Check if Google actually has your new page

Your page opens in your browser. That doesn't mean Google has it. Your browser loves your page. Google's pickier.

You don't need to become an SEO specialist to ask where the last piece of work went. Pick one important page and walk through this before you pay for ten more.

1. Get into Google Search Console. It's Google's tool for site owners. You need access to your site in it. If you don't have that, ask whoever runs your website to add you.
2. Inspect the page. Paste the page's full address (with the https:// part) into the inspection bar at the top of any Search Console screen. That's URL Inspection.
3. Read the answer and the reason. You'll see something like "URL is on Google" or "URL is not on Google." If it's not, read the explanation before you touch anything. Don't start clicking things because one of them looks technical enough to help.
4. Know which answer you're reading. That first result comes from Google's last visit, not your page as it is today. So you can fix something and still see the old answer. Annoying? Yes. A reason to change five more things? No. Click "Test live URL" to check the page right now.
5. Fix the one thing it points to. Say the reason is "noindex." That's a setting telling Google to skip the page. Fine for a test page. Bad for your roof repair page. Have your developer confirm what the page should do and fix it, then run the live test again.
6. Request indexing if it makes sense. Once the live test looks right, you can click "Request indexing." Nothing guarantees the page gets in, or ranks. There's a daily limit, so save it for pages that matter.

The button names above match Google's URL Inspection help page as of writing. If your screen looks different, that help page is the reference.

Send this to your developer once you've run the inspection:

Hi [name],

I checked [page address] in Search Console (URL Inspection).

What it says: [URL is on Google / URL is not on Google]
The reason it gives: [paste the explanation]
Live test ("Test live URL"): [paste what it says]

This page [should / should not] be in Google.
[It's our roof repair page. Customers need to find it.]

Can you confirm the intended setting, fix only what this
reason points to, and tell me when to run the live test again?

Thanks!

Bayside Roofing, a fictional company, publishes a new roof repair page. It opens fine. The owner pastes it into URL Inspection: "URL is not on Google," and the explanation points to noindex.

Turns out the page was copied from a test page that was set to noindex on purpose. Right for the test page. Wrong for this one. The developer confirms that and removes the setting.

The owner checks again and still sees "not on Google." Plot twist: that's Google's last visit. The live test no longer shows the noindex problem. He clicks "Request indexing," then checks back later instead of changing five more things in the meantime. Whether it gets in is still Google's call.

• Treating "it opens for me" as "it's in Google."
• Panicking when the old answer doesn't change right after a fix. Run the live test.
• Changing five things at once. Then you'll never know which one mattered.
• Reading a good live test or a request as a promise. It isn't one, for getting in or for ranking.

You can see the page. Lovely. Now let's see if your customers can.