Index Coverage
Index Coverage shows the latest URL Inspection verdict for each tracked page on your site, grouped by Google's classification of why a URL is or isn't in the index. A URL that doesn't exist in Google's index can never rank or earn clicks — so this report is the foundational health check that should be run before any other SEO investigation.
What it measures
- URL — the tracked page.
- Verdict — Pass / Partial / Fail / Neutral as returned by Search Console's URL Inspection API.
- Coverage state — Google's specific reason ("Submitted and indexed", "Crawled — currently not indexed", "Discovered — currently not indexed", "Excluded by noindex tag", etc.).
- Last crawl date — when Googlebot most recently fetched the URL.
How we compute it
- Each tracked URL is submitted to Search Console's URL Inspection API on a recurring schedule.
- The API returns the indexing verdict, the coverage state, the canonical Google selected, the last crawl date and any structured data / mobile / HTTPS issues.
- We group URLs by coverage state so the report becomes triage-ready: indexed at the top, problematic at the bottom.
Scenarios you'll see
The healthy state. URL is in the index and eligible to rank.
Google fetched it but chose not to index it. Almost always a quality signal — thin content, near-duplicate of another page, or low perceived value. Improve the page or consolidate.
Google knows about the URL but hasn't crawled it. Often a crawl-budget or internal-linking issue. Improve internal links and submit the URL.
A noindex meta tag or HTTP header is telling Google to exclude the page. If intentional, fine. If not, find and remove the directive immediately.
Expected on duplicate-by-design URLs (paginated lists, faceted navigation, AMP). Confirm the canonical points where you want.
Page returns a 200 but looks empty to Google, or the server returned a 5xx during crawl. Both kill rankings; both are technical issues to fix at the platform level.
What to do with it
- Triage by coverage state. Anything not in "Submitted and indexed" deserves attention.
- For "Crawled — currently not indexed", treat the page as a quality problem first; technical fixes won't help if Google judged the content thin.
- For "Discovered — currently not indexed", improve internal links to the URL, submit via the URL Inspection tool, and re-check after 2–3 weeks.
- For "Excluded by noindex" you didn't intend, find the directive (theme template, CMS setting, robots header) and remove it.
Caveats & limits
- The URL Inspection API is rate-limited per Search Console property (currently 2,000 URLs / day). Large sites are sampled.
- The verdict reflects Google's most recent check, not necessarily the live state of the URL. After fixing an issue, request re-indexing and allow a few days.
- "Discovered — currently not indexed" can be transient, especially for new content. Re-check before treating as a problem.
Related reports
- Sitemaps Status — which sitemaps Google has read and any errors.
- Crawl Stats — Googlebot's crawl behaviour over time.
- Falling Pages — URLs that lost traffic; cross-reference with this report for technical root causes.