# Indexing Monitoring: Settings

The **Settings** page of Indexing Monitoring controls which Search Console properties VitalSentinel uses and which pages it asks Google about first. It also shows how the daily checks are going, so you can see if the data is up to date.

## Before you start [#before-you-start]

Open **Indexing Monitoring** > **Settings** in the sidebar. Only workspace owners and admins can open this page. If a member opens it, the app goes to the domain overview.

If no Search Console property covers the domain, the page shows "Link a Google Search Console property that covers this domain". If your Google account is connected but has no matching property, the chip says **No matching property**. Add the domain as a property in Google Search Console, then pick it here. See [Connect Google Search Console](/connect/search-console).

## Search Console properties [#search-console-properties]

The **Search Console properties** card of Indexing Monitoring lists the properties of your Google account that cover this domain. The **?** next to the title says how many properties your plan includes for all your sites, and how many are in use. The number depends on your plan. See [Plans and limits](/workspace/plans-and-limits).

| Column | What it shows |
|--------|---------------|
| **Property** | The property name, its type (**Domain** or **URL prefix**) and its state. |
| **Covers** | **Whole site**, or the path that the property covers, for example `/de/`. |
| **Last check** | When this property last answered about one of your pages. |
| **Checked today** | Pages checked today against Google's limit of 2,000 a day for each property. Shows only when you use two or more properties. |

A **Domain** property covers every page of the domain. A **URL prefix** property covers the pages whose address starts with its path.

### Property states [#property-states]

| Chip | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| **Added** | VitalSentinel uses the property for this domain. |
| **Available** | The property covers this domain, but you did not add it yet. |
| **In use elsewhere** / **Linked elsewhere** | Another domain uses the property. Remove it there first to add it here. |
| **Access revoked** | Google revoked access to the property. Click **Reconnect** to keep checking. Only workspace owners and admins can reconnect it. |

If two **Whole site** properties are added, **Whole site** shows a note. Both properties are asked about the same pages. Google counts the limit for each property, so each property adds its own 2,000 checks a day.

If today's counts cannot load, the card shows "Today's check counts are temporarily unavailable – they show as a dash until they load again."

## Add or remove a property [#add-or-remove-a-property]

To add a property:

1. Find the row with the **Available** chip.
2. Click **Add**.

A toast confirms "Property added." If the property covers a folder, VitalSentinel also creates a URL group for that folder.

<Callout type="warn">
If you remove a property, its check history and sitemap data can be deleted. This happens if no other domain uses the property and it is not linked in Google Search Console. The data cannot be restored.
</Callout>

To remove a property:

1. Click **Remove** on the row of the property.
2. In "Remove property from indexing?", click **Remove and delete data**.

## Choose the pages a property covers [#choose-the-pages-a-property-covers]

When you use more than one property, you can tell VitalSentinel which pages each property checks. For example, a property for `https://example.com/de/` can check the pages under `/de/`.

1. Click the edit icon on the row of an added property.
2. In **URL path**, enter the path, for example `/de/`. Every page whose address starts with this path is checked through this property.
3. Optional: in **Which property wins**, enter a whole number from 0 to 32767. When two properties could cover the same page, the lower number wins. Leave it empty for the default.
4. Click **Save**.

The toast "Saved. The property now covers those pages." confirms the change.

### Make the full round shorter [#make-the-full-round-shorter]

Under the properties, a line can show how to check your sitemap faster, for example:

> Adding example.com would cut the full round to about every 4 days.

If all property slots of your plan are in use, the line says so and shows **Upgrade your plan**.

## Pages we check more often [#pages-we-check-more-often]

The **Pages we check more often** card of Indexing Monitoring lists the pages that VitalSentinel asks Google about before the rest of your sitemap. It has two kinds of pages in one table:

| Source | How often | Who picks them |
|--------|-----------|----------------|
| **Added by you** | Every day, first | You. These are your priority pages. You can add up to 200. |
| **Picked automatically** | Every week | VitalSentinel, from your orders, Google clicks and watched pages. |

The card header shows how many priority pages you use, for example "12 of 200 used". The automatic pages take up to 15% of the daily checks.

The table columns are **Page**, **Source**, **Checked** (**Daily** or **Weekly**), **In Google** and **Last check**. A page that Google did not answer about yet shows "Not checked yet". The table shows the first five automatic pages. Click **Why these pages** to see all of them.

## Add priority pages [#add-priority-pages]

Add the pages that you cannot afford to lose from Google, for example your home page and your best product pages.

1. In **Pages we check more often**, click **Add pages**.
2. In **Page addresses**, enter one address per line. Each address must be on this domain.
3. Click **Add pages**.

VitalSentinel checks the pages every day, before the rest of your sitemap. You can also add one page from its panel in [Pages](/indexing-monitoring/pages): click **Check this page daily**.

