About, editorial policy and ownership

What this site covers

This handbook explains the methods for finding out whether Google has indexed a URL: Search Console's owner tools, public search queries, and bulk checkers. Each method page states what the method can show, where it fails and how to read its results. The core guides are how to check if a URL is indexed and bulk index checking; the home page lists every page.

Ownership

The site is published by IndexChex, which sells a backlink indexer and a bulk Google index checker. That is a commercial interest in the topic, and it is disclosed on every page. The tool is described on its own page, the IndexChex index checker, and is mentioned elsewhere only where it is relevant to the method being discussed. The method pages are meant to be useful whichever tool a reader uses, including free manual methods.

The handbook is one of several reference sites published by IndexChex; the network page lists them all.

Editorial policy

• Google behaviour. Statements about how Search Console, the site: operator, crawling and indexing work are taken from Google Search Central and Search Console Help pages, which are cited in each page's sources. Where Google does not document something, such as the exact behaviour of inurl:, the page says so and presents it as practitioner observation.
• IndexChex facts. Product details (costs, batch sizes, query forms, re-check timing) come from IndexChex's own product documentation.
• Measured figures. Performance numbers for IndexChex are its weekly measurements on recurring URL sets, stated as averages with an as-of date. They are not guarantees, and IndexChex guarantees crawling only, never indexing.
• Other tools. Competitor facts are only published with a source and the date they were checked.
• No paid placement. No tool pays to be mentioned.

Corrections

Errors, outdated statements and broken sources can be reported to support@indexchex.com. Google changes Search Console and its documentation from time to time, so reports of changed behaviour are particularly useful. Corrected pages show an updated date.

How to cite

Each page ends with a "Cite this entry" block containing the title, URL and date. When quoting a Google limit or behaviour, citing the Google source listed on the page is preferable to citing this handbook.