How to Fix URL Inspection Errors in GSC
The URL Inspection tool shows how Google sees your pages. Here's how to interpret and fix the most common errors.
The URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console shows exactly how Google sees a specific page — whether it’s indexed, any problems found, and what content Google captured.
Getting there: Search Console → URL Inspection (top search bar) → Enter any URL from your verified property.
Here’s how to interpret results and fix common errors.
Understanding the inspection results
After inspecting a URL, you’ll see:
Index status: Is the page in Google’s index?
- “URL is on Google” — Good, page is indexed
- “URL is not on Google” — Problem, page isn’t searchable
Coverage: Why Google did or didn’t index the page
Enhancements: Status of structured data, mobile usability, etc.
Last crawl: When Google last fetched this page
Common errors and fixes
”URL is not on Google: Crawled — currently not indexed”
Google crawled the page but chose not to index it.
Causes:
- Page quality too low
- Content too similar to other pages
- No clear value to searchers
Fix: Improve content uniqueness and value. Add internal links. Request indexing after changes.
”URL is not on Google: Discovered — currently not indexed”
Google knows the URL exists but hasn’t crawled it yet.
Causes:
- Page recently added
- Low priority in crawl queue
- Few internal links pointing to it
Fix: Ensure good internal linking. Request indexing. Wait 1-2 weeks. See Discovered — not indexed for details.
”URL is not on Google: Blocked by robots.txt”
Your robots.txt file prevents Google from crawling this URL.
Check: Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and look for rules blocking this path.
Fix: Remove or modify the blocking rule if the page should be indexed.
”URL is not on Google: Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag”
The page has a noindex meta tag or HTTP header.
Check: View page source, look for <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> or check HTTP headers for X-Robots-Tag.
Fix: Remove the noindex directive if the page should be indexed.
”Redirect” issues
URL redirects to another page.
If intentional: This is fine. The destination URL should be indexed.
If not intentional: Check for unwanted redirects (htaccess, server config, plugins).
”Soft 404”
Page exists but Google thinks it behaves like an error page.
Causes:
- Page has very little content
- Page says “no results” or “not found” in content
- Page returns thin/empty content
Fix: Add substantial content or return actual 404 status if page shouldn’t exist.
Using “Test Live URL”
After fixing issues, click “Test Live URL” to see how Google would see the current version:
- Click “Test Live URL” button
- Wait for Google to fetch the page
- Review results — do problems persist?
- If fixed, click “Request Indexing”
This tests the live page, not Google’s cached version.
When to request indexing
Do request indexing when:
- You’ve fixed an error
- You’ve added new important content
- A page structure significantly changed
Don’t request indexing:
- Repeatedly for the same page (once is enough)
- For pages you don’t want indexed
- For minor content updates
Requesting indexing puts the URL in Google’s crawl queue but doesn’t guarantee indexing.
Monitoring multiple pages
URL Inspection checks one URL at a time. For bulk monitoring:
- Use the Pages report for overall index status
- Check Coverage report for patterns across pages
- Track important pages with SerpDelta for ranking changes