Generate an IndexNow key, check that your key file is live, and get the exact request to tell Bing and other search engines that pages on your site have changed. The tool validates your URLs and writes a ready to run command.
What IndexNow is
Normally a search engine finds out that a page changed by crawling it again, which can take days or weeks. IndexNow reverses that. You send a short message saying “these URLs changed” and participating engines can fetch them straight away. It is an open protocol used by Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam and Yep. A URL submitted to one is shared with the others.
Google does not take part. That is the usual reason people skip IndexNow, and it is a mistake for anyone who cares about AI search, because Microsoft Copilot answers from Bing’s index and ChatGPT’s search has drawn on Bing as well. Getting a new page into Bing quickly is one of the few direct levers you have.
How it works, in three steps
- Make a key. Any string of 8 to 128 letters, numbers and hyphens. The Generate button makes a random 32 character one in your browser.
- Prove you own the site. Create a text file named after the key, containing only the key, at the root of your site. For a key of
abc123the file ishttps://www.example.com/abc123.txt. Use the Verify button to confirm it is reachable and correct. - Submit URLs. Send a POST request listing the URLs that changed. The tool writes the JSON body and a curl command you can paste into a terminal.
Reading the response
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | URLs received | Nothing |
| 202 | Received, key validation pending | Nothing. Check the key file is live |
| 400 | The request is malformed | Use the JSON exactly as generated |
| 403 | Key not valid | The key file is missing or its content does not match |
| 422 | URLs do not belong to the host | Submit only URLs on the domain you entered |
| 429 | Too many requests | Slow down. Batch URLs into one request |
When to submit, and when not to
Submit when a page is published, when its content changes in a way a reader would notice, and when a page is removed or redirected. Do not submit your whole site every day, and do not resubmit pages that have not changed. The protocol is meant for real changes, and engines can discount a site that floods it.
If you run WordPress, a plugin can do this automatically on publish, which is better than doing it by hand. This tool is for sites without a plugin, for one-off submissions after a migration, and for checking that a setup someone else made is working.
What this tool cannot tell you
It does not send the request for you. That is deliberate: a public tool that submits to search engines on behalf of anyone would be abused within a day. You run the command, from your own machine, for your own site.
A successful response means the engines were told. It does not mean the page was indexed, and it has no effect on ranking. Each engine still decides whether to crawl and whether the page is worth keeping.
Frequently asked questions
Is the key a secret?
No. It sits in a public file. It only proves that whoever submitted the URL can also place a file on the site.
Can I use one key for several sites?
You can, but each host needs its own key file, and each request can contain URLs for one host only. The tool rejects lines from any other host for that reason.
I do not have a terminal. How do I send it?
Any API client will do. Send a POST to https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow with the JSON body and a content type of application/json.
Related
- IndexNow: faster indexing for Bing and AI search
- Bing Webmaster Tools: the underused half of AI search
- Sitemap Freshness Auditor: the slower signal that should agree with this one
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