Posted onSep 19, 2024 • Originally published atthomasbnt.dev

Quickly index these web pages with IndexNow

#webdev #seo #beginners #tutorial

Introduction

IndexNow is a protocol for rapidly indexing web pages on search engines. It was created by Bing and Yandex, and is now an open-source project.
Created in 2021, it is now supported by several search engines, including Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver and Yep.

How does it work?

The IndexNow protocol is based on thePing protocol, which notifies search engines when a new article is published. IndexNow goes one step further, notifying search engines when a web page is updated.

To use IndexNow, simply send an HTTP POST request to the URLhttps://www.bing.com/indexnow (or any other search engine with an/indexnow API):

POSThttps://www.bing.com/indexnowHTTP/1.1Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8

{"host":"thomasbnt.dev","key":"0e11834b62ad4f089b83b91666a61105","keyLocation":"https://thomasbnt.dev/0e11834b62ad4f089b83b91666a61105.txt","urlList":["https://thomasbnt.dev/about","https://thomasbnt.dev/blog","https://thomasbnt.dev/uses","https://thomasbnt.dev/contact","https://thomasbnt.dev/terms"]}

Fields description

host : the domain name of the website.
key: the public key generated for the website.
keyLocation: the URL of the public key.
urlList : the list of URLs to be indexed.

See the list of search engines supporting IndexNow →

Why use IndexNow?

IndexNow enables rapid indexing of web pages on search engines, which can be useful for websites that frequently publish content. This helps to improve the visibility of web pages on search engines and attract more traffic.

Implement IndexNow on my website

To implement IndexNow on your website, you can use a plugin likeIndexNow WordPress Plugin, or send HTTP requests manually.
There are also hosting providers that support IndexNow, such asCloudflare,WordPress.com,Shopify, etc. You canfind the list directly on the site.

Let's go step by step

Generate a public key and add it to yourpublic/ folder on your website, this will create a link like thishttps://thomasbnt.dev/0e11834b62ad4f089b83b91666a61105.txt (here0e11834b62ad4f089b83b91666a61105 is the public key).
Update your website with the key, or use a plugin that will do it for you.
Send an HTTP POST request to the IndexNow API URL of the search engine you wish to use, with the public key and the list of URLs to be indexed. In this case, we're using Bing.

POSThttps://www.bing.com/indexnowHTTP/1.1Content-Type:application/json; charset=utf-8

The request body should look like this:

{"host":"thomasbnt.dev","key":"0e11834b62ad4f089b83b91666a61105","keyLocation":"https://thomasbnt.dev/0e11834b62ad4f089b83b91666a61105.txt","urlList":["https://thomasbnt.dev/about","https://thomasbnt.dev/blog","https://thomasbnt.dev/uses","https://thomasbnt.dev/contact","https://thomasbnt.dev/terms"]}

You should receive a 200 OK response if the request was successfully sent.Note: I use the HTTP clientHTTPie to send HTTP requests.
Check that the pages have been indexed by consulting your website logs or by using search engine tools such as Bing'sBing Webmaster Tools.
Congratulations, your web pages are now quickly indexed on search engines! 🎉