What is Bing IndexNow?
IndexNow is a lightweight, “push‑to‑index” protocol created by Microsoft (and adopted by Bing) that lets webmasters notify search engines whenever a page on their site changes, is added, or removed.
Instead of the search engine crawling your site on its own schedule, you push a small HTTPS request to tell it, “Hey, this URL just changed. Please crawl it now.”
How to Make IndexNow Submissions – A Step‑by‑Step Guide
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Get the key | Visit https://www.bing.com/indexnow/getstarted, hit Generate. |
| Create the file | Make a plain‑text file named exactly the key (e.g., a1b2c3d4.txt). Put the same key inside the file. |
| Upload | Drop the file into the root directory of your domain (e.g., https://www.example.com/a1b2c3d4.txt). |
| Submit URLs | Once the file is publicly reachable, you can push URL notifications to Bing (and other IndexNow‑compatible engines). |
| Key rules | 8–128 chars, only hex digits and dashes. |
| CMS help | WordPress: Rank Math SEO or AIOSEO can auto‑generate, host, and push URLs. |
Next steps
- Validate that the file is accessible by visiting the URL in a browser.
- Test the IndexNow notification by submitting a test URL via the Bing Webmaster Tools API or using a curl command like:
curl -X POST "https://www.bing.com/indexnow?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Ftest-page&key=a1b2c3d4" - Automate further if you’re managing many sites—most site‑builders and SEO tools have built‑in IndexNow support.
If you run into any hiccups (e.g., file not reachable, key rejected), let me know and we can troubleshoot together!
Why is it Beneficial for SEO?
| Benefit | How it Helps |
|---|---|
| Faster index updates | Your content changes are reflected in search results more quickly, boosting visibility for time‑sensitive content (news, product launches, etc.). |
| Reduced crawl budget waste | Search engines don’t waste crawls on unchanged content; they focus on what’s new. |
| Lower bandwidth & infrastructure load | By pushing only changed URLs, you avoid unnecessary crawling by bots that would otherwise visit every page. |
| Improved freshness signals | Freshness is a ranking factor for many queries; prompt indexing can help you rank higher for “latest” or “updated” searches. |
| Better control | You decide exactly what gets crawled, reducing the risk of accidentally letting bots crawl spammy or private URLs. |
| Scalability | Works the same whether you have 10 pages or 10,000, making it ideal for large sites. |
Bottom line: IndexNow is like giving Bing a “please crawl this list now” memo, which can shave days (or even hours) off the time it takes for your new or updated content to appear in search results.
Which Search Engines Support IndexNow?
| Search Engine | Status |
|---|---|
| Bing / Microsoft Edge | Full support (primary creator) |
| Experimental / limited support (Google has its own Push API, but they’ve shown interest in IndexNow). | |
| DuckDuckGo | No current support. |
| Yandex | No public support. |
| Others | Any engine that implements the IndexNow spec will work automatically. |
Tip: Even if an engine doesn’t support IndexNow yet, the protocol is open and you can still send requests; it simply won’t be acted upon.
Automate IndexNow Submission :
- CMS plugins: WordPress, Drupal, and other CMSs often have plugins that auto‑submit IndexNow when you publish or update a post.
- Webhooks: If you use a headless CMS or a CI/CD pipeline, add a webhook that triggers the IndexNow request whenever content is deployed.
- Cron job: For static sites, run a script nightly that sends all URLs that changed since the last run.
Verify Submission (Optional)
- Check the response: A
200 OKstatus with"ok"in the body means success. - Bing Webmaster Tools: In the “Indexing” section, you’ll see your recent IndexNow submissions.
- Google Search Console: Not yet directly tied to IndexNow, but you can still use the “URL Inspection” tool to confirm crawling.
Final Thought
IndexNow is essentially a “give‑us‑a‑heads‑up” service that lets you control when search engines crawl your content. While it’s still a relatively new protocol, early adopters often see quicker indexing and more reliable freshness signals. Give it a try—most of the heavy lifting is just a few lines of code!