Ask David! Question
If you can’t remember whether you already requested indexing for a page in Google Search Console, is it OK to request it again?
David’s Answer
Yes. If you’re not sure whether you already clicked Request Indexing, you can submit the request again. There’s no need to worry about accidentally submitting the same URL twice.
What Happens When You Request Indexing?
When you click Request Indexing in Google Search Console, you’re asking Google to crawl the URL again. Google decides when to crawl the page and whether to include it in its search index. Submitting a request doesn’t guarantee either.
Read How Long Does It Take Google to Index a Page After You Request Indexing? for more information about the process.
Does Requesting Indexing for a Page Twice Hurt SEO?
There’s no reason to expect an SEO penalty simply because you accidentally requested indexing for a webpage twice. However, repeatedly submitting the same URL offers no indexing advantage.
Also, Google has a daily quota for manual indexing requests. If you keep submitting the same URL, you use up requests that could have been used for other pages.
Read How Many URLs Can You Submit to Google Search Console Per Day? to learn more about the limit and what happens when you reach it.
If you’ve made substantial changes to a page, requesting indexing again makes sense. And, if you simply can’t remember whether you submitted the request, you can submit it once more and move on.
What About “Test Live URL”?
Test Live URL serves a different purpose. It checks whether Google can access and process the current version of your page. It doesn’t submit an indexing request by itself.
For more information, see Does “Test Live URL” Help Google Index Your Webpage Faster?.
What If the Page Still Isn’t Indexed?
If Google hasn’t indexed your page, repeatedly requesting indexing isn’t the solution. Check the URL Inspection report in Search Console for the page’s indexing status and any reported issues.
The cause could be a crawling restriction, a noindex directive, a canonical URL issue, or another reason Google hasn’t included the page in its index.
See Why Isn’t My Page Indexed on Google Yet? for possible causes and ways to address them.
Once a page is indexed, you can use Google Search Console to monitor its search performance. See How to Check How Your Web Page or Blog Post is Ranking in Google and How to Check Clicks, Impressions, and Rankings for a Specific URL in Google Search Console for instructions.
The Bottom Line
If you can’t remember whether you requested indexing, it’s fine to request it again. Just don’t keep resubmitting the same URL expecting Google to process it faster. Save your indexing requests for pages that need them.
And if you haven’t even started setting up Google Search Console for your website, read How to Set Up Google Search Console for Your Website: A Step-by-Step Guide.
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