Google Index Checker API (Google SERP Checker): A Sitemap Sample

Direct Answer: What Does Google SERP Checker Do?

Availability checked November 5, 2026: Apify marks this Actor “Under maintenance.” The documentation below describes its intended contract, not a currently verified successful run. Check the Store status before relying on it. For an owned site’s indexation, use Search Console; for help diagnosing the commercial pages, see the website and marketing audit.

The Actor at tugelbay/google-serp-checker is now named Google Index Checker API. It compares a supplied page sitemap with up to 10 organic links observed on the first Google results page for a domain. It is not a complete indexation audit or a keyword rank tracker. A URL missing from the sample may still be indexed. Use Search Console to investigate indexation rather than treating a missing list as a deindexation report.

The current README, input, output, and pricing were checked on October 4, 2026. This guide describes that documented contract; it is not a newly run product benchmark. The earlier article incorrectly promised keyword batches, deeper results, SERP features, and unsupported price advantages. Those claims have been removed.

I maintain this Actor. The Apify links contain a referral parameter. Because the current listing is under maintenance, they are provided to inspect status and documentation; this page does not recommend starting a production workflow now.

Check maintenance status on Apify

What Google SERP Checker Extracts

The documented workflow requests a public site: search through Apify Google SERP Proxy and compares recognizable organic links with normalized unique URLs from a leaf page sitemap. One successful observation produces one Dataset row containing nested links and comparison fields. It does not produce a row for every keyword or every indexed page.

The essential distinction is between observed search links and sitemap matches. A result outside the supplied sitemap contributes to the first count, but not the second. Dividing all observed links by the sitemap size gives the wrong comparison rate when a search result is absent from that sitemap.

The current contract does not promise ads, People Also Ask answers, featured snippets, AI Overviews, local packs, or position 11 onward. Country, language, device, and arbitrary keyword lists are not exposed as inputs. Do not build an integration around the old article’s fields.

Worked interpretation example

Suppose the supplied sitemap contains https://example.com/a and https://example.com/b. The search sample contains /a and /other:

This illustrative example does not mean that half the site is indexed, that /b is unindexed, or that /other is an indexing problem. It measures overlap between two specific lists. Put that denominator beside any chart using the percentage.

Cost Comparison: Google SERP Checker vs. Alternatives

Compare equivalent query scope and complete account costs before choosing a provider. A domain sample, a full keyword SERP response, and a subscription rank tracker are different products. Comparing advertised prices alone hides depth, query parameters, history, failures, and account costs.

The Apify Pricing tab, rechecked November 5, 2026, lists a result event at $5.00 per 1,000 on Free, $4.50 on Starter, $4.00 on Scale, and $3.50 on Business, plus an Actor Start event of $0.00005. These are displayed event rates, not a free 1,000-run allowance. The account plan and actual event ledger determine your bill. The Store still labels the event “SERP result”; the README describes a saved observation, not an individual organic link.

For context, DataForSEO’s official Google Organic SERP API pricing, checked October 4, lists $0.60 per 1,000 standard queued SERPs, $1.20 priority, and $2.00 live, at a base depth of 10 results. Its site: operator carries a 5× multiplier; depth and other parameters can add costs. A bare-keyword base rate is not a like-for-like domain-query quote. This contradicts the previous article’s $100-per-1,000 assumption.

Specify the same query, result depth, frequency, fields, retries, and failure handling before comparing providers. Then test your workload and inspect charges. These pricing pages establish neither a reliability winner nor identical output. Other vendors’ numerical prices are omitted here rather than presented as checked current facts.

Use Cases

Repeated domain observations

Save a dated sample for a domain at a regular interval. A change can tell you that the public results sample changed and give you URLs to investigate. It cannot establish total index growth or loss. Result selection, parsing, and availability are alternative explanations. Compare actual links before making an SEO decision.

A small sitemap segment

Supply a leaf sitemap for a relevant section, then inspect which pages appear in the sample. An explicit denominator makes the output easier to interpret. Even a section with hundreds of indexed pages can have few matches because the observation covers one results page. There is no supported universal “healthy indexRate” threshold.

