What is IndexNow?
Definition
IndexNow is an open protocol that lets a site instantly tell participating search engines, including Microsoft Bing, when pages are added, changed, or deleted.
Instead of waiting for a crawler to come back, a site sends a short request listing the URLs that changed, verified by a key file hosted on the site. The search engines named by indexnow.org as participants are Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, and Yep. Google is not among them.
Many content management systems and SEO plugins support IndexNow with a single setting, and a custom site can send the request after each deploy. It does not guarantee that a page will be indexed or how it will rank; what it removes is the wait for a crawler to discover the change. For sites that publish or update often, that gap between publishing and being seen can be the difference between current and stale results.
Why does it matter to your business?
It is a free, fast way to get changes seen by Bing and the other participating engines. For sites that update often, it shortens the gap between publishing and being found.
Related terms
Sources, verified September 11, 2026
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