What is the URL Inspection tool in Search Console?

URL Inspection tool, explained

Paste any URL from your property into the search bar at the top of Search Console. Google's help page describes the results: "URL is on Google", "URL is on Google, but has issues", or "URL is not on Google", plus details like the user-declared and Google-selected canonical, the last crawl date, whether it was crawled as a smartphone or desktop, and any detected structured data.

By default you're looking at the indexed version, from Google's last crawl, not the live page. The "Test live URL" button fetches the page now, which is how you confirm a fix before asking Google to recrawl. The live test also lets you view the crawled page: the rendered HTML, the HTTP response headers and a screenshot. That's the best way to see whether Google can render JavaScript content, read your robots tags or reach resources.

"Request indexing" asks Google to recrawl a URL. Google says there's a daily limit on requests, that submitting doesn't guarantee the page will appear in the index, and that it can take days or weeks. It's useful for a handful of important new or fixed pages. For many URLs, use sitemaps and internal links instead.

It's the first tool to reach for when a single page misbehaves: not indexed, wrong canonical, old title in results, missing rich result. It tells you what Google actually has, which is often different from what you think you shipped.

Why it matters for founders

Most indexing debates end in thirty seconds with URL Inspection. It's Google's own answer about one page.

Example

Your new pricing page isn't showing in Google. URL Inspection says "Discovered – currently not indexed". The live test is fine, so you link it from the homepage and request indexing. It's indexed three days later.

Common mistakes

• Reading the indexed result as the live page.
• Requesting indexing for hundreds of URLs one by one.
• Ignoring the Google-selected canonical field.
• Using site: searches instead of inspecting the URL.