IndexNow is a free, open protocol that tells search engines a page has been added, changed or removed, instead of waiting for them to find it. You can send the pages of a fix you have finished straight from the fix.
Set it up
- Open Settings, then Connected Apps, then IndexNow. Only a workspace Admin can see this tab.
- Choose Generate key.
- Make a plain text file with the file name shown, and put the key in it, with nothing else.
- Upload the file to the top level of your site, so it opens at the address shown, for example
https://www.example.com/your-key.txt. - Choose Check. We read the file on your own domain and say whether we found it.
The key is not a password. Search engines read it from your site to confirm you own it. If you change the key, upload the new file and choose Check again.
Send pages
- On Actions, open a fix and mark it as done.
- If the fix has pages on your own site, choose Submit to search engines.
- The result shows under the button, and Recently sent on the IndexNow tab lists it.
Only pages on your own domain are sent. A fix about a page on someone else's site shows no button.
Good to know
- One send reaches every search engine that supports IndexNow. Each decides for itself whether and when to index a page.
- "Search engines could not confirm your key" means the key file is missing or does not hold the key. Check it, then choose Check again.
- You can send up to 20 times an hour for each project.