Free Technical SEO Diagnostic
Inspect crawl access, indexing directives, canonical signals and search evidence—without confusing indexability with confirmed index status.
Indexability report
Manual Google check
Google’s site: operator is useful evidence, but an absent result does not prove that a URL is not indexed.
The Google Indexability & Index Evidence Checker inspects the technical signals that can allow or prevent Google indexing, then separates those signals from external evidence about whether Google actually knows and stores the URL.
Indexability means a URL appears technically eligible for a search engine to crawl, process and potentially include in its index. Indexed means Google has actually processed and stored the URL in its search index. A page can be technically indexable and still not be indexed. Technical eligibility is a prerequisite—not confirmation.
One of the most common technical SEO mistakes is turning a collection of positive signals into a stronger conclusion than the evidence supports.
A page may return HTTP 200, allow Googlebot, contain no noindex directive and point to itself as canonical.
Those signals tell you that there is no obvious technical indexing block.
They do not prove that Google has crawled, processed, selected and stored that URL.
Google learns that the URL exists.
Googlebot requests the URL and retrieves available content.
Google processes the content and decides whether and how to store it.
An indexed page may be selected for relevant search results.
Discovery does not guarantee crawling. Crawling does not guarantee indexing. Indexing does not guarantee rankings, impressions or clicks.
Use the full protocol and exact page path you want Google to index.
Let the checker inspect response behavior, crawl signals, directives and canonical information.
Start with the Technical Indexability score and identify any high-impact blockers.
Check robots.txt, meta robots, X-Robots-Tag and canonical signals individually rather than relying only on the score.
Use the tool's manual Google check as supporting evidence, while remembering that absence from a search result is not definitive proof of non-indexing.
For a verified property, inspect the URL in Google Search Console to see Google's stored indexing and canonical information.
| Evidence | What it tells you | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| HTTP + directives + canonical | Whether obvious technical conditions allow indexing. | Eligibility |
| Sitemap inclusion | The site is explicitly presenting the URL to search engines as important/discoverable. | Discovery signal |
| Exact Google result | A matching result is useful public evidence that Google can surface the URL. | Positive evidence |
| Missing site: result | The URL was not visible in that particular search result. | Inconclusive |
| Search Console URL Inspection | Google's stored URL-level indexing, crawl and canonical information for a verified property. | Strongest owned-site evidence |
A high score means the URL appears technically better positioned for Google to access and consider for indexing based on the signals the checker can inspect. It does not mean Google has indexed the page, that Google chose this URL as canonical, or that the URL will rank.
A normal successful HTML response is generally what you expect from a page intended to remain independently accessible and indexable.
A redirect tells crawlers to go elsewhere. The redirecting URL and final destination should not be interpreted as two independent indexable documents.
A genuine 404 or 410 tells Google that the requested resource is not available and is not a normal indexable page.
noindex, point canonically elsewhere or simply remain unindexed.
| Control | Main purpose | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| robots.txt Disallow | Controls crawling access for matching crawlers and paths. |
It is not Google's supported method for issuing a noindex instruction.
|
| Meta robots noindex | Tells supporting search engines not to index the page. | Googlebot must be able to crawl the page to see the directive. |
| X-Robots-Tag: noindex | Sends an indexing directive through HTTP headers. | Googlebot still needs access to retrieve the response header. |
Google explicitly says a page must remain crawlable for Googlebot to see its noindex meta tag or HTTP header.
Google says that when Googlebot crawls a page and extracts a supported noindex directive, the page is dropped from Google Search results regardless of whether other sites link to it.
Common HTML implementation: <meta name="robots" content="noindex">.
The equivalent indexing instruction can also be returned in HTTP headers, which is especially useful for non-HTML files.
A Googlebot-specific robots meta directive can target Google crawlers while other supported engines receive different instructions.
No. A self-referencing canonical is a useful consistency signal, but Google treats canonicalization signals as hints. Google can select another URL as canonical when its systems believe another version better represents the duplicate cluster.
