URL Inspection Tool

URL Inspection tool is a feature in Google Search Console that shows how Google sees a specific page on your site. It reports whether the URL is indexed, when it was last crawled, which canonical Google chose and whether any problems are blocking it from search.

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

What the report shows

Enter any URL from a verified property into the search bar at the top of Google Search Console. The main report covers:

  • Indexing status: whether the URL is on Google or not, and the reason if not.
  • Discovery: the sitemaps and referring pages through which Google found the URL.
  • Crawl: the date of the last crawl, which crawler was used (usually Googlebot smartphone), and whether crawling and fetching were allowed.
  • Indexing: whether indexing is allowed, plus the user-declared canonical and the Google-selected canonical.
  • Enhancements: structured data and other features Google detected, such as breadcrumbs or product markup.

Indexed version vs live test

By default the tool shows information about the version Google last indexed. Clicking Test live URL fetches the page right now, which is useful after you fix a problem. The live test can show the rendered HTML, a screenshot, the HTTP response and any page resources that could not be loaded. It does not guarantee the page will be indexed: it only checks whether it could be.

Requesting indexing

After publishing or updating an important page, you can click Request indexing to ask Google to recrawl it. There is a daily limit, and repeated requests for the same URL do not speed things up. For larger numbers of pages, an up-to-date XML sitemap and good internal linking are more effective.

How to use it for troubleshooting

  1. Page not indexed: read the reason given, such as Crawled: currently not indexed, Excluded by noindex tag or Blocked by robots.txt.
  2. Wrong canonical: if the Google-selected canonical differs from yours, check for duplicate content and conflicting signals such as internal links and redirects.
  3. Missing content: use the live test’s rendered HTML to confirm that content loaded with JavaScript is visible to Google. This is a key check for JavaScript SEO.
  4. Accidental blocks: confirm that a noindex tag or robots.txt rule is not stopping the page.
  5. Structured data: check whether markup is detected and valid.

Common mistakes

  • Repeatedly requesting indexing instead of fixing the underlying issue.
  • Assuming a successful live test means the page will rank or be indexed.
  • Testing a URL in the wrong property, for example the http version instead of https.
  • Ignoring the Google-selected canonical, which often explains why a page is missing.

Developers can also access similar data in bulk through the URL Inspection API, within Google’s usage limits.

Further reading: Google’s URL Inspection tool help page.

Key Takeaways

  • The URL Inspection tool shows how Google sees a single page on your site.
  • It reports index status, last crawl, canonical choice and detected structured data.
  • The live test checks the current page, including rendered HTML.
  • Request indexing is limited and does not replace fixing real problems.
  • Check the Google-selected canonical when a page is missing from search.

Related Terms

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