What Is IndexNow
What Is IndexNow and Why Was It Created?
IndexNow is an open protocol that lets a website notify participating search engines when a URL has been added, updated or deleted. A protocol is a set of agreed rules that systems follow when they exchange data. Instead of waiting for crawlers to revisit the site, the site sends a short message with the changed address. Microsoft Bing and Yandex introduced IndexNow in 2021.
The goal is to shorten the delay between a change and its appearance in search results. Without a notice, a search engine may take days or weeks to notice an updated page, depending on how often it crawls the site.
How the IndexNow Protocol Works
To use the protocol, a site generates a key, which is a unique string of characters, and hosts it in a plain text file on its own domain. That file shows search engines that the site controls the domain. When a URL changes, the site sends the address and the key to an IndexNow endpoint, a web address that accepts these notices.
According to the protocol's documentation, a participating search engine that receives a notice can crawl the URL sooner and may share it with other participating engines, so one submission can reach several. A notice can cover a single URL or a batch of URLs in one request. The site does not need to send the page content itself.
IndexNow works alongside the normal way search engines find pages, which is crawling through links. It adds a notification step; it does not replace crawling.
Which Search Engines Support IndexNow?
Bing and Yandex are the original participants, and several other search engines have joined since. Support can change over time, so check the current list of participating engines before relying on one of them.
Google does not use IndexNow to discover pages. A site that needs Google to find changes should still rely on normal links and an XML sitemap, which Google reads on its own schedule.
Frequently asked questions
Does IndexNow improve rankings?
No. IndexNow only speeds up how quickly participating engines notice changes. It does not change how relevance, quality or links are judged. A weak page does not rank better because it was submitted, and a strong page is not penalized for skipping the protocol.
Is IndexNow a replacement for a sitemap?
No. An XML sitemap lists all the URLs a site wants indexed, and crawlers read it on their own schedule. IndexNow sends notices about specific changed URLs. Many sites use both: the sitemap for complete coverage and IndexNow for quicker updates on engines that support it.