How to check whether Google has indexed your site

"Is my site on Google?" is easy to get a misleading answer to. This guide covers the quick check, why it's only rough, and how to get a reliable answer from Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

The quick check: a site: search

Searching Google for site:example.com lists indexed pages from that domain. Searching for site: plus an exact page address shows whether that page is indexed.

Google's documentation says this is only a sample (site: operator docs):

• The operator "doesn't necessarily return all the URLs that are indexed under the prefix specified in the query".
• "Bigger sites shouldn't expect to see all their URLs in the results."
• With no search words, results are not ranked and are "relatively random" apart from the shortest URL usually coming first.
• site:https://www.example.com and site:https://example.com/ don't return the same results.

So treat the number of results as a rough sample, not a count. If a page is missing, Google suggests the URL Inspection tool (below). Bing also supports site: (Bing search keywords).

About this website: Domain Statistics can't confirm automatically whether Google or Bing has indexed a site, because that would need paid or keyed search APIs. Instead, your report has Check on Google and Check on Bing buttons, which open a site: search for the domain.

Google Search Console: the reliable way

Google Search Console is a free Google service. It shows Google's own data for a site you can prove you control.

1. Add and verify a property

There are two kinds of property (property types):

• Domain property (example.com). This covers every subdomain and both http and https. It can only be verified with a DNS record.
• URL-prefix property (https://www.example.com/). This covers only URLs that start with that exact prefix. You can verify it in several ways, such as uploading an HTML file, adding a meta tag, or using Google Analytics or Tag Manager.

For a Domain property, Search Console gives you a TXT (or sometimes CNAME) record to add at your DNS provider. Google says manually added records can take two or three days to start being served. Leave the record in place after you're verified, or you'll lose verification (verification help). The DNS and email panel in your Domain Statistics report lists the domain's TXT records, so you can see whether the record is live.

2. Inspect individual URLs

Paste a full URL into the URL Inspection tool:

• URL is on Google – the page is indexed and eligible to appear. Google notes this "doesn't guarantee" it will appear in results.
• URL is not on Google – it can't appear. The Page indexing section explains why.
• Test live URL – checks the current page, not Google's stored copy.
• Request indexing – puts the page in a queue to be crawled. There's a daily limit, and a request doesn't guarantee indexing. For many pages, submit a sitemap instead.

It also shows the Google-selected canonical: the URL Google treats as the main version.

3. Read the Page indexing report

The Page indexing report splits known URLs into indexed and not indexed, with a reason for each. Google's guidance includes:

• Don't expect every URL to be indexed. Duplicates and pages with no useful content shouldn't be.
• New pages or sites can take a week or so to be crawled and indexed.
• The list of example URLs is capped at 1,000.

4. Submit a sitemap

In the Sitemaps report, you enter your sitemap's address. You're telling Google where the file is, not uploading it. Google says a site of about 500 pages or fewer, with every page linked from the homepage, probably doesn't need one. Not every URL in a sitemap will necessarily be crawled.

Common reasons a page isn't indexed

These are Search Console's own labels:

• URL marked 'noindex'. A <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag or an X-Robots-Tag: noindex HTTP header tells Google not to index the page. Google can only see it if the page isn't blocked by robots.txt (noindex docs).
• Blocked by robots.txt. robots.txt controls crawling. Google says it is "not a mechanism for keeping a web page out of Google". A blocked URL can still be indexed without a description (robots.txt introduction).
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical / Google chose different canonical than user. Google picked another URL as the main version. Redirects and rel="canonical" are strong signals. Being listed in a sitemap is a weak one (canonical docs).
• Soft 404. The page shows a "not found" message but returns a 200 status code instead of a 404.
• Crawled – currently not indexed. Google crawled the page but didn't index it. It "may or may not be indexed in the future", and you don't need to resubmit it.
• Discovered – currently not indexed. Google knows the URL but put off crawling it, usually so it wouldn't overload the site.
• Page with redirect. The URL redirects elsewhere, so it isn't indexed itself. The target may be.

Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow

Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's equivalent (Bing's 2025 guide):

• You can verify with an XML file, a meta tag, a DNS record or Domain Connect, or import sites from Google Search Console.
• URL Inspection shows index status, whether the page can be crawled, HTTP response codes and blocked resources.
• Site Scan is an on-demand audit for problems such as broken links, duplicate tags and missing metadata.
• Bing processes submitted sitemaps at least once every 24 hours.

IndexNow is a simple ping that tells search engines a URL has been added, updated or deleted. As of October 2026, its site lists support from Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep. Google isn't on that list. You host a key in a text file on your site and submit up to 10,000 URLs per request. They're shared with the other participating engines (IndexNow documentation). The IndexNow FAQ says submitting doesn't guarantee immediate indexing.

A quick checklist

1. Run your domain through the Domain Statistics lookup and use the Check on Google and Check on Bing buttons for a quick sample.
2. Verify the site in Search Console and inspect your homepage and key pages.
3. Open the Page indexing report and check that each "not indexed" reason is one you expect.
4. Submit a sitemap if your site is large or new, then add the site to Bing Webmaster Tools.

See also domain age and DNS records explained. Search Console details are as published by Google in October 2026.