Through Google Search Console, you can now programmatically retrieve the data you’d get from the URL Inspection Tool.
Google recently announced the release of an API for the URL Inspection Tool. This new API allows you to programmatically retrieve the data and reports you’d normally get through the URL Inspection Tool – the difference is that you now do it through software, like with any other API.
Are there limits to the new API?
Unfortunately, there are. You won’t be able to run the API endlessly. It is limited to 2000 queries daily and 600 per minute. That means that you won’t be able to run it through your millions-of-pages website overnight. But don’t worry, since you can queue pages up or use the API only when required.
Use cases
Google also provided use cases for the API. Here is what the company showed us:
- SEO experts can continuously monitor important pages and debug pages as needed. For example, you can check for differences between the canonicals declared by the user and those selected by Google or debug structured data problems of a group of pages.
- CMS and plugin developers can provide insight and continued checks for existing pages. The software will diagnose any problems that arise and prioritize any fixes needed.
The results
The URL Inspection Tool will return indexed data to this new software. Said data includes:
- Index status
- AMP
- Rich results
- Mobile usability
More information
Should you be interested in learning more about this API, you can do so in the API documentation.
Why is it important?
The reason why this new API matter is that you can programmatically add the details retrieved by the URL Inspection to your CMS, internal tools, dashboards, and other third-party instruments; It won’t be long before tool providers, and CMS might start adding new features to enrich the software and make it better.