If the list is full, the dialog says how many pages fit, for example "The list has room for 3 more pages".

To remove a priority page, click the delete icon on its row. Then click **Remove** in "Remove priority page?".

## Automatic pages [#automatic-pages]

A line above the table of **Pages we check more often** controls the automatic pages of Indexing Monitoring:

- **Keep the automatic pages checked**: turn it on to check the automatic pages once a week. When it is off, the card shows "Switched off – no pages are picked or checked weekly."
- **Pages to keep checked**: the number of automatic pages. The info icon next to the field shows the range you can use. Change the number, then click **Save**.

VitalSentinel builds the list once a day. Until then, the card shows "No pages picked yet – the list is built once a day."

If Web Analytics conversion tracking is not set up, the card shows "Check the pages that earn orders first". Set up [Web Analytics](/web-analytics/overview) so that pages that earn orders join the list.

### Why these pages [#why-these-pages]

Click **Why these pages** to open the full list of automatic pages. The columns are **Page**, **Why**, **In Google**, **Last check** and **Next check**. **Why** gives one or more reasons:

- **Search clicks**: one of the pages with the most Google clicks.
- **Orders**: visitors from Google landed on the page and placed orders.
- **Watched page**: you watch the page in Page Monitoring.
- **You added it**: the page is one of your priority pages.

## Pages to check first [#pages-to-check-first]

Click **Pages to check first** in the **Pages we check more often** card to see where the daily checks went. The panel has these parts:

- **Where the checks went**: how many pages each group got in the window: **Added by you**, the re-check reasons, **Picked automatically** and **Sitemap rotation**. Each page counts once, under the first reason that applies.
- **Waiting for the next daily run**: pages that have a reason to be checked again now.
- **Pages to check next**: a ranking from your server logs of the pages worth checking next.

The re-check reasons are **Watched page changed**, **Sitemap says it changed**, **Googlebot got an error**, **Search clicks stopped**, **robots.txt now blocks it** and **Our check found noindex or a new canonical**.

### How Pages to check next is ranked [#how-pages-to-check-next-is-ranked]

**Pages to check next** needs [Server Log Monitoring](/server-logs/overview). Pages where Googlebot got an error come first. Then come pages that Googlebot fetched but VitalSentinel never checked, and pages that Googlebot fetched again after the last check. Last are pages with an old check. Scripts, style sheets and images are left out.

## How the checks are going [#how-the-checks-are-going]

A row of tiles of Indexing Monitoring **Settings** shows if the checks run on time:

| Tile | What it shows |
|------|---------------|
| **Last check** | When Google last answered about one of your pages. After 3 days it shows "index status may be out of date". |
| **Full round** | How many days it takes to check every sitemap page once, at the daily limit of all your properties. This is capacity, not the age of the checks. |
| **Checked at least once** | Different pages that VitalSentinel ever asked Google about, for example "of 48,166 sitemap pages". |
| **Used today** | Checks used today against Google's daily limit. Google's day starts at midnight Pacific time. |
| **Automatic pages checked** | How many automatic pages Google answered about in the last 7 days, for example "95 of 100". |

### Checks per day [#checks-per-day]

The **Checks per day** chart shows how many pages VitalSentinel checked each day. Today's bar is marked "Today so far", because the day is not over. If no check ran for two days or more, a band marked "No checks" shows the gap. The data about your pages can then be out of date.

## Troubleshooting [#troubleshooting]

### Why is the Last check tile red? [#why-is-the-last-check-tile-red]

No check ran for 7 days or more. Make sure that the property is still **Added** and does not show **Access revoked**. If it shows **Access revoked**, click **Reconnect**.

### Why does a full round take so long? [#why-does-a-full-round-take-so-long]

Google allows 2,000 checks a day for each property. A site with 100,000 sitemap pages and one property needs about 50 days. To make the round shorter, add another property that covers the whole site. Add your most important pages as priority pages, so they are checked every day.

### Why can I not open Indexing Monitoring Settings? [#why-can-i-not-open-indexing-monitoring-settings]

Only workspace owners and admins can open the page. Ask an owner or an admin to change your role. See [Members](/workspace/members).

### Why can I not add a property? [#why-can-i-not-add-a-property]

If the row shows **In use elsewhere** or **Linked elsewhere**, another domain uses the property. Remove it from that domain first. If all slots of your plan are in use, upgrade your plan in [Billing](/workspace/billing).

## Related [#related]

- [Overview](/indexing-monitoring/overview) - how the module works and how it chooses pages
- [Pages](/indexing-monitoring/pages) - add one page to the daily checks from its panel
- [Connect Google Search Console](/connect/search-console) - link or reconnect a property
- [Server Log Monitoring](/server-logs/overview) - the source of the Pages to check next ranking