Free indexability checker: find out why a URL won't index
Paste up to 10 URLs, your pages or pages with your backlinks. Each one is fetched as Googlebot and you get the reason it can or can't be indexed: status code, redirect, noindex, robots.txt or canonical. Free, no sign-up.
What the checker tests
The same checks the bot runs before it charges for a link. If a URL fails any of them, Google won't index it, however good the content is.
- Status code
200passes. 404 and 410 mean the page is gone, other 4xx mean access is denied, 5xx means the server failed. - RedirectsA redirecting URL isn't indexed under its own address. Check the final one.
- noindexIn meta robots, meta googlebot or the
X-Robots-Tagheader. - robots.txtWhether the path is blocked for Googlebot.
- CanonicalWhether the page names another URL as its main version.
Indexable isn't the same as indexed
A green result means nothing technical stops Google. Whether the page gets indexed then depends on whether Google crawls it and decides it's worth keeping.
To check if a page is already in the index, use URL Inspection in Search Console for your own sites. For backlinks on other sites, our guide on checking backlink indexing covers the reliable ways.
To get indexable pages crawled sooner, send them to @IndexForgeBot. It runs these same checks on up to 10,000 links at once and charges $0.01 only for the ones that pass.
How to read the results
Each URL gets one status. Here's what it means and what to do next.
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
ok | Nothing technical blocks indexing | Make sure the page is linked and worth indexing, then send it for crawling |
404 | The page doesn't exist | Fix the URL or restore the page |
4xx | Access denied or another client error | Check firewall, login walls and bot protection |
5xx | The server failed | Retry later; if it repeats, the host has a problem |
redirect | The URL sends visitors elsewhere | Use the final URL instead |
noindex | The page asks not to be indexed | Remove noindex from meta robots or X-Robots-Tag |
robots | robots.txt blocks Googlebot | Change the Disallow rule that matches the path |
canonical | The page points to another URL as the main one | Set the canonical to the page itself, or index the other URL |
error | The URL couldn't be fetched | Check the address, DNS and SSL certificate |
Check backlinks before you pay for them
Before buying a guest post or a listing, paste a few existing pages from the same section of the host site.
If those pages come back as noindex or robots, your link there won't be indexed either, whatever the seller promises. If they come back ok, the placement at least has a chance. The guide on why backlinks don't get indexed covers the other reasons, like thin pages and missing internal links.
After a placement goes live, check the exact URL again. Hosts sometimes publish in a different section than agreed, or add a canonical to another page.
From a check to indexing
The checker shows whether a page can be indexed. The bot gets the pages that can be indexed crawled.
- Up to 10 URLs hereFree, no sign-up, about 10 checks a minute.
- Up to 10,000 in the botThe same checks, then sending for $0.01 per URL that passed.
- Through the APIFor scripts and pipelines. See the API reference.
Why a page can look fine and still fail
Browsers hide most of what Google reads.
An X-Robots-Tag header never shows in the page source. A robots.txt rule doesn't change how the page looks. A canonical pointing elsewhere is one line in the head. Firewalls sometimes serve real visitors normally and block bots. The checker requests each URL as Googlebot and reads the headers, the HTML and robots.txt, so it sees these problems where a browser doesn't.
Checker questions
Need more than 10 URLs? Use the bot.
Is the checker free?
Does it tell me if a page is indexed?
Can I check backlinks on other sites?
Why does a check take up to 40 seconds?
Your next 10 links
are on us
Open the bot, paste links and see what passes the check. No card, no sign-up form.