IndexNow and Bing Webmaster Tools: Setup Guide

You just published a new page, or changed the price on an old one. Do you really have to wait for search engines to notice? IndexNow is a notification protocol built to shorten exactly that wait, and on the Bing side it is usually mentioned together with Bing Webmaster Tools.

This guide explains what IndexNow solves, how the key file works, which changes deserve a notification and what the response codes mean. It also keeps a separate section for Google, because the route there is different. One checklist table near the end lets you audit your own setup.

What IndexNow Is and What It Solves

IndexNow is a protocol for telling search engines right away when URLs are added, updated or deleted. According to the IndexNow documentation (Opens in a new tab), the point is that a site owner can announce a change instead of waiting for a search engine to find it on its own crawl schedule. The problem it addresses is discovery delay, which hurts most on sites that change often: a product whose price just changed, a page that was taken down, a news item that was just published.

The mechanics are simple. You generate a key, place a file containing that key on your site, and send changed addresses to an endpoint. The key file shows that whoever submits the addresses actually controls the site. Participating search engines share the notifications they receive with one another, so you do not have to notify each engine separately.

Let us set expectations straight away: IndexNow is not an indexing button. Sending a notification does not mean the page will be indexed or will rank. Keep these limits in mind as you read on.

• What it does: reports added, updated and deleted URLs quickly.
• What it does not do: decide whether, when or how a page is indexed or ranked.
• Who it suits: sites with frequently changing content, product listings and news feeds.

How IndexNow Differs From a Sitemap

The two tools look like they do the same job, but they do not. The IndexNow FAQ is explicit about the split: IndexNow is meant to notify search engines about recently added, updated or deleted URLs, whereas a sitemap provides the complete inventory of your URLs and supports long-term crawling. One is an event notice, the other is a list.

Think of a shop. The sitemap is the whole product catalog and IndexNow is the sticky note that says "the price of this item just changed". A catalog without notes updates slowly, and notes without a catalog leave gaps. Starting to use IndexNow is therefore no reason to remove your sitemap.

The health of the sitemap itself is a separate job: invalid addresses, redirected pages, entries that clash with noindex. Those checks are covered in our XML sitemap audit and error fixes guide. We do not retell them here; this section only keeps the division of labor between the two mechanisms clear.

• Role: IndexNow is a change notice, a sitemap is a URL inventory.
• Timing: IndexNow goes out when the change happens, a sitemap waits for the search engine's reading schedule.
• Deleted pages: IndexNow can report them, a sitemap simply drops them from the list.
• Coverage: IndexNow carries the changed addresses, a sitemap carries all indexable ones.

How IndexNow Works: Key File and URL Notification

The workflow has two parts: the key file and the URL notification. First you generate a key. The documentation describes a key of 8 to 128 characters using letters, digits and dashes. Then you host a UTF-8 text file, named after the key and containing the key, at the root of your site. That is the recommended option. You may also put the file elsewhere on the same host, but then you must declare its location with the keyLocation field, and the file only covers addresses under its own path. A key file inside a catalog folder, for example, does not validate addresses under a help folder.

Notifications can be single or in bulk. For one address you send a GET request with the address and key as query parameters. For several addresses you send a POST request with a JSON body carrying the host, the key and a list of addresses. The documentation allows up to 10,000 addresses in one POST, and the addresses must belong to your own host.

One practical point: the key file must be reachable. If it sits somewhere crawlers or the validation request cannot fetch it, the notification cannot be verified. Make sure that neither robots.txt nor server rules block the file; our robots.txt audit guide shows how to test for that.

1. Generate the key and store it safely.
2. Place the key file at the root, or at the location you declare with keyLocation.
3. Open the file in a browser and confirm it holds only the key.
4. Send a test notification and note the response code.

Setting Up Bing Webmaster Tools and Verifying a Site

Bing Webmaster Tools is the toolset Bing offers to site owners. Its link with IndexNow is straightforward: Bing's IndexNow getting-started page suggests using Bing Webmaster Tools to confirm that your URLs were received. In other words, IndexNow is the sending side and Bing Webmaster Tools is the side where you watch the outcome.

The general setup flow looks like this: sign in to the tool, add your site, and verify ownership with one of the methods the tool offers. Because verification options and screen layouts change over time, follow the tool's current instructions; we deliberately give no fixed screen-by-screen recipe here.

Verified ownership is also the precondition for reading the tool's reports. If you run several subdomains, remember that each one needs its own ownership record and its own IndexNow key, because the IndexNow FAQ treats every subdomain as a separate host.

Checks before setup

• List every domain and subdomain the site includes.
• Confirm who has the authority and access to complete verification.
• Keep the IndexNow key and the Bing verification settings in separate records.

Sitemaps, URL Submission and Indexing Reports in Bing

After setup you do three things in Bing Webmaster Tools: submit a sitemap, notify specific URLs and read the indexing reports. Sitemap submission introduces your inventory. Individual URL submission and IndexNow speed up changes. The reports summarize how Bing sees your site, which addresses were processed and where it found problems.

