What is the URL Inspection tool?
The URL Inspection tool is the part of Google Search Console that answers one question about one address: what does Google have for this URL? It shows whether the page is indexed, when it was last crawled and which canonical Google selected, and it can test the live page.
It is the closest thing to a definitive answer on an indexing question, because the data comes from Google's index.
Two modes that are easy to confuse
The indexed result is the default view. It describes the version Google last crawled and stored, which may be days or weeks old. If you fixed a page this morning, this view still shows the old state.
Test live URL fetches the page now, with Googlebot, and reports whether that version could be indexed. It checks the current page. It does not tell you the page is indexed, and it does not run every check, such as duplicate detection.
Read the date under "Last crawl" before drawing conclusions: it tells you which version you are looking at.
Reading the indexed result
Open the Page indexing section to see:
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Discovery | Sitemaps that list the URL and a referring page Google found it through |
| Last crawl | Date and time of the most recent fetch |
| Crawled as | Googlebot smartphone or desktop |
| Crawl allowed? | Whether robots.txt permits fetching |
| Page fetch | Successful, or the error received |
| Indexing allowed? | Whether a noindex was found |
| User-declared canonical | The URL in your canonical tag |
| Google-selected canonical | The URL Google actually treats as canonical |
The last two rows are the quickest diagnosis for canonical problems. When they differ, Google has overruled your tag.
View crawled page shows the HTML Google stored and the HTTP response. After a live test it adds a screenshot and the list of page resources that failed to load, which is how you spot content that only appears after JavaScript runs or CSS files blocked from crawling.
Request indexing
The Request indexing button adds the URL to a priority crawl queue. Use it for a new page or after an important fix. Keep in mind:
- there is a daily quota per property, so it is not a bulk tool;
- pressing it repeatedly does not move a URL up the queue;
- it requests a crawl, and Google still decides whether the page deserves indexing.
For many URLs, an updated XML sitemap is the right route. Our guide to requesting indexing in Google covers both.
Limits
- It only works for URLs inside a property you have verified.
- It inspects pages. For an image or PDF address it may report that the URL is not indexed as a page even though the file appears in image or web results.
- "URL is on Google" means it can appear in results, not that it ranks for anything.
- The live test uses a fresh fetch that can succeed when ordinary crawling fails, for example when a firewall throttles repeated requests.
A WordPress routine that uses it
After publishing an important page: inspect the URL, run the live test, confirm "Indexing allowed? Yes" and that the declared canonical is the page's own address, then request indexing. If the page is reported as excluded by noindex, check the post's robots setting in your SEO plugin and Settings → Reading → Search engine visibility. If you have not connected the site yet, see how to add Google Search Console to WordPress.
Common questions
How long does request indexing take?
It varies from hours to weeks. The request only prioritises a crawl. Google does not commit to a time, and it may still decide not to index the page.
Why does URL Inspection say "URL is not on Google"?
The page is not in the index. The Page indexing section gives the reason, such as a noindex tag, a robots.txt block, a redirect, a duplicate with a different canonical, or simply not crawled yet.
Can I inspect a competitor's URL?
No. The tool only works for properties you have verified. For any public page you can use the Rich Results Test, which fetches it as Googlebot.