Draft:IndexNow

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IndexNow is an open protocol that allows website owners to inform participating search engines directly whenever website content is created, updated, or deleted. The system was introduced by Microsoft Bing and Yandex to accelerate the discovery and indexing of online content.

Overview

Traditionally, search engines relied on periodic crawling to discover new content, which could delay updates appearing in search results. IndexNow addresses this delay by allowing websites to proactively notify search engines about content changes, helping reduce unnecessary crawling and improve the freshness of search indexes.

History

IndexNow was launched in October 2021 as a collaboration between Microsoft Bing and Yandex. The protocol was developed to make the web more efficient by enabling faster content discovery and minimizing server load caused by repeated web crawling.

How it works

To implement IndexNow, a website owner must generate an API key and host it in a text file at the site's root. When content changes, the website sends a simple HTTP request to a search engine endpoint, including the URL and the API key. For example:

https://www.bing.com/indexnow?url=https://www.example.com/page.html&key=your-api-key

Once notified, search engines can decide whether to crawl and index the submitted URL.

Participating search engines

As of 2025, several search engines support IndexNow, including:

Microsoft Bing
Yandex
Naver
Seznam.cz
Yep

Submitted URLs are shared among participating search engines, further improving content discoverability.

Adoption and tools

Since its release, IndexNow has been integrated into various platforms and services:

Content management systems: Microsoft has provided a WordPress plugin to enable IndexNow with minimal setup.
Hosting services: Providers like Cloudflare support IndexNow via features such as Crawler Hints.
Major websites: Organizations including eBay, LinkedIn, MSN, GitHub, and Bizapedia use IndexNow to speed up content indexing.
Third-party applications: The company Majinsoft developed IndexNow Sync, a mobile and desktop application that simplifies URL submissions and automates the notification process to search engines.^[1]

Advantages

Implementing IndexNow offers multiple benefits:

Faster reflection of content changes in search results.
Reduced server load due to decreased need for frequent exploratory crawling.
Improved SEO performance by ensuring content updates are indexed sooner.

Limitations

While IndexNow notifies search engines about changes, it does not guarantee that the submitted pages will be indexed. Each search engine independently decides whether to index a submitted URL.

Google's approach

As of 2025, Google has not officially adopted the IndexNow protocol. Google representatives stated that they tested IndexNow but found it did not align with their existing crawling infrastructure at large scale.^[2]

Instead, Google provides its own Indexing API, primarily intended for quickly notifying Google about changes to pages related to job postings or livestream events.^[3] The Google Indexing API allows sites to directly request indexing or removal of specific URLs, but it is not yet available for general-purpose content.

Future developments

Although Google has not embraced IndexNow, discussions continue around possible broader adoption or compatibility improvements in the future. Some SEO experts believe that faster indexing protocols will become increasingly important as the web continues to grow.

External links

References

^ "IndexNow Sync". Majinsoft.
^ "Google on IndexNow". Search Engine Roundtable. October 29, 2021.
^ "Google Indexing API documentation". Google Developers.

[1] "IndexNow Sync". Majinsoft.

[2] "Google on IndexNow". Search Engine Roundtable. October 29, 2021.

[3] "Google Indexing API documentation". Google Developers.

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