What Is IndexNow? The SEO Protocol That Gets Your Content Indexed Faster
IndexNow is a revolutionary, lightweight protocol developed by Microsoft and adopted by prominent search engines like Bing, Yandex, and soon others. Instead of waiting for search engines to crawl your site, IndexNow lets you proactively ping them with real-time content changes. That means your updates can be indexed in minutes—not days. For SEO professionals and high-volume content publishers, this is a major leap forward in controlling how—and how fast—content appears in search results.
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Use Cases
Rapid content updates and new URLs can be indexed almost immediately across multiple client websites. IndexNow enhances speed and consistency of SEO deliverables.
Outdated product pages hurt UX and SEO. IndexNow alerts search engines the moment inventory changes, ensuring fresh product listings always appear in search results.
Breaking news needs visibility now—not tomorrow. IndexNow ensures critical updates are indexed while still relevant, not after they’ve gone stale.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is IndexNow supported by Google?
As of now, Google is testing IndexNow but hasn’t fully adopted it. However, using IndexNow still benefits your visibility in Bing, Yandex, and other supported engines.
How do I implement IndexNow on my website?
You can implement IndexNow by generating an API key, placing it in your site's root directory, and configuring your server or CMS to ping URLs as they change. Many plugins for WordPress, Cloudflare, and Yoast make this process turnkey.
Is IndexNow free?
Yes, completely free. IndexNow is an open protocol designed to improve the internet’s indexing efficiency without costing site owners a dime.
Does IndexNow replace traditional sitemap submissions?
Pages where rapid indexing matters—like blog posts, landing pages, product updates, or deletions—are perfect for IndexNow. Routine or outdated content can still rely on standard crawling.
What type of content should I notify with IndexNow?
IndexNow doesn’t guarantee instant indexing, but it drastically increases the speed—often within minutes—depending on the search engine’s processing capacity.
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