Indicates that this URL is the site's preferred representative for its own content.
Signals that another URL is preferred as the representative version, which may explain why the inspected URL is not independently indexed.
Search Console URL Inspection can show which canonical Google actually selected after processing the URL.
No. Google says sitemaps help search engines discover URLs and communicate which pages the site considers important, but inclusion in a sitemap does not guarantee that Google will crawl or index the URL.
No. A missing site: result is useful diagnostic evidence, but it is not conclusive proof that Google has no stored index record for that URL. This checker therefore lets you record the result without converting an absence into a definitive index verdict.
Strong public evidence that Google can currently surface the URL.
A reason to investigate further—not proof by itself that the page is completely absent from Google's stored index.
For your own site, use URL Inspection when a dependable URL-level index diagnosis matters.
In Search Console URL Inspection, Google says “URL is on Google” means the URL has been indexed and is eligible to appear in Google Search results. It still does not guarantee that the page will appear for a particular query or receive traffic.
Search Console can show information about how Google discovered the URL.
Review whether Google crawled the page, the crawl date and obstacles encountered.
URL Inspection can show Google's selected canonical rather than only the canonical your HTML declares.
| Scenario | Interpretation | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| 200 + index allowed + self-canonical | Technically indexable based on visible signals. | Check Search Console if index confirmation is needed. |
| 200 + noindex | Explicit index-prevention signal. | Remove noindex if the page is intended for Google Search. |
| robots.txt blocked | Googlebot may be prevented from crawling the page content. | Review whether the block is intentional. |
| Canonical points elsewhere | The site is signaling another URL as the preferred representative. | Confirm whether duplication/consolidation is intentional. |
| Indexable + absent site: result | Technically eligible, but public Google evidence is inconclusive. | Inspect the URL in Search Console. |
| Indexable + Search Console says not indexed | No obvious technical block, but Google has not indexed the URL. | Review the Page Indexing reason, discovery, canonicalization, content and internal signals. |
New or weakly linked URLs may not have been discovered or prioritized for crawling yet.
Google may treat another URL as the canonical representative of substantially similar content.
Technical eligibility does not require Google to include every accessible URL in its searchable index.
Important pages that receive little internal linking can be harder for crawlers and users to discover.
Canonical, migration, redirect or content changes may need to be recrawled and reprocessed.
Google may still be working from an older crawled version until the URL is revisited.
For important URLs, Search Console's URL Inspection workflow can be used to request re-indexing after meaningful technical or content changes. Google notes that this feature is subject to quotas, so it should be used selectively rather than as a substitute for good discovery, internal linking and sitemaps.
Staging or development robots.txt rules can accidentally survive into production.
Migration templates may retain temporary noindex rules that were only meant for development.
New URLs can accidentally continue pointing canonically to old domains, staging hosts or outdated paths.
Old URLs may redirect to irrelevant or broken destinations instead of their proper replacements.
Sitemaps can continue presenting outdated URLs after paths or domains change.
Google still needs time to recrawl and process new URLs, redirects and canonical relationships.
A successful HTTP response proves accessibility—not Google's stored index status.
A sitemap is a discovery mechanism, not an index guarantee.
Canonical annotations express preference; Google can select another representative.
A missing public result should trigger investigation rather than a categorical verdict.
robots.txt controls crawling and is not Google's supported location for a noindex instruction.
If crawling is blocked, Google may be unable to retrieve the noindex directive.
An indexed page can still receive zero impressions for competitive or irrelevant queries.
A recrawl request is not a guarantee that Google will index or rank the page.
Google must recrawl and reprocess changes before its stored understanding can change.
Know which pages should appear in search and avoid accidental noindex rules on important URLs.
Avoid robots.txt rules that unintentionally prevent Googlebot from accessing pages you want processed.
