Google’s new search Console URL review API: what it’s miles and the way to use it

Diagnosing technical issues on your web site can be one of the maximum time-eating however critical components of running a site.

To make subjects worse, Google only permits you to check one URL at a time to diagnose any issues along with your website (this is finished within the Google seek Console).

luckily, there is now a quicker way to test your web page: input the Google search Console URL assessment API …

what’s the Google search Console URL Verification API?

The Google seek Console URL Verification API is a manner to vastly test the information that the Google search Console has on URLs. Its motive is to assist developers and SEOs greater successfully debug and optimize their pages the use of Google’s personal statistics.

here’s an instance of the use of the API to verify that a few URLs are indexed and submitted on my Sitemap:

What varieties of facts can i get from the Google seek Console URL review API?

The Google seek Console URL evaluation API allows you to retrieve a huge range of statistics. Underneath is a list of some of the most mentioned functions:

lastCrawlTime

Use this area to discover exactly when Googlebot final searched your web site. This is extremely useful for search engine optimization and developers to measure the frequency of Google crawling their sites. Formerly, you can simplest access this kind of data by studying log documents or randomly checking person URLs with the Google search Console.

robotsTxtState

With this discipline you could apprehend when you have it robots.Txt rules with the intention to block Googlebot. It’s something you can take a look at out manually, but the opportunity to test it on a large scale with Google’s very own information is a amazing breakthrough.

googleCanonical and userCanonical

In some instances, Google is understood to pick out in a different way canonical from the one particular within the code. In this case, the potential to compare the 2 (in parallel and in scope) the usage of the API is useful as it allows you to make the suitable modifications.

plazilAs

This discipline lets in you to recognize which user agent is used to crawl your website: mobile / computing device. Reaction codes are beneath for reference:

• set up – computing device consumer agent
• cell – mobile consumer agent

pageFetchState

expertise pageFetchState will let you diagnose server errors, no 4xxs, tender 404s, redirect mistakes, robots.Txt blocked pages, and invalid URLs. The listing of solutions is underneath for reference.

indexingState

The indexing repute tells you the contemporary indexing status for URLs. In addition to the more obvious solutions to successful and unsuccessful, there are other solutions:

• neutral is equivalent to the “Off” message inside the search Console.
• DELNA is equivalent to the “valid with alerts” message inside the search Console.
• VERDICT_UNSPECIFIED method that Google can not determine at the URLs in query.

kingdom coverage

This gives you info on whether or not the URL has been submitted to the Sitemap and listed.

referingUrls

This lets in you to look where every page is connected from, Google says.

Sitemap

This lets in you to apprehend which URLs are covered in Sitemaps.

other API applications

you may also use the API to browse your AMP website – when you have one.

a way to use the Google seek Console URLs API step by step

using the Google search Console URL Verification API includes a request to Google. The request parameters you want to define are the URL you want to check, in addition to the URL residences inside the Google seek Console.

The request body consists of facts with the subsequent structure:

To study more approximately the usage of the API, Google has great documentation on this.

under is an example of the kind of response you could get from the API:

If the code would not suit you otherwise you want to strive it right away, you could use it free device Google Bulk look at URLs valentin.App. The device provides a short way to query the API without coding talents!

here’s the way to use it. You may:

1. go to https://valentin.App/look at.Html, authorize get admission to in your Google Account and choose the quest Console belongings you want to attempt. Then paste your URLs in the container underneath. (The facts could be processed in your browser and will not be uploaded to the server or shared with every person.)
2. click the “Browse URLs” button. Statistics will start to be extracted from the API.
3. Export data as a CSV or Excel record with the press of a button.
4. examine the records and test for any issues.

How can you operate the Google search Console URL Verification API in practice?

Theoretically, the Google search Console URL overview API seems like a extremely good manner to apprehend more about your web site. However, you could pull a lot records that it’s hard to recognize in which to start. So allow’s study a few use instances.

1. Website relocation – diagnose ability technical issues

website migrations they can cause all varieties of troubles. For example, builders can use robots.Txt to accidentally prevent Google from searching your web page or positive pages.

luckily, the Google seek Console URL Verification API permits you to review these troubles.

for example, you can confirm that Googlebot is blocking mass crawling via URL through calling robotsTxtState.

here is an instance when i take advantage of the Google seek Console URL review API (thru valentin.App) to call robotsTxtState and see the cutting-edge repute of my URLs.

As you can see, robots.Txt does no longer block those pages and there are not any issues right here.

2. Apprehend whether Google has adhered to your declared canons

if you alternate canonical designations you’ll need to know for your website whether Google respects them or not.

you’ll be questioning why Google ignores the canonical which you have declared. Google can do this for a number of motives, inclusive of:

• Your declared canonical is not https. (Google prefers https for canons.)
• Google has selected a site that it considers to be a higher canonical website online than yours.
• Your declared canonical web page is with out an index.

beneath is an example of while i exploit the Google search Console URL evaluate API to look if Google has adhered to my declared canons:

As we will see from the screenshot above, there are not any issues with these particular pages and Google respects the canons.

three. Understand when Google searches for content once more while you exchange your website

whilst you replace a whole lot of pages on your site, you’ll want to recognise what the impact of your efforts is. This will simplest occur after Google has re-searched your site.

With the Google search Console URL assessment API, you can see the precise time Google crawled your pages using lastCrawlTime.

in case you can’t get entry to the log files on your web page, this is a first-rate alternative to expertise how Google searches in your site.

here is an example after I take a look at this:

As you may see in the screenshot above, lastCrawlTime suggests the date and time my web page become searched. In this example, the most recent Google search is the homepage.

in case you recognize whilst Google reschedules your web page after any changes, you may be capable of determine if the changes you’ve got made have a high-quality or poor effect on Google’s content search.

often requested Questions

How do I paintings around the barriers of the Google search Console URL overview API?

even though the Google search Console URL evaluation API is restricted to 2000 queries in keeping with day, this question limit is set from Google belongings.

this indicates you can have more than one features on one site if they are checked one by one in the Google search Console, which certainly allows you to skip the 2000 query in step with day limit.

The Google search Console allows you to have a thousand homes to your Google seek Console account, in order that need to be greater than enough for most users.

am i able to use the Google seek Console URL API on any website?

every other capability limiting thing is that you can run the Google search Console URL evaluation API best on belongings in the Google search Console. If you do not have get right of entry to to the belongings, you can not revise it with the Google seek Console URL assessment API.

this means that auditing a website that you do now not have get admission to to can be problematic.

How correct is the facts?

The accuracy of the records itself has been a problem for Google for the past few years. This API gives you access to this data. So, without a doubt, the Google search Console URL evaluation API is handiest as exact as the records in it.

As we’ve already shown in our a look at on the accuracy of Google keyword PlannerGoogle facts is often now not as accurate as humans suppose.

very last thoughts

The Google search Console URL overview API is a splendid way for website owners to achieve big quantities of facts at once from Google on a larger scale than became formerly feasible with the Google seek Console.

Daniel Waisberg and the group behind the Google search Console URL evaluate API has certainly accomplished a great job of releasing this into nature.

however one of the criticisms of the Google seek Console URL API overview from the seo network is that the query fee restriction is just too low for large websites. (The assets is restricted to 2000 queries consistent with day.)

This isn’t always sufficient for large websites. Inspite of viable answers, this figure nevertheless seems low.

what’s your revel in with the use of the Google seek Console URL evaluation API? Do you’ve got greater questions? Name me on Twitter. 🙂