Stop manually checking link index status. A backlink indexing API lets you verify thousands of URLs per minute, flag failures, and trigger re-indexing — all without touching Google Search Console.
Every SEO agency I've worked with has the same blind spot: they buy or build backlinks, but they never verify whether those links are actually indexed. Google's official documentation on Googlebot makes it clear that crawling and indexing are separate stages. A link can be crawled but not indexed — and that link is worthless for ranking.
A dedicated backlink indexing API changes that. You can ping an endpoint, hand it 500 URLs, and get back a status for each one: Indexed, Crawled but not indexed, or Not found. No spreadsheets. No manual lookups. No GSC quota waste.
In practice, when you have a pipeline that checks index status every 72 hours, you start seeing patterns. Links from weak domains get dropped. Guest posts on new sites stay in 'crawled but not indexed' purgatory for weeks. The API lets you prioritize which links to fix or replace.
| Feature / Criterion | Standard GSC API | Dedicated Backlink Indexing API | Bulk Index Checker (Google Sheets) | Verdict for Workflow Automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batch size limit URLs per request | 200 URLs / day (free tier) Higher needs quota increase | 10,000 URLs per call No daily hard cap on paid tiers | 1,000 URLs / run via Apps Script | Dedicated API wins for any batch >500 URLs |
| Authentication overhead | OAuth 2.0 + GCP project Tricky for headless servers | Single API key (HTTP header) Works in any stack | Requires Google sign-in and Drive permissions | API key is simpler for automated pipelines |
| Response fields | indexStatus, lastCrawlTime, verdict (pass/fail) | indexed, crawledNotIndexed, notFound, lastSeen, errorCode | Custom script + regex limited to basic checks | Dedicated API gives actionable failure modes |
| Rate limit | 1 query per second (free) blocked if exceeded | 100 queries per minute (entry) burst to 500 on Pro | Depends on Apps Script quota (90 min runtime) | Dedicated API allows consistent high throughput |
| Hidden risk | Quota resets daily can't backfill easily | Stale cache if URL hasn't been re-crawled in 7+ days | Sheets lock during execution can lose data on crash | Always check lastCrawlTime before trusting a 'not indexed' flag |
Pull up to 10,000 backlink URLs from your database or CRM. Export as plain text or CSV.
Send a POST request with the URLs array. Set header x-api-key: your_key. Check HTTP 200.
Each URL returns: status, lastCrawlTime, error. Group by status: 'indexed' vs 'crawledNotIndexed'.
If >20% are 'crawledNotIndexed', trigger a Slack alert. Flag URLs with lastCrawlTime >7 days ago.
For flagged URLs: request re-index via <a href='https://en.speedyindex.com/fix-crawled-currently-not-indexed/'>fix for crawled but not indexed</a>. Remove dead domains from future campaigns.
Run every 72 hours via cron. Log results to a DB for trend analysis. Track domain-level index rate over time.
Scenario: Agency with 50 client campaigns, each with ~200 backlinks from guest posts. Total: 10,000 URLs to check.
Step 1: Collect all URLs into a JSON array. 8,200 are unique, 1,800 are duplicates (same link used across multiple reports). API accepts duplicates but returns the same result — we save cost by deduplicating client-side.
Step 2: POST to https://api.speedyindex.com/v1/bulk-check with the deduplicated list (8,200 URLs). Response arrives in 8.3 seconds.
Results:
- 6,101 Indexed (74.4%)
- 1,476 Crawled but not indexed (18.0%)
- 541 Not found / 404 (6.6%)
- 82 Errors (timeout, malformed URL)
Action: The 1,476 'crawled not indexed' URLs are from 12 domains. We check their 404 errors checker to confirm the pages exist. 3 domains have weak internal linking — we submit those to Google via the API's re-index endpoint. The remaining 9 domains are new (less than 3 months old) — we advise the client to wait 2 weeks and re-check.
Duplicate lists are the most common failure. We see agencies that scrape URLs from SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Majestic, then merge without deduplicating. The API returns identical statuses for the same URL, but your database fills with redundant rows. Always deduplicate client-side.
Blocked URLs by robots.txt or noindex tags return 'not found' even if the page is live. The API can't differentiate between a 404 and a blocked resource unless you provide the raw HTTP status code. Our endpoint returns an errorCode field — use it.
Weak pages (thin content, low word count) often stay in 'crawled but not indexed' limbo indefinitely. The API is honest about this: it doesn't fake an 'indexed' status to make you feel good. If you see a consistent 30-50% 'crawled not indexed' from a specific domain, the content quality is the bottleneck, not the indexing tool.
Slow vendors with <5 requests per second will throttle your 10,000-URL run to 30+ minutes. Test rate limits before committing. A good bulk Google index checker handling 100,000 URLs shows what proper throughput looks like.
Deduplicate URL list before API call to avoid wasted quota and skewed stats.
Add a lastCrawlTime filter: ignore results older than 7 days for critical decisions.
Catch HTTP 429 (rate limit) and implement exponential backoff with jitter.
Log errorCode for each failed URL: separate network errors from actual not-found pages.
Set a threshold alert: if 'crawledNotIndexed' > 25% of total, pause the pipeline and review domain quality.
Store historical results in a database to track index rate changes per domain over time.
Schedule a weekly re-check cycle for all URLs that were flagged as 'crawledNotIndexed' on the previous run.
The API treats each URL independently. If you send the same URL in two different batches, it returns the same status both times. For agencies managing multiple clients, we recommend a centralized URL store that deduplicates before any API call. This saves credits and keeps reporting clean.
Most dedicated APIs allow 100 requests per minute on entry tiers, which translates to roughly 1,000-2,000 URLs per minute depending on batch size. At 10,000 URLs, expect a 5-10 minute run. Pro tiers can burst to 500 requests per minute, cutting that to under 2 minutes.
Yes, but only after the post is published and the page is crawlable. A backlink indexing API requires the target URL to exist. For pre-publication checks, you need a different tool that verifies placement via HTML or screenshot. Use the index API as a post-publication validation step.
Common errors: malformed URLs (missing scheme), empty or invalid API key, batch size exceeding the limit, and 429 rate limit responses. Less common but critical: the API may return an empty results array if the URL list contains only blocked or non-crawlable URLs. Always validate your input list first.
The API returns two distinct statuses: 'notFound' (HTTP 404 or 410) and 'crawledNotIndexed' (page exists and was crawled but not added to the index). Additionally, the 'notFound' status includes an errorCode field with the exact HTTP response code. Use this field to filter out dead links from weak-content pages.
Yes: 1) Deduplicate URLs client-side. 2) Configure rate limit handling (retry with backoff on 429). 3) Set up a database to store lastCrawlTime per URL. 4) Create alerts for high 'crawledNotIndexed' ratios per domain. 5) Schedule weekly re-checks. 6) Log all API errors for debugging. 7) Monitor API credit usage to avoid overspend.
Most providers charge per API call or per URL checked. For 50,000 URLs/month, expect to pay between $49 and $149 per month on a mid-tier plan. Some offer batch discounts. Always check whether the pricing includes re-checks (e.g., checking the same URL again costs the same as a new URL).
Use a cron job or a serverless function (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Function) that runs every 72 hours. The function reads URLs from your database, sends them to the API, parses the response, updates the database with new statuses, and sends a summary to Slack or email. No manual steps.
Most APIs cannot directly detect robots.txt blocks because they use Google's index data, not a live crawl. Instead, the API returns 'notFound' with an errorCode of 0 (unknown) or omits the URL from results. If you suspect robots.txt blocking, check manually or use a separate crawl tool that obeys robots.txt.
Every 72 hours is the sweet spot for most SEO workflows. Google may re-crawl and re-index a page within 48-72 hours if it has reasonable authority. Checking daily is overkill and wastes API credits. Checking weekly risks missing a re-index event that could improve ranking during a client report period.
Quick calculator. Put in the expected monthly value of a page or link batch and the natural waiting time.