IndexNow
IndexNow is an open URL-submission protocol, launched by Microsoft Bing and Yandex in 2021, that lets a site notify participating search engines the instant a URL is added, updated, or deleted. Google does not participate.
IndexNow replaces pull-based discovery with push notification: instead of waiting for bots to recrawl, the site fires a lightweight HTTP request announcing the changed URL, and every participating engine shares the notification. Verification uses a text key file hosted at the site root, and a single POST can carry up to 10,000 URLs.
Adoption splits the search market. Bing, Yandex, Seznam.cz, Naver, and Amazon's product search consume IndexNow, and CDNs and platforms — Cloudflare, Akamai, Shopify, Wix, and major SEO plugins — can fire it automatically. Google tested IndexNow in 2022 and chose not to adopt it, so submissions have zero effect on Google indexing; Google's push channels remain sitemaps, URL Inspection, and the narrow-scope Google Indexing API.
For SEOs the practical rule: enable IndexNow (it is free and one-time), but treat it as a Bing/Yandex accelerant, not a Google indexing strategy.
Quick facts
How does IndexNow verification work?
You generate a key (an 8–128 character hexadecimal string), host it as https://example.com/{key}.txt, and include the key in every submission. The hosted file proves domain ownership without accounts or OAuth — any engine receiving a ping fetches the key file once to verify.
Does IndexNow help with Google?
No. Google is not a participating engine, does not read IndexNow pings, and has said sitemaps remain its recommended change-notification mechanism. Pages you need indexed on Google require Google-specific channels: internal links, sitemaps, URL Inspection requests, or a URL indexing service that feeds Google's crawl systems directly.
What are IndexNow's submission limits?
The protocol allows up to 10,000 URLs per POST request and does not publish a daily cap, though engines apply their own spam filtering — submitting unchanged URLs repeatedly gets a host's pings deprioritized. Submissions are fire-and-forget: a 200/202 response confirms receipt, not crawling or indexing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I still use sitemaps if I use IndexNow?+
Yes. Google ignores IndexNow entirely, and even participating engines treat sitemaps as the canonical inventory of your URLs. IndexNow adds speed for Bing and Yandex; it replaces nothing.
Is IndexNow free?+
Yes. The protocol is open and every participating engine accepts submissions at no cost; most sites enable it through their CDN, CMS, or SEO plugin in minutes.