01 The Rule
Notify search engines immediately when content is created, updated, or deleted using the IndexNow API. Submit URL batches (up to 10,000 per request) with your verified API key.
IndexNow Protocol
Last updated: 2026-01-15
02 Rationale
Traditional crawl-based discovery is pull-only — search engines find changes when they next crawl. IndexNow enables push-based notification, reducing discovery latency from days to minutes. Critical for sites with time-sensitive content.
03 Implementation
- Generate an IndexNow API key and host verification file at /<key>.txt
- Submit URL changes via HTTP POST to https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow
- Batch up to 10,000 URLs per submission
- Submit on content create, update, and delete events
- Supported by Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver (not Google currently)
04 Common Violations & Consequences
Violation
Submitting URLs that don't exist or return errors
Consequence
API key trust score decreases; future submissions may be deprioritized
Violation
Submitting unchanged URLs repeatedly
Consequence
Treated as spam; rate limiting may be applied
Violation
Missing API key verification file
Consequence
Submissions rejected — ownership unverified
05 The Fix
Integrate IndexNow submission into your content management workflow. Trigger submissions on publish, update, and unpublish events. Log all submissions and monitor acceptance rates.