What Is IndexNow? How It Works and Which Search Engines Use It

You publish a new blog post, update a product page, or delete an old one — and then you wait. Search engines only notice changes the next time they crawl your site, which can take days or even weeks for smaller sites. IndexNow was created to close that gap.

IndexNow in one sentence

IndexNow is a free, open protocol that lets you tell search engines the moment a URL is added, updated, or deleted, instead of waiting for them to discover the change on their own.

It was launched in 2021 by Microsoft Bing and Yandex, and other search engines have joined since.

How it works

1. You create a key — a random string of letters and numbers.
2. You host the key as a small text file on your site (for example https://example.com/your-key.txt). This proves you own the site, so nobody else can submit URLs for it.
3. You send a list of changed URLs to an IndexNow endpoint, together with your key.
4. The search engine checks the key file, then queues your URLs to be crawled.

The best part: a URL you submit to one participating search engine is shared with all the others. You submit once, and every IndexNow search engine hears about it.

Which search engines support IndexNow?

Bing matters more than its search share suggests: its index also powers results in other services and assistants that rely on Bing's data. Getting pages into Bing faster can have knock-on effects beyond bing.com.

Does IndexNow work with Google?

No — Google doesn't use IndexNow at the moment. For Google, the reliable options are:

• Keep an up-to-date XML sitemap and submit it in Google Search Console.
• Use URL Inspection → Request indexing in Search Console for your most important new pages.
• Link to new pages from pages that are already indexed, such as your home page or blog index.

IndexNow and these Google steps work well together: there's no conflict in doing both.

What IndexNow does — and doesn't — do

It does:

• Make search engines aware of new, updated, and deleted pages within minutes.
• Reduce the need for search engines to re-crawl your whole site to find changes.
• Help get fresh content (news, product updates, price changes) picked up sooner.

It doesn't:

• Guarantee indexing. Search engines still decide whether a page is worth indexing.
• Improve rankings on its own. Content quality, relevance and links still decide where you rank.
• Replace your sitemap. Keep your sitemap — IndexNow is a fast lane on top of it.

When should you submit URLs?

Submit a URL when something meaningful happens:

• You publish a new page or post.
• You update a page's content (not just a typo fix).
• You delete a page or it now returns a 404 or 410.
• You change URLs after a redesign or migration.

Avoid resubmitting the same unchanged URLs over and over. Search engines may slow down or ignore sites that send excessive, repetitive submissions.

Is IndexNow worth it for small sites?

Yes — arguably it helps small sites the most. Big, popular sites get crawled constantly anyway. A smaller blog or online shop might wait a long time for crawlers to come back, and IndexNow removes much of that wait at no cost.

How to start using IndexNow

You have three easy options:

1. Use a free tool. The Pixlory IndexNow Submitter generates your key, checks your key file, loads URLs from your sitemap and submits up to 10,000 at once — no sign-up needed.
2. Use a plugin. On WordPress, SEO plugins and Bing's own IndexNow plugin can submit changes automatically.
3. Use your CDN or host. Some hosting and CDN providers offer IndexNow integrations that notify search engines when content changes.

For a full walkthrough, read how to submit URLs to IndexNow step by step.