IndexNow

IndexNow is an open protocol that lets website owners notify participating search engines about new, updated, or deleted URLs immediately, without waiting for the next crawl. It was launched in October 2021 by Microsoft (Bing) and Yandex; Naver, Seznam, and Yep have since adopted it.

Google explicitly does not participate in IndexNow. For Google, you'll use Google Search Console's Sitemaps API or rely on standard crawl discovery.

How it works

Three steps:

1. Generate a 32-character hex key. This proves you own the domain.
2. Host a key file at the root of the domain (or a customisable location): https://example.com/{key}.txt containing just the key value.
3. POST URLs to the IndexNow endpoint:

POST https://api.indexnow.org/IndexNow
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "host": "example.com",
  "key": "abc123...",
  "keyLocation": "https://example.com/abc123....txt",
  "urlList": [
    "https://example.com/products/new",
    "https://example.com/products/updated"
  ]
}

The endpoint replicates submissions to all participating engines, so one POST reaches Bing, Yandex, Naver, etc.

Rate limits

The spec recommends:

• Up to 10,000 URLs per POST.
• Larger batches should be split.
• Throttle to avoid being treated as abusive (no exact cap stated).

In practice Bing accepts much higher daily volumes for established sites. Yandex is stricter.

When to use it

• You publish or update content frequently and want it crawled by Bing/Yandex within hours instead of days.
• You're a multi-region site caring about Yandex (Russia/CIS), Naver (Korea), Seznam (Czechia), or Yep.
• You've already optimised your sitemap setup and want incremental coverage on top of standard crawl discovery.

If your only target market is the US/EU and Google is your only meaningful search source, IndexNow's ROI is limited.

Common mistakes

• Submitting URLs that aren't actually live. IndexNow expects URLs to respond 200 OK. Submit 404s or redirects and the engine deprioritizes your future submissions.
• Putting the key file in the wrong location. It must be reachable at exactly the path you declare in keyLocation.
• Rotating the key without updating both the file and the API call. Both must match.

What SitemapHost does

SitemapHost automatically generates an IndexNow key for each verified domain, hosts the key file at https://yourdomain.com/{key}.txt via the CNAME proxy, and submits URLs to IndexNow whenever you regenerate a sitemap. You can disable it per-domain.