How to check if a page is indexed by Google: site:, URL Inspection and bulk checks

There are four ways to check whether Google has indexed a page, and the right one depends on two questions: how many URLs are you checking, and is the site yours in Search Console? For a single page on a site you own, URL Inspection gives the definitive answer. For hundreds of URLs you need the Pages report or a bulk index checker. For pages you do not own, a site: search and bulk tools are the only options. A site: search is a hint in every case, never a verdict; Google says so in its own documentation.

Being indexed and being visible in search are not the same thing. Your page can be indexed and still sit on page five for the query you care about. The methods below answer only the first question: is the URL in Google's index or not? If it is not, the page not indexed diagnosis guide walks you through the reasons.

Which method when? A decision table

Each method is built for a different scale and a different level of certainty. Picking the wrong one either burns a daily quota or makes you trust an answer that is not really an answer.

The site: operator: what it tells you and what it does not

The best-known method is typing site:example.com/page into Google. If a result appears, the page is almost certainly indexed. If nothing appears, nothing has been proven. Google's site: operator documentation settles this in two sentences: the list of URLs returned "is not always exhaustive" and bigger sites "shouldn't expect to see all their URLs in the results". The same page adds that even an indexed URL showing up for a site: query "is not guaranteed" and points you to the URL Inspection tool when a URL is missing.

In practice a site: search misleads in three situations. First, the page is indexed under a different canonical URL than the one you typed: with or without www, with or without a trailing slash, http instead of https. Second, the result count changes from query to query; the same search can return a different number in the morning and in the evening. Third, the "about X results" figure is an estimate and cannot be used as a count of indexed pages.

The way to still get value from a site: search is to narrow it. Type the full URL and, if needed, add a fragment of the title in quotes. If a result appears, record it. If none appears, log it as "needs verification" rather than "not indexed" and move on to the next method.

URL Inspection: the definitive answer for a site you own

The URL Inspection tool in Search Console shows exactly what Google's index holds for one URL. There is no estimate involved; what you see is Google's own record.

1. 01

   1. Paste the full URL

   Enter the complete address, protocol included, in the search bar at the top. A shortened address or one with parameters stripped inspects a different URL than the one you meant.

2. 02

   2. Read the top verdict

   There are three verdicts: "URL is on Google", "URL is on Google, but has issues" and "URL is not on Google". Inside the Page indexing section you may also see "URL is unknown to Google", which means Google has never encountered the address at all.

3. 03

   3. Compare the two canonical lines

   If the "User-declared canonical" and the "Google-selected canonical" differ, the page is indexed but under another address. This is the most frequent reason you cannot find your URL in search. The fix is covered in the canonical step of the diagnosis guide.

4. 04

   4. Check the last crawl date and the referring page

   The last crawl date tells you when Google last saw the page. The referring page field shows where Google discovered this URL; if it is empty and the URL is not in a sitemap either, you have a discovery problem.

5. 05

   5. Run the live test only when you need it

   "Test live URL" shows what Googlebot receives right now and exists to compare against the indexed version. Google states that there is a daily limit of inspections and a separate daily limit of live tests per property, without publishing the numbers. Do not spend that quota on hundreds of URLs; that is the job of the Pages report.

The Page indexing report: hundreds of URLs on one screen

For a site-wide index check the right place is Indexing > Pages. According to Google's report documentation, the report shows the indexing status of all URLs Google knows about in your property, grouped as "Indexed" and "Not indexed", with the not-indexed URLs broken down by reason.

• See a sample of indexed URLs: the "View data about indexed pages" link below the chart opens an example list of up to 1,000 URLs. Google describes it as a sample, so it may not contain every indexed URL.
• Reason lists are also capped at 1,000 rows: the table behind each reason does not necessarily show every URL with that issue. On large sites the report therefore answers "how many" precisely and "which ones" only partially.
• Filter by sitemap: use the dropdown at the top of the report to select one sitemap. You then see only the group of URLs you consider important, and stray parameter URLs on the site do not inflate the numbers. If you have no sitemap yet, start with the sitemap submission guide.
• Export and date it: the export button downloads both chart and table data. Export on the same day each month and date the file; when the indexed count drops, comparing two files shows which reason group grew.

URLs you cannot see in Search Console

Pages that link to you, a competitor's new content, a client site that is not yet added to Search Console: for these URLs neither URL Inspection nor the Pages report is available. You can run site: searches one by one, but past twenty URLs that stops being practical, and every empty result carries the uncertainty described above.

This is where a bulk index checker comes in. In WeRankLab's tool you paste up to 1,000 URLs at a time, one per line; each URL comes back as indexed or not indexed, with Google and Brave Search results shown separately. URLs that are missing can be sent for a crawl request from the same dashboard, and you can re-check the same list a few days later. For backlink lists the full workflow is in the getting backlinks indexed guide.

Bulk tools rely on search results and answer "what", not "why". If a URL comes back as not indexed, only that site's Search Console can tell you the reason. On your own site, use both: scan the list with the bulk tool, then verify the problem URLs with URL Inspection.

Automating checks with the URL Inspection API

If you want to automate checks on sites you own, the Search Console URL Inspection API returns the same data as the URL Inspection tool: verdict, Google-selected canonical, last crawl and indexing state. Google's documentation notes that presently only the status of the version in the index is available; you cannot run a live test through the API.

The quotas are listed on the usage limits page: 2,000 queries per day and 600 per minute for the same site, and 10,000,000 per day and 15,000 per minute per project. That is enough to re-check a mid-sized site every week. The API requires you to be a verified owner or authorised user of the property, so it does not work for someone else's site. If you would rather not write code, a bulk checker plus a monthly exported report covers the same ground.

Five checks that stop you misreading the result

• Canonical variant: when the verdict is "not on Google", look at the Google-selected canonical first. The page may be indexed under another address; what matters is the content, not the exact string you measured.
• Parameters and UTM tags: an address with ?utm_source= attached counts as a different URL. Inspect the clean address.
• http and https, www and non-www: four versions are four separate URLs. Decide which one is canonical and always check that one.
• Indexed but not visible: if URL Inspection says "on Google", the problem is ranking. Repeating the index check changes nothing; look at content and links instead.
• A removed page still shows up: a URL returning 404 or 410 can stay in the index for a while. That does not mean your check was wrong; it drops out once Google recrawls it.

A routine: how often to check and what to record

Without a routine, index drops are noticed months late. The schedule below is enough for small and mid-sized sites.

• Every newly published page: URL Inspection one week after publishing; if "not on Google", go to the diagnosis guide.
• Whole site: once a month, export the Pages report filtered by sitemap and compare the indexed count with the previous month.
• Backlink and external URL lists: check with the bulk tool, send the missing ones for a crawl, re-check the same list two weeks later.
• Record five columns for every check: URL, date, method, result, Google-selected canonical.
• If the same URL is out of the index on three checks, stop checking and move to the cause: this guide for "Discovered", this one for "Crawled".

Frequently asked questions

Is the result count of a site: search the number of indexed pages?

No. Google states that the count is an estimate and that the list is not exhaustive. The accurate figure for a whole site is the "Indexed" value in the Page indexing report.

URL Inspection says "on Google" but I cannot find the page in search. Why?

The page is indexed; it simply does not rank high enough for the query you tried. That is a ranking problem, not an indexing problem. Searching for the page title in quotes usually shows it is there.

How often should I check index status?

Once, one week after publishing, for new pages; monthly for the whole site. Inspecting the same URL every day speeds nothing up and only uses your daily quota.

Does a bulk index checker replace Search Console?

No. A bulk tool exists for URLs you do not own and for fast scans; it does not give reasons. On your own site use both: the bulk tool narrows the list, Search Console explains the cause.