Inspection Tool

The URL Inspection Tool is a feature within Google Search Console designed to give detailed insights into how Google views and processes individual URLs on your website. To access it, follow these steps:

  • Log in to your Google Search Console.
  • Select the property (website) for which you want to inspect URLs.
  • On the left-hand sidebar, click on “URL inspection.”
  • Enter the URL you wish to inspect in the search bar at the top of the page and press Enter.

Determining Index Status

After entering the URL, the tool will provide a detailed report. The key sections to look at include:

URL Status

This section at the top of the report provides a quick summary of the URL’s index status:

  • URL is on Google: Indicates that the page is indexed and can appear in search results.
  • URL is not on Google: Indicates that the page is not indexed, accompanied by a reason why it is not indexed.

Crawl Information

This section provides details about Googlebot’s last crawl of the URL, including:

  • Last Crawl: Date and time when Googlebot last accessed the URL.
  • Crawl Allowed: Whether crawling is permitted based on the robots.txt file.
  • Page Fetch: Whether the page fetch was successful or resulted in errors.

For example, if you see a message indicating "Crawl Allowed: No," your robots.txt file could be preventing Googlebot from accessing the URL. More details on robots.txt can be found at Google Developers, 2023.

Index Coverage Status

This important section shows detailed reasons if the URL is not indexed:

  • Discovered - currently not indexed: Means Google has found the URL, but hasn't yet or may never indexed it.
  • Noindex: Indicates a "noindex" directive in the meta tags or HTTP headers is preventing indexing.
  • Duplicate without user-selected canonical: Indicates Google has identified the content as duplicate and indexed a different version instead.

Enhancements

If applicable, this part of the report evaluates the presence of structured data, AMP, and other enhancements:

  • Structured Data: Identifies and validates structured data present on the page, useful for rich results.
  • AMP: Indicates if the page is valid AMP or has issues.

Problems with structured data and AMP can affect indexation. For detailed insights into structured data, refer to Google Search Central, 2023.

Requesting Indexing

If a URL is not indexed and you have resolved any issues, you can request indexing directly from the URL Inspection Tool:

  • Click on “Request Indexing” if the page shows a correct status and you have resolved issues.
  • Google will re-crawl the URL and determine if it can be indexed.

Note that this process can take time. More information on requesting indexing is available at Google Support, 2023.

Conclusion

The URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console is a powerful resource for website owners to verify whether specific URLs are indexed by Google, understand reasons for non-indexation, and take corrective actions. Regular use of this tool can help ensure your site’s visibility in search results and address any technical barriers to indexing.

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