Align canonicals, redirects, internal links and sitemap URLs around the version you actually want treated as primary.
Search engines and users should be able to reach valuable URLs through your site structure.
Include the canonical URLs that you actually want search engines to discover and process.
When a URL matters commercially, inspect Google's own stored information rather than relying on public search operators alone.
Audit robots rules, noindex directives, redirects, canonicals and sitemaps after major site changes.
When the page is technically clean but remains unindexed, investigate discovery, duplication, usefulness and site quality rather than endlessly changing robots settings.
The strongest diagnosis comes from combining what the public URL currently sends with what Google Search Console says Google has actually processed.
Direct answers to common questions about robots.txt, noindex, canonicals, sitemaps, HTTP status, Search Console and Google indexing evidence.
Indexable means the page appears technically eligible for a search engine to process and potentially include in its index. It does not mean the page has actually been indexed.
Indexed means Google has processed and stored the URL in its search index. Search Console URL Inspection can provide URL-level indexing information for verified properties.
Yes. Technical eligibility does not guarantee crawling, canonical selection or index inclusion.
No. HTTP 200 means the server returned a successful response. It does not tell you whether Google has indexed the content.
robots.txt primarily controls crawling. Google does not support putting a noindex rule in robots.txt as a way to prevent indexing.
Potentially, yes. If Google cannot crawl the page, it may still know that the URL exists from links or other discovery sources. Blocking crawling is therefore different from issuing a supported noindex directive.
A supported noindex meta tag or X-Robots-Tag tells Google not to include the page in Google Search once Googlebot can crawl and process the directive.
No. Google explicitly says specifying noindex in robots.txt is not supported.
Generally not when you need Google to process the noindex directive. Googlebot must be able to retrieve the page or response header to see noindex.
X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header that can send indexing directives such as noindex. It is especially useful for non-HTML resources such as PDFs.
No. It communicates your preferred canonical URL, but Google treats canonical signals as hints and may select another representative.
Yes. Google may select another canonical based on the combined signals and content it finds.
Inspect the URL in Google Search Console and review the Google-selected canonical information.
No. Google says sitemaps help discovery but do not guarantee that submitted URLs will be crawled or indexed.
Generally yes. Sitemaps are useful for communicating important canonical URLs and can improve discovery, especially on large, new or complex sites.
A matching result is useful positive evidence, but site: search should not be treated as a complete database of Google's index.
No. Treat the absence as a reason to investigate further. For a verified property, use Search Console URL Inspection for Google's stored URL-level index information.
Google says the URL has been indexed and is eligible to appear in Search results, although that does not guarantee it will appear for every query.
It means that URL will not currently appear in Google Search results. Review the Page Indexing details to understand the reason.
Yes. Indexing only makes a page eligible for search serving. Ranking and impressions depend on relevance, competition and many additional systems.
No. It asks Google to revisit or re-evaluate the URL. Google still decides whether and how the page should be indexed.
Possible reasons include limited discovery, recent publication, canonical duplication, recrawl delays or Google's index-selection decisions. Check the exact Page Indexing status in Search Console.
There is no universal indexing time. Discovery, crawl demand, site size, server performance, internal linking and Google processing can all affect timing.
A redirect primarily tells Google that another destination should be used. For permanent moves, the destination URL is normally the page you want Google to process as the new representative.
Review redirects, robots.txt, noindex directives, canonical URLs, sitemap URLs, internal links and Search Console indexing evidence.
It can identify visible technical blockers and conflicts. Google's own Page Indexing and URL Inspection data is needed for Google's stored indexing reason on a verified property.
No. It means the checker found a technically favorable set of visible signals. It is not a Google index-status score.
No. Indexability and indexing are prerequisites for normal organic visibility, but ranking depends on many additional relevance and quality systems.
Use the Google Indexability & Index Evidence Checker to identify crawl and indexing blockers, review directives and canonical signals, record public Google evidence and decide when Search Console verification is required.