IndexNow: The Complete Guide to Instant URL Indexing for Search Engines

• IndexNow is an open push protocol that allows websites to instantly notify search engines when content is added, updated, or deleted. It was launched by Microsoft (Bing) and Yandex in 2021 and is now supported by Bing, Yandex, Seznam.cz, Naver, and Yep.
• 3.5 billion URLs are submitted daily via IndexNow, and the protocol is responsible for 22% of all clicked Bing URLs. Over 10 million WordPress installations use IndexNow, and Shopify added native support in May 2025.
• Google does not support IndexNow as of 2026, despite testing since October 2021. For sites primarily optimising for Google, IndexNow remains an add-on for Bing visibility and AI platforms (like ChatGPT Search) that use the Bing index.
• IndexNow does NOT guarantee indexing or influence rankings. It notifies search engines of changes—it does not bypass quality algorithms. A thin page will still not rank, regardless of how quickly it’s discovered.
• XML Sitemaps and IndexNow are complementary, not competitive. Sitemaps provide baseline discovery for all URLs; IndexNow provides real-time notification for changed URLs. Use both for complete coverage.

1. Reduce unnecessary crawling: Search engines waste resources crawling unchanged pages. IndexNow tells them exactly what changed, so they can focus on what matters.
2. Faster content discovery: Instead of waiting for crawlers to find updates, IndexNow notifies search engines immediately.
3. Reduce server load: Fewer unnecessary crawls mean less strain on your servers.
4. Improve crawl efficiency: Search engines can prioritise URLs that actually changed.
5. Sustainability: More efficient crawling reduces the environmental impact of web crawling.

• 3.5 billion URLs are submitted daily via IndexNow
• IndexNow is responsible for 22% of all clicked Bing URLs
• Over 10 million WordPress installations use IndexNow
• Shopify launched native integration in May 2025
• Cloudflare expanded IndexNow support to all Paid Plans in Q4 2025

1. Generate a key: Use a GUID/UUID generator or command-line tool. Your key must be 8 to 128 characters long. Allowed characters: lowercase (a-z), uppercase (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and hyphens (-).
2. Create the key file: Open a text editor, paste your API key, and save the file in UTF-8 encoding with the key as the filename followed by .txt.
3. Upload the file: Place the key file in the root directory of your website at https://yourdomain.com/{your-key}.txt.

GET https://www.bing.com/indexnow?url=https://www.example.com/product.html&key=94f18d99d0144ff09da36d530b7c56ff

• url: The URL that has been added, updated, or deleted (must be URL-encoded and follow RFC-3986)
• key: Your API key (8-128 hexadecimal characters)
• keyLocation: (Optional) Location of your key file if not at the root

POST /indexnow
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Host: www.bing.com
{
 "host": "www.example.com",
 "key": "94f18d99d0144ff09da36d530b7c56ff",
 "keyLocation": "https://www.example.com/myIndexNowKey63638.txt",
 "urlList": [
 "https://www.example.com/url1",
 "https://www.example.com/folder/url2",
 "https://www.example.com/url3"
 ]
}

1. Notification: The search engine receives your submission
2. Queue: The URL enters the crawl queue
3. Validation: The search engine validates the submission and verifies ownership
4. Crawl: The search engine crawls the URL
5. Rendering: JavaScript and CSS are rendered if needed
6. Indexing: Content is processed and added to the index
7. Ranking: The page is evaluated for search results

1. Doesn’t guarantee indexing — It notifies search engines; it does not guarantee inclusion
2. Doesn’t influence rankings — Quality signals still determine ranking
3. Doesn’t replace XML Sitemaps — Use both for complete coverage
4. Doesn’t replace robots.txt — Robots.txt controls crawling behaviour
5. Doesn’t bypass quality algorithms — Thin content remains thin content
6. Google doesn’t support it — You still need Google-specific discovery methods

• Small static websites
• Rarely updated websites
• Archived websites
• Strongly interlinked content already crawled at high frequency

1. Keep XML Sitemap — IndexNow and sitemaps complement each other
2. Continue using robots.txt — Robots.txt controls crawling behaviour
3. Notify only changed URLs — Don’t submit unchanged URLs
4. Avoid duplicate submissions — Submitting the same URL repeatedly wastes resources
5. Monitor indexing — Check Bing Webmaster Tools for submission status
6. Use HTTPS — All IndexNow endpoints require HTTPS
7. Batch requests where appropriate — Submit up to 10,000 URLs per POST
8. Submit immediately — Notify as soon as content is added, updated, or deleted

• IndexNow Plugin — Official Microsoft plugin
• Findex for IndexNow
• BotSubmit
• Simple Search Submission

$url = 'https://www.bing.com/indexnow?url=' . urlencode($pageUrl) . '&key=' . $apiKey;
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
$httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);
if ($httpCode === 200) {
 // Success
}

const https = require('https');
const options = {
 hostname: 'www.bing.com',
 path: '/indexnow?url=' + encodeURIComponent(url) + '&key=' + apiKey,
 method: 'GET'
};
const req = https.request(options, (res) => {
 if (res.statusCode === 200) {
 // Success
 }
});
req.end();

import requests
url = f"https://www.bing.com/indexnow?url={page_url}&key={api_key}"
response = requests.get(url)
if response.status_code == 200:
 # Success

1. Generating a sitemap on build
2. Extracting changed URLs from Git history or build logs
3. Sending POST requests to IndexNow endpoints
4. Using GitHub Actions or CI/CD pipelines for automation

• Bing Webmaster Tools — Check submission status and indexing reports
• Server logs — Monitor IndexNow API requests and responses
• Crawl statistics — Track how quickly new URLs are crawled
• Index coverage — Monitor which URLs are indexed

1. IndexNow is a push protocol for notifying search engines about URL changes.
2. Supported search engines: Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, and Yep. Google does not support IndexNow.
3. IndexNow improves crawl efficiency, not rankings.
4. XML Sitemaps and IndexNow complement each other.
5. IndexNow does not guarantee indexing.
6. Submit URLs immediately when content is added, updated, or deleted.
7. Batch submissions of up to 10,000 URLs per request are supported.
8. Proper implementation helps search engines discover fresh content more quickly.