Two cautions apply when reading reports. First, a submitted address is not an indexed address, so read the status in the report separately. Second, report screens and terms change over time, so treat the tool's own help pages as the reference.

If an address still does not appear after submission, the cause usually lies in content or technical setup, not in the notification channel. Quality, duplication, crawl blocks and thin pages need to be ruled out in turn.

• Sitemap: for the full inventory.
• URL submission and IndexNow: for new or changed addresses.
• Indexing report: for reading outcomes and problems.

Using IndexNow With a CMS, a Plugin or by Hand

There are three ways to use IndexNow. The first is that your CMS or hosting layer already does it. Bing's getting-started page says some platforms need no extra setup and names, among others, Shopify, Wix Studio and GoDaddy. The second is a plugin: for WordPress it mentions the IndexNow plugin as well as Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO and SEOPress. The third is to submit directly to the endpoint, by hand or from your own code.

Bing recommends a managed CMS or plugin over direct API integration when one is available. The reason is practical: a plugin creates the key file, detects changes and automates submission. Manual submission suits small sites or one-off emergencies.

Whichever route you pick, hold on to three principles: keep the key file reachable, send only addresses that really changed, and keep a record of what was sent. If your plugin has a setting such as "notify on every save", check beforehand whether tiny edits would also turn into notifications.

Which Changes to Notify and Which to Skip

Not every change deserves a notification. The IndexNow documentation covers URLs that were added, updated or deleted and encourages automating submissions as soon as content changes, but that does not mean sending everything without restraint. Excessive or needless submission can bring a 429 response and may be flagged as spam.

Worth notifying: a newly published page, a page whose content or price really changed, a page you removed. Better left alone: a page whose only change is a template tweak or a comment counter, a noindex or access-restricted page, a parameter-based duplicate, an address in the middle of a redirect chain.

A simple rule helps: notify when the content changed in a way a visitor would care about, and wait when it did not. Do not resubmit the same address within very short intervals; the documentation advises waiting before resubmitting, and the figure it gives differs by section, a matter of several minutes.

This also matters to publishers and agencies. If you ran a sponsored post and it never reached the index on the publishing site, that is a different problem, and its causes are covered in our guide on what to do when a sponsored post is not indexed. IndexNow works only on sites you manage, because you cannot place a key file on someone else's domain. On a publisher's site the owner sends the notification; what you can do is verify that your piece is accessible, unique and properly linked, and pass the situation on to the publisher if needed.

A hypothetical example

On an imagined product site, the copyright year in the footer of a hundred pages was updated. That change should not create a hundred notifications. On the same day the prices of five products changed: only those five addresses are sent.

What Changes for Google: The Search Console and Sitemap Route

Honesty matters here. The IndexNow documents this article relies on do not name Google among participating search engines, and we make no claim about Google's support for IndexNow. If Google is your target, the documented route is Search Console and an XML sitemap. Treating IndexNow as a shortcut that also works for Google would create the wrong expectation.

On the Google side the work looks like this: submit the sitemap in Search Console, check important addresses with URL Inspection and follow indexing status in the reports. For a step-by-step separation of causes behind a page that is not indexed, use our guide to diagnosing pages not indexed by Google. To follow query and page performance, our Search Console performance report guide will help.

The division of labor is therefore this: for IndexNow participants and Bing, use IndexNow with Bing Webmaster Tools; for Google, use Search Console with a sitemap. Do not mix the two paths in one report. Read each channel's data in its own tool.

• Bing side: IndexNow notifications and Bing Webmaster Tools reports.
• Google side: Search Console, URL Inspection and the XML sitemap.
• Shared ground: a page that is accessible, useful and crawlable.

Troubleshooting: Response Codes and Verification Errors

The HTTP code returned when you send a notification is your first clue. According to the IndexNow documentation, 200 means the URL was submitted successfully and 202 means it was received but key validation is pending. 400 is a format error. 403 means the key is invalid: the key or key file was not found, or the key is not in the file. 422 covers addresses that do not belong to the host or a key that does not match the schema. 429 means requests are too frequent and may be flagged as spam.

For a 403, check in order: does the file name match the key, is the file at the root or does keyLocation point to it correctly, does it contain only the key, and does it open in a browser? For a 422, ask whether the host of the submitted addresses is the same host you verified, or whether www and a subdomain have been mixed up. For a 429, lower the submission rate and stop reporting the same address repeatedly.

If you want to see whether notifications and key file requests actually reach your server, access logs help. How to read them is covered in our server log analysis for SEO guide. If no validation request appears in the logs, the problem is probably the reachability of the key file.

1. Record the response code.
2. Run the checklist that matches the code.
3. After fixing, resend a single test address.
4. Once it succeeds, go back to bulk submission.

Adding Bing Data to Your Reporting

Adding Bing data to your reporting shows how much work the channel is doing. If Bing is a minor share of your audience, keep the effort small; if it is noticeable, track it as its own section. The data source is Bing Webmaster Tools, and when you place it next to Google data remember that measurement definitions can differ.

A short Bing block in the monthly report is enough: how many addresses were notified, which response codes came back, whether the indexing report shows a notable problem, and when the sitemap was last read. Present