Google update: Google has released a URL Inspection Tool API

Thanks to the release of the Google Search Console URL Inspection API

Mohammed Manzar
4 min readFeb 3, 2022
URL Inspection Tool API

Google announced this morning that the URL Inspection Tool had received a new API under the Google Search Console APIs. The new URL Inspection API allows you to access the data and reports you’d get from the URL Inspection Tool programmatically, just like any other API.

The API’s responses would tell you about the index status, AMP, rich results, and mobile usability of any URL you’ve verified in Google Search Console. So don’t expect to be able to test it against your complete one-million-page website right now. You’ll have to queue things up or do it on a case-by-case basis. So, this may appear as fantastic news for users who wish to analyze URLs in bulk and automate page debugging regularly.

The Google Search Console URL Inspection API, according to Google, will aid developers in quickly debugging and optimizing websites.

The Search Console APIs allow you to access data outside of Search Console through third-party apps and solutions.

You may ask Search Console for information about an indexed URL version, and the API will provide the indexed data presently accessible in the URL Inspection tool.

If you are interested in reading this kind of technical blog post, you can also read our other articles.

What is the URL Inspection API, and how do I use it?

A few key request parameters are mandatory to utilize the URL Inspection API. These are some of them:

inspection URL

You must enter the URL of the page for which you wish to run the examination. As a result, this is a mandatory field. “string” is the return type.

site URL

It will help if you give the property’s URL as it appears in Google Search Console for this parameter. This parameter is also a mandatory field with a “string” return type.

language Code

You must give the language code for translated problem messages in this box. You leave this field blank as “string” is the return type.

If you conduct the API request appropriately, you can successfully get a response containing all information connected to the supplied URL.

SEO tools and companies can constantly monitor single-page debugging alternatives for crucial pages. I checked for inconsistencies between user-declared and Google-selected canonicals, for example, or troubleshooting structured data errors across a collection of sites.

CMS and plugin developers may provide insights and continuous tests for existing pages at the page or template level. Monitoring changes over time for binding sites, for example, may assist in detecting problems and prioritizing solutions.

API’s Usage Restrictions

There are various restrictions to the URL Inspection API: In a single day, you may submit 2,000 inquiries. You may send approximately 600 inquiries each minute. So, it’s not unlimited, and you won’t be able to run this API daily across all of your URLs, at least not if your site has thousands of pages — the outcomes. The URL Inspection Tool will deliver indexed information from the API, index status, AMP, rich results, and mobile usability. You may find the whole set of replies in the API documentation.

The Most Important Takeaway

Google Search Console’s URL Inspection tool gives a wealth of information about the page. It displays the URL’s discovery in sitemaps, the page’s date and time, indexing metadata such as the user and Google-selected canonical, and schemas identified by Google.

This pattern of API will permit you to acquire familiarity with URL Inspection Tool programmatically, similar to how you would interact with it manually in Google Search Console. As you might expect, SEOs and developers are ecstatic about this new API.

SEOs and developers can now analyze sites in bulk and build up automation to regularly monitor crucial pages thanks to the URL Inspection API. It will be fascinating to observe how programmers leverage the API to construct helpful custom scripts.

You may find more information about this API on Google’s official API documentation website. The following is an example of an API response:

URL Inspection Tool API

Why should we be concerned?

URL Inspection information may now be added programmatically to your content management system, internal tools, dashboards, and third-party tools, among other places. Expect a slew of new features from various tool providers and content management systems.

And if you have your ideas, go ahead and implement them.

References:

developers.google.com/search/blog

developers.google.com/webmaster-tools

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Mohammed Manzar
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Mohammed Manzar is a founder, CEO, and COO of community mates, SEO expert, content writer, Business Consultant, health advisor, and theologists