IndexNow is an open protocol that lets a site tell participating search engines the moment a URL is created, updated, or deleted, instead of waiting for them to crawl it. It matters for AI visibility because Bing, the biggest participant, supplies an index that ChatGPT search and Copilot draw on. The bottom line: implement it with a key file and a small script that submits only the URLs that changed, know that Google does not support it, and keep your sitemap and Search Console for Google.

New to the term? What is answer engine optimization covers the basics.

History and who supports it

Microsoft Bing and Yandex launched IndexNow on October 18, 2021, with authors including Fabrice Canel of Microsoft, Gleb Vishnevsky of Yandex, and Martin Fiala of Seznam. Naver announced support in July 2023, and Seznam and Yep also participate. Submitting to one participating engine shares the notification with the others. The protocol is released under a Creative Commons license with no fees or quotas. Google announced in November 2021 that it would test IndexNow and never adopted it, and Google's Indexing API is officially limited to job posting and livestream content, so for Google you still rely on sitemaps and the URL Inspection tool.

Why it matters for AI search

The link runs through Bing's index. Seer Interactive found that 87 percent of more than 500 SearchGPT citations matched Bing's top results in early 2025, and Copilot and DuckDuckGo also use Bing. Third party summaries of Bing's own reporting say the protocol handles billions of URL submissions a day and that about 17 to 18 percent of newly clicked URLs in Bing came through it, though those figures come from secondary sources and change over time. IndexNow does not guarantee indexing or ranking. It tells engines that a URL exists and changed, and each engine decides what to do.

Steps to implement it

  1. Generate a key. A random string of 8 to 128 characters.
  2. Host the key file. A text file at your site root, named after the key, containing only the key.
  3. Collect the changed URLs. The pages published, updated, or deleted since the last submission.
  4. Send one POST request. Include your host, key, key location, and the list of URLs, up to 10,000 per request.
  5. Automate it. Run the submission from your publish or deploy step so it happens without anyone remembering.
  6. Confirm in Bing Webmaster Tools. The site shows submitted URLs, and an invalid key appears there.
  7. Keep the sitemap. IndexNow reports changes. A sitemap is the complete inventory.
# 1. Host a key file at your site root, containing only the key
#    https://www.example.com/a1b2c3d4e5f6.txt   ->   a1b2c3d4e5f6

# 2. Submit the URLs that changed (up to 10,000 per request)
curl -X POST "https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
  -d '{
    "host": "www.example.com",
    "key": "a1b2c3d4e5f6",
    "keyLocation": "https://www.example.com/a1b2c3d4e5f6.txt",
    "urlList": [
      "https://www.example.com/blog/new-post",
      "https://www.example.com/services/emergency-plumbing"
    ]
  }'
# A 200 or 202 response means the submission was received.

Submit only what changed

The most common mistake is resubmitting everything on every deploy. Documentation for IndexNow clients is clear that resubmitting unchanged URLs gives no benefit and may be ignored. We found our own build script does exactly this: it reads the sitemap and submits every URL, roughly 1,950 of them, on each build. The better rule is to submit a URL when its content changes, using the same modification date you would put in a sitemap.

What to expect

Submissions are typically accepted immediately, and pages can appear in supporting engines faster than a crawl would find them, but timing varies. Treat IndexNow as a way to shorten the wait for Bing, not as a promise.

Questions people ask

Does Google support IndexNow?

No. Google announced a test in November 2021 and never adopted the protocol. For Google use sitemaps and the URL Inspection tool in Search Console.

Which search engines use IndexNow?

Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep. Submitting to one shares the notification with the others.

Why does IndexNow matter for ChatGPT?

ChatGPT search leans on Bing's index. Seer Interactive found 87 percent of 500 SearchGPT citations matched Bing's top results, so getting into Bing's index faster helps.

How many URLs can I submit at once?

Up to 10,000 per POST request. Submit only URLs that changed.

Sources