HowTo · 30m
Add IndexNow to your publish pipeline
Notify Bing, Yandex and other consortium engines the instant a page goes live — bypass crawl-budget delays for time-sensitive content (election PR, breaking news, product launches).
Add IndexNow to your publish pipeline
IndexNow is an open protocol that lets your site instantly notify Bing, Yandex and consortium engines when URLs publish, update, or delete. Setup is one key file at /indexnow-key.txt plus a single HTTP POST on every publish. Google doesn't participate but Bing-backed search covers most of the rest.
Tools
- · A reachable HTTP server
- · A UUID-like 8-128 char key
Prerequisites
- · Ability to host a static text file on your site root
- · A publish hook in your CMS
Step-by-step
Generate and host the key file
Create a random 8-128 char alphanumeric key. Host it at /indexnow-key.txt with the key as the only content. The filename must match the key.
POST the changed URL on every publish
POST https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow with body { host, key, keyLocation, urlList }. Send the list of URLs that just published, updated or were deleted.
Confirm acceptance
HTTP 200 = accepted. 422 = key/keyLocation mismatch. 429 = rate limited (slow down). 400 = malformed payload.
In the glossary
Terms used.
FAQ
Frequently asked.
- How long does Add IndexNow to… typically take?
- Roughly 30m for the steps in this playbook end-to-end, assuming the prerequisites are already in place.
- What do I need before I start?
- Ability to host a static text file on your site root; A publish hook in your CMS
- Can Public Pulse run this for me?
- Yes. This playbook is open documentation but we do this work for clients. Free 30-minute consultation to scope.