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Technical SEO

IndexNow protocol

Definition

IndexNow is an open-source protocol that enables websites to instantly notify search engines when content is created, updated, or deleted.

Also known as: IndexNow

Explained

IndexNow is an open-source, push-based protocol that allows websites to immediately inform participating search engines about content changes. Instead of waiting for search engine crawlers to periodically discover updates, site owners can send HTTP POST requests to notify engines such as Bing, Yandex, and Seznam the moment a page is added, updated, or removed.

How It Works

  • Generate a unique 32-character alphanumeric API key.
  • Place the key in a text file at the domain root for verification.
  • Submit changed URLs via HTTP POST to endpoints such as api.indexnow.org/indexnow.
  • Search engines receive the notification and prioritize crawling the submitted URLs.

Why It Matters

IndexNow can significantly shorten the time between publishing content and appearing in search results. It complements traditional SEO efforts—such as XML sitemaps and crawl-budget optimization—by improving the speed of discovery, while content quality, technical health, and authority still determine rankings.

Example

A WordPress site using RankMath or Yoast SEO Premium automatically pings api.indexnow.org/indexnow whenever a new blog post is published, prompting Bing and Yandex to crawl the URL within hours instead of days.

Related terms

XML sitemap robots.txt Crawl budget URL Inspection Tool Robots meta tag Canonical tag hreflang Pagination markup