URL inspection: indexed version vs live test

What the indexed version and the live test in Google’s URL Inspection tool each contain, and how to read the same data through the URL Inspection API.

The URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console returns two different results for the same address. This guide covers the url inspection indexed version vs live test distinction: what each view is built from, which fields exist in only one of them, and how the URL Inspection API fits in. The API exposes the indexed version only.

Two results, two data sources

	Indexed version (default view)	Live test (Test live URL)
Built from	The copy of the page Google stored at its last crawl	A real-time fetch by Google-InspectionTool
Refreshed	Each time Google crawls the page	Each time the test is run
Verdicts	URL is on Google · URL is on Google, but has issues · URL is not on Google · URL is an alternate version	URL is available to Google · URL is available to Google, but has issues · URL is not available to Google
Discovery data (sitemaps, referring page)	Yes	Not checked
Canonical comparison	User-declared and Google-selected canonical	Not checked
Manual actions, removals, quality and security issues	Reflected in the verdict	Not checked
Screenshot	No	Yes, when the fetch succeeds
HTML, HTTP headers, JavaScript console, resources	View crawled page	View tested page
Used by Google for indexing decisions	This is the index	No. Google states it does not use the live test information
Available through the API	Yes	No

What the indexed version answers

The indexed view answers one question: what does Google currently hold for this URL? Every field in it describes the stored copy, not the page as it is right now.

• Last crawl dates the stored copy. Changes made after that date are not reflected in Search. If the field is empty, Google has not found the page yet.
• Crawl allowed?, Page fetch and Indexing allowed? describe what happened during that crawl.
• User-declared canonical and Google-selected canonical show whether the inspected URL is the indexed address or a duplicate of another one. Google notes the selected canonical in the tool can be a few hours behind the index.

What the live test answers

The live test answers a narrower question: can Google-InspectionTool reach and index this page now? Google’s documentation lists what the test does not check: sitemaps and referring pages, duplicate and alternate versions, quality and security guidelines, manual actions, content removals and temporarily blocked URLs. There is no definitive test that can guarantee a page will be included in the index; the live test confirms access, nothing more.

Use it after a fix. A clean live result next to a failing indexed result means the fix is live and not yet re-indexed; Request indexing becomes available only when the live test shows the page as indexable.

Step by step: comparing the two

1. Inspect the URL and read the indexed verdict together with Last crawl.
2. If Last crawl is empty, stop comparing: there is no indexed version. Run the live test, then request indexing.
3. Click Test live URL.
4. Expand Coverage in both views and compare Crawl allowed?, Page fetch and Indexing allowed? line by line.
5. Open View crawled page and View tested page; compare HTTP headers and JavaScript console output when the verdicts differ.
6. Decide: a fix is still needed if the live test fails; a recrawl is needed if the live test passes and the indexed view fails.

Reading the indexed version through the API

The URL Inspection API returns the same indexed data in machine-readable form. It does not run live tests: the reference states that the indexability of a live URL cannot be tested, and only the status of the version in the Google index is available.

Endpoint: POST https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect

Request body

{
  "inspectionUrl": "https://example.com/guides/pricing-page",
  "siteUrl": "https://example.com/",
  "languageCode": "en-US"
}

• inspectionUrl must be under the property named in siteUrl.
• siteUrl is the property as defined in Search Console: a URL-prefix property with a trailing slash, or a Domain property in the form sc-domain:example.com.
• languageCode is optional and only affects the language of issue messages.

Response body (abridged to documented fields)

{
  "inspectionResult": {
    "inspectionResultLink": "https://search.google.com/search-console/inspect?resource_id=...",
    "indexStatusResult": {
      "verdict": "PASS",
      "coverageState": "Submitted and indexed",
      "robotsTxtState": "ALLOWED",
      "indexingState": "INDEXING_ALLOWED",
      "lastCrawlTime": "2026-10-09T14:21:05Z",
      "pageFetchState": "SUCCESSFUL",
      "googleCanonical": "https://example.com/guides/pricing-page",
      "userCanonical": "https://example.com/guides/pricing-page",
      "sitemap": ["https://example.com/sitemap.xml"],
      "referringUrls": ["https://example.com/guides/"],
      "crawledAs": "MOBILE"
    }
  }
}

Field reference for indexStatusResult

Field	Values	Maps to in the UI
verdict	PASS, FAIL, NEUTRAL (PARTIAL is reserved and no longer used)	The top-line verdict
coverageState	Free-text status string	Page indexing status
robotsTxtState	ALLOWED, DISALLOWED	Crawl allowed?
indexingState	INDEXING_ALLOWED, BLOCKED_BY_META_TAG, BLOCKED_BY_HTTP_HEADER (BLOCKED_BY_ROBOTS_TXT is reserved)	Indexing allowed?
pageFetchState	SUCCESSFUL, SOFT_404, BLOCKED_ROBOTS_TXT, NOT_FOUND, ACCESS_DENIED, SERVER_ERROR, REDIRECT_ERROR, ACCESS_FORBIDDEN, BLOCKED_4XX, INTERNAL_CRAWL_ERROR, INVALID_URL	Page fetch
lastCrawlTime	RFC 3339 timestamp; absent if never crawled successfully	Last crawl
googleCanonical / userCanonical	URL; absent if not indexed / not declared	Google-selected / user-declared canonical
sitemap[] / referringUrls[]	Lists; absent if none found	Sitemaps / Referring page
crawledAs	DESKTOP, MOBILE	Crawled as

ampResult, richResultsResult and the deprecated mobileUsabilityResult sit next to indexStatusResult and are omitted from the response when not applicable.

Scope and limits

• One URL per call, and only URLs inside a property you own. Pages on other domains, such as backlink sources, cannot be inspected.
• Quota is 2,000 queries per day and 600 per minute per property.
• No live test, no screenshot, no request-indexing action.

For URL lists that span domains outside your Search Console properties, SpeedyIndex publishes separate API endpoints for index checking, with its own request format and authentication. The verdict-by-verdict walkthrough for this week, covering the indexed states, the live-test states and what to do after each one, is in the SpeedyIndex URL Inspection verdicts guide.

Sources

• URL Inspection tool, Search Console Help: support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9012289
• Inspect and troubleshoot a single page, Search Console Help: support.google.com/webmasters/answer/12482179
• URL Inspection API, urlInspection.index.inspect: developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/v1/urlInspection.index/inspect
• URL Inspection API, UrlInspectionResult: developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/v1/urlInspection.index/UrlInspectionResult
• Search Console API usage limits: developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/limits