Triage after publishing or migration

An observed new URL is a useful investigation lead; absence is inconclusive. Combine the sample with actual status codes, canonical tags, sitemap membership, internal links, and first-party Search Console evidence. Do not roll back a migration or redirect a page solely because it is missing here. See the broader technical SEO checklist.

An auditable reporting input

Export the observation date, domain, supplied sitemap, sample links, warning state, and calculation. Label a chart “sitemap overlap with first-page sample,” not “Google index coverage.” Keep old snapshots to explain changes. For related reporting workflows, see SEO automation tools and the Apify platform guide.

How to Use Google SERP Checker

Resume evaluation only after the maintenance status is resolved; then inspect a representative run, warnings and charges before scheduling. The following steps preserve the distinction between a valid search observation and an unavailable comparison.

Step 1: Open the Actor

Open the Actor status on Apify and confirm that maintenance has ended before considering a run. Read the README and pricing, then scope an authorized evaluation to one domain. Check your account allowance before scheduling. No free-credit quantity or free-run count is assumed here.

Step 2: Configure the Input

Use a domain without a protocol. Supply a public leaf page sitemap rooted in <urlset>, rather than a <sitemapindex> listing other sitemap files. If omitted, the Actor tries the domain’s /sitemap.xml; that may itself be an unsuitable index.

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "sitemapUrl": "https://example.com/page-sitemap.xml",
  "maxResults": 10
}

Replace both illustrative addresses. The current schema fixes maxResults at 10. Integrations requesting 50 or 100 results need to change: the README explicitly says this version does not implement pagination.

Step 3: Run the Actor

Wait for completion and inspect status. A failed run is not a valid zero-result observation. The README distinguishes blocked or unrecognized responses from a legitimate no-results response, which can produce a successful zero-result row. Do not repeatedly retry access blocks or interpret timeout absence as deindexation.

Step 4: Export Results

Open the run’s Dataset and export JSON or CSV. JSON preserves nested indexedPages more naturally. In spreadsheets, flatten links deliberately: repeating the sitemap denominator on each link row can distort later aggregations. Preserve date, domain, sitemapWarning, and the original run reference.

Step 5: Schedule Recurring Runs

After a representative run and billing check, use Apify schedules if repeated observations serve a decision. Save a separate dated record per run; a schedule alone is not a historical trend dashboard. Record failures separately. Silently dropping unsuccessful runs can make an apparent trend misleading.

Input Reference

There is no documented keyword array, city selector, device selector, or language selector. A city name in query wording would not establish a physical search location, and this Actor does not expose arbitrary-query input anyway. If those controls are requirements, select an interface whose current contract supports them.

Before scheduling, record the supplied sitemap URL and its role. Two samples using different sitemap sections have different denominators even if their domain matches. Similarly, a changed sitemap can change the match rate without any change to Google results. Compare the underlying lists before attributing the difference to SEO performance.

Output Field Reference

Legacy names can sound more definitive than this measurement. Interpret them using the README definitions:

Do not map notYetIndexed into an “unindexed URLs” dashboard. Rename the consumer column “missing from sample” while retaining the raw field for traceability. Treat indexRate: "n/a" as unavailable, not 0%. Converting both to zero loses the distinction between an observation and a failed comparison.

For repeated runs, retain raw rows before calculating aggregates. A count of ten today and eight tomorrow is a difference in observed sample size, not evidence that two pages disappeared from Google’s index. Inspect the URLs and warning states, then choose a first-party follow-up for any material question.

Limitations

One page is a small sample. The README caps it at up to 10 organic links; fewer can be recognizable. This guide establishes no complete inventory, pagination, keyword rank history, or measured accuracy guarantee.

Sitemap indexes are not traversed. Supply a leaf sitemap. An unusable sitemap produces a warning and an unavailable comparison, while a usable search observation may remain. Fix the input before interpreting percentages.

Search results are not index coverage. Google’s site: operator documentation is the reference for this kind of observation. Use Search Console for your site’s first-party investigation. Do not extrapolate a sample into a full indexed-page count.

Network and markup changes can fail an observation. The README documents bounded search and redirect-resolution timeouts, not guaranteed completion speed. A failed or absent row is not a business finding. Respect source terms and stop when access is blocked. An Actor listing does not establish third-party permission to collect or resell data.

Pricing in Practice

Estimate costs from saved-observation and start-event quantities. Do not multiply a keyword count by an obsolete price:

Estimated Actor event cost = saved observations × result-event rate
                          + start-event units × $0.00005

The pricing page says start-event count depends on memory, with at least one unit. For an illustrative workload of 1,000 successful observations and exactly 1,000 start-event units, displayed Free-tier rates give 1,000 × $0.005 + 1,000 × $0.00005 = $5.05. At the displayed Business result-event rate, those quantities give $3.55, before subscription or account-level charges. This is arithmetic, not a test result or advice to buy a paid plan.

Inspect actual charges from a small run before scaling. Failed runs can still incur start events; starts need not equal saved observations. Do not assume failures are free, every organic link is a separate billed event, or available credits cover a particular run count. Keep the event unit, plan, capture date, and excluded costs beside a procurement estimate.

A four-observation pilot can check whether your chosen input produces useful rows and whether consumers handle warning states. It does not establish long-term availability or competitor superiority. If a larger workflow needs an uptime commitment, obtain one explicitly rather than inferring it from a successful pilot or a low advertised rate.

When to Use This vs. a Full SERP API

Choose this Actor when you need a dated domain sample with a defined sitemap-overlap calculation and can handle warnings and unsuccessful observations. Its value depends on whether that small sample answers your question.

Use a keyword SERP API or dedicated rank tracker for arbitrary queries, geographic and device controls, deeper results, SERP features, stored history, or supported production requirements. Verify each feature and price with the provider. Use Search Console for first-party indexation evidence. These products answer different questions; this comparison establishes no universal winner.

Bottom Line

The current Google SERP Checker URL leads to a first-page domain observation tool. Its useful output is a traceable sample and correctly defined sitemap overlap, not proof that absent pages are unindexed. Supply a leaf sitemap, inspect warnings, preserve links, and investigate material changes with first-party evidence.

Review the Actor and pricing on Apify

FAQ

Does a missing URL mean it is not indexed?

No. It means the URL was not observed in this first-page sample. An indexed URL can be absent from that small selection. Investigate in Search Console rather than treating the historical field name notYetIndexed as a definitive status.

Can I extract positions 1–100 or People Also Ask?

Not under the current documented contract. The input fixes maxResults at 10 and the README describes organic links from one page. It does not promise deeper pagination, PAA answers, ads, or featured-snippet extraction.

Can I change country, language, or mobile device?

The public input schema contains domain, sitemapUrl, and maxResults. It exposes none of those targeting selectors. Choose a different documented interface when a workflow depends on a specific country, language, city, or device.

What if my sitemap URL is a sitemap index?

Supply one of its leaf page sitemaps instead. The README says this version does not traverse sitemap indexes. Inspect sitemapWarning and retain an unavailable comparison as n/a, rather than interpreting it as a zero match rate.

Why can the observed link count exceed the match count?

The sample can contain URLs outside your supplied sitemap. They contribute to googleIndexed but not sitemapSampleMatches. Use the match count as the numerator for sitemap overlap, as the worked example demonstrates.

Can I automate it through the API?

Yes. The documented integration runs tugelbay/google-serp-checker, waits for completion, and reads its default Dataset. Check status and sitemapWarning first. Never translate an absent row from an unsuccessful run into a zero index count.

What is the current price?

The October 3 UTC capture, reviewed October 4, lists result events from $3.50 to $5.00 per 1,000 depending on account tier, plus starts. Consult the live Pricing tab and account ledger before purchasing or scheduling; this guide cannot establish your final bill.

Further Reading

• Actor README, behavior and limits
• Pricing tab, event rates
• Apify platform guide, workflow context
• Rank tracker tools, dedicated keyword tracking
• SEO automation tools, reporting
• Keyword research tools, discovery

Last verified: October 2026 (October 4, contract and displayed pricing only). Examples are illustrative; no new reliability benchmark was run.