IndexNow is an open-source protocol that allows website owners to instantly ping search engines the moment new content is published or existing content is updated. Instead of waiting for a search engine's crawler to discover your changes during its next scheduled crawl, IndexNow sends a direct notification so the page can be re-crawled and re-indexed much faster.

Who Supports IndexNow?

IndexNow was launched jointly by Microsoft (Bing) and Yandex in 2021. It is supported by:

  • Bing — full support since launch
  • Yandex — full support since launch
  • Google — Google began testing IndexNow in 2022 but uses its own Google Search Console Indexing API as its primary rapid-indexing mechanism
  • Seznam, Naver, and other engines — various levels of support
Important: Submitting a URL via IndexNow does not guarantee it will be indexed. It simply tells search engines to crawl the URL sooner. The page still needs to pass quality signals to be indexed and ranked.
Traditional Crawl vs IndexNow Without IndexNow Publish page Wait for Googlebot to crawl Could take days or weeks Especially slow for new/low-authority sites Days to weeks With IndexNow Publish page Send IndexNow ping instantly Search engine crawls within hours Faster indexing = faster ranking potential Hours (sometimes minutes)

How IndexNow Works

  • Step 1 — Generate a key: Create a unique API key (a simple text file) and host it at your domain root, e.g. yourdomain.com/your-key.txt
  • Step 2 — Send a ping: When you publish or update a page, send an HTTP GET or POST request to api.indexnow.org with your URL and key
  • Step 3 — Engine shares the ping: When you ping one IndexNow-supporting engine, they share the notification with all other participating engines automatically
  • Step 4 — Engine crawls: The search engine decides whether and when to crawl the submitted URL based on its own crawl prioritisation

IndexNow API Request Example

A simple GET request to submit a single URL:

https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow?url=https://yourdomain.com/new-page&key=your-api-key

You can also submit multiple URLs in a single POST request (up to 10,000 URLs per batch):

{
  "host": "yourdomain.com",
  "key": "your-api-key",
  "urlList": [
    "https://yourdomain.com/page-1",
    "https://yourdomain.com/page-2"
  ]
}

IndexNow vs Google Search Console Indexing API

  • IndexNow — open protocol, supported by Bing/Yandex, pings all engines at once, simpler setup
  • Google Indexing API — Google's own API, primarily designed for job postings and live-stream event pages, requires OAuth service account authentication, and is more reliable for Google specifically
  • For maximum coverage, use both: IndexNow for Bing/Yandex and the Google Indexing API for Google

When Should You Use IndexNow?

  • Every time you publish a new page or blog post
  • When you significantly update existing content
  • After fixing errors, updating prices, or changing important on-page data
  • When running time-sensitive campaigns where fast indexing matters
Free and easy: IndexNow is completely free to use. Many CMSs (WordPress with plugins like RankMath or Yoast) and site generators can ping IndexNow automatically on publish, requiring zero manual effort.