gsc-indexer FAQ

Short answers to the questions people ask most. For deeper detail, follow the links.

Does it force Google to index a page instantly?

No. It requests a re-crawl. Google decides whether and when to index, usually within hours to days. See what "submit for indexing" means.

Why does www vs non-www (or http vs https) matter?

They're different GSC properties. If your property is https://www.toolsura.com/, inspecting https://toolsura.com/ (no www) gives a 403. Match the property prefix exactly. See property setup.

API key or service account. which do I use?

Service account (-creds / GSC_CREDENTIALS). The GSC URL Inspection API requires OAuth; an API key returns 401. See troubleshooting 401.

Can I use multiple properties?

One property per run, set with -site (defaults to https://www.toolsura.com/). All URLs in a run must belong to that property. The service account needs Full access on each property you target.

My big run stalled / errored partway. Why?

Google rate-limits sustained inspect volume. Raise -delay (e.g. -delay 10s) and use -q for a clean progress line. See throttling.

Is my sa.json safe?

It's a credential. anyone with it can inspect (and read stats about) your property. Keep it private, don't commit it to git, and store it as a secret in CI. Rotate it from Google Cloud if it ever leaks.

"NOT INDEXED" showed up. did the run fail?

No. The inspection succeeded; Google just doesn't have the page indexed. Only network/HTTP/parse errors count as failures (and trigger a non-zero exit code). See understanding results.

How many URLs can I process?

As many as you like. Sitemap expansion is capped at 50,000 URLs as a safety limit. For very large sites, use a polite -delay so Google doesn't throttle you.

Can I schedule it?

Yes. cron, GitHub Actions, or any CI. Use -json for parseable output and rely on the exit code for pass/fail. See automating in CI.

Why do I get 403 even though I own the site?

Almost always the service account isn't added to the property, or was added as Restricted instead of Full. Add its client_email as a Full user. This is the #1 issue. full fix in service-account setup.

Where's the source code?

In the GitHub repository. The README there links back to these guides.

Sources

• Google Search Console
• URL Inspection API documentation
• Google Search APIs overview
• Service account OAuth (Google Identity)
• About service accounts (Google Cloud IAM)
• Verify site ownership
• Property types: URL-prefix vs Domain
• URL Inspection tool help
• Indexing API (JobPosting/BroadcastEvent only)
• Request indexing / inspect a URL