URL Inspection and Index Tracker
URL Inspection checks many URLs against Google and keeps the results; Index Tracker repeats the check on a schedule. This page covers the inputs, the daily quota, the fields stored and the limits of what a result means.
✓ Checked in the workspace code · 7 October 2026
What URL Inspection does in the workspace
The URL Inspection report asks Google what it knows about specific URLs of a property, using the Search Console URL Inspection API, and keeps the results as a history. It is the same information as the Search Console tool described in the glossary entry URL Inspection tool, but for many URLs at once and with a saved record.
Four ways to give it URLs
| Input | How it works |
|---|---|
| File Upload | a TXT file with one URL per line, or a CSV with a “url” column |
| Paste URLs | one URL per line |
| GSC Sitemaps | choose a sitemap already known to Search Console |
| Sitemap URL | enter an XML sitemap of the property; sitemap indexes are expanded automatically |
Each URL must be an absolute http or https address of at most 2,000 characters and must belong to the selected property. You can run the check in the current tab, where results appear as they arrive but stop if you close the tab, or in the background.
The daily quota
Google limits URL Inspection to 2,000 queries per day and 600 per minute for each site (Search Console API limits). The page counts today’s calls out of 2,000, shows how many URLs remain, and refuses a run that would exceed the limit, telling you how many calls are left. Index Tracker uses the same allowance, so a large manual run leaves less for scheduled checks.
What each result contains
- Status: indexed when Google’s verdict is PASS, otherwise not indexed, with Google’s coverage state and indexing state.
- Crawl facts: last crawl time, page fetch state, robots.txt state and whether Google crawled as mobile or desktop.
- Canonicals: the one you declared and the one Google selected.
- Discovery: sitemaps and referring URLs, up to 50 of each.
- Enhancements: rich results and mobile usability verdicts, and a link to the full result in Search Console.
The history keeps the latest result per URL and can be exported as CSV. A result describes the last state Google recorded; it does not guarantee how the page will appear in results.
Index Tracker: scheduled checks
Index Tracker repeats the inspection for a chosen list of URLs. It runs at most once per UTC day for each tracker, skips a day when every URL was already inspected that day, and stops when the daily limit is reached. Each check saves the latest result and an observation, so a change from indexed to not indexed, or back, can be detected. Optional digests report changes. Tracker reports show the history.
A practical routine
- Pick the URLs that matter: the pages of one release or one template, not the whole site.
- Inspect them once and read the coverage and canonical fields.
- Fix the cause, then add the URLs to Index Tracker to watch them recover.
- Keep room in the quota for the tracker.
The playbook on technical indexing issues shows how to turn results into a queue.
If something looks wrong
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| “Only N calls remain today” | the daily limit; run a shorter list or wait for the next UTC day |
| A URL is rejected | it is not absolute, is longer than 2,000 characters or is outside the property |
| A run stopped midway | the tab was closed; use the background mode for long lists |
| A quota error from Google | wait and retry; the 600 per minute limit can be reached by a fast run |
URL Inspection and Index Tracker, answered
How many URLs can I inspect a day?
Google allows 2,000 per site per day and 600 per minute.
Does “indexed” mean the page will rank?
No. It means Google has the page in its index.
How often does Index Tracker check?
At most once per UTC day for each tracker.
Continue
Next, see crawled – currently not indexed and soft 404.