What is IndexNow?

IndexNow is an open protocol a site uses to tell search engines "these URLs are new or changed" in a single request, instead of waiting for them to find the change while crawling. You prove ownership by placing a key file at the site root; notifications are sent with that key and shared among the participating engines.

#Why it matters

• Engines such as Bing, Yandex, Naver and Seznam notice changes much faster. Because Bing's index also feeds AI products like Copilot, this matters on the AI side too.
• It reduces unnecessary crawling: the engine knows what changed.
• Google does not use IndexNow. For Google, sitemaps and URL Inspection in Search Console apply.

#Where you see it in SEOAsist

Open the site from Sites and switch to the Indexing tab; the IndexNow · Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam card is there:

1. Set up IndexNow generates a key for the site.
2. Place the file named after the key (containing only the key) at the site root, or use Add via PR if GitHub is connected. Then press Verify.
3. With Submit automatically after crawls on, new and changed pages are submitted after every crawl. To submit by hand, use Submit URLs or Submit all crawled pages (max 10,000).

If IndexNow isn't set up, the Indexing dimension of SEO analysis shows it as a finding. More: SEO analysis.

#Example

SEOAsist generates a 32-character key; the file is named after the key itself:

URL:     https://examplefurniture.com/3f9c2a7b8e1d4c6fa0b5d9e2c7f1a834.txt
Content: 3f9c2a7b8e1d4c6fa0b5d9e2c7f1a834

#Common mistakes

• Putting the key file in a subfolder or adding extra lines to it; verification fails (403).
• Submitting URLs that belong to another host (422).
• Resubmitting unchanged pages over and over; engines gain nothing from it.
• Expecting IndexNow to speed up Google indexing.