Google’s URL Inspection Tool
Google’s URL Inspection Tool
What is Google’s URL Inspection Tool?
Google’s URL Inspection Tool is a powerful tool that can help you to gain more insight into how Google crawls and indexes your website.
Here is how to use it:
Step 1: Accessing The Tool
The first step is to access the tool itself. To do this, simply go to Google’s Search Console and select “URL Inspection Tool” from the left-hand menu.
Step 2: Enter Your URL
Once you’re on the URL Inspection Tool page, enter the URL you want to inspect in the search bar provided. This can be any URL on your website, whether it’s a blog post, a product page, or a homepage.
Step 3: Running The Inspection
Once you’ve entered your URL, click on the “Enter” key to run the inspection. The tool will then analyze the page and provide you with information about its status, as well as any potential issues that Google has found.
Step 4: Review The Results
Once the inspection is complete, you’ll see a detailed report of the results. This includes information about whether the page has been indexed, whether it’s mobile-friendly, and whether there are any errors or issues that need to be addressed.
Step 5: Troubleshooting Issues
If the inspection reveals any issues or errors, it’s important to troubleshoot these as soon as possible. Common issues that Google may flag include broken links, missing or duplicate content, and issues with mobile-friendliness.
Google’s URL Inspection Tool has been a powerful tool for webmasters looking to monitor the indexing status and visibility of their website pages.
In addition to indexing status, crawl issues and canonicalization, there are some other helpful features of Google’s URL Inspection Tool to know as well:
- Mobile Usability Issues: With the rise of mobile devices and the mobile-first index, it is essential to ensure that your website pages are optimized for mobile. Google’s URL Inspection Tool can show the mobile usability issues on the page, allowing you to identify any errors and fix them immediately.
- Rich Results and Structured Data: If you want your website to stand out in search results, rich results and structured data are critical. The URL Inspection Tool shows the rich results and structured data on the page, giving you a better understanding of how your content will appear in the search results.
- JavaScript rendering: JavaScript has become a vital part of modern web development. However, it can also affect the rendering of your pages, making it essential to ensure that Google can crawl and index your JavaScript-powered content. The URL Inspection Tool provides JavaScript rendering results, enabling you to test your site’s JavaScript code and check how it renders for search engine bots.
- Security Issues: Website security is crucial, and Google takes it seriously. With the URL Inspection Tool, you can quickly check whether there are any security issues, such as malware or phishing, that Google has detected on your website pages. If your website is flagged as not being secure, it can significantly affect your site’s credibility and reputation. The tool enables you to check your website’s security level and ensure that your visitors are protected when they interact with your website.
Technical SEO, as opposed to on-page SEO or content marketing, refers to the optimization of technical elements on a website, including the code, structure, and server configuration.
In this case, if your website has a lot of pages that contain similar content, known as duplicate content, this can lead to confusion for Google’s crawlers, potentially causing them to index the wrong page or ignore pages entirely. By using the URL Inspection Tool, you can identify such issues and take the necessary steps to rectify them, making your website as good as it can be.
Related: SEO: What is a Search Engine Spider?
Related: Google: How do I know if my page is being indexed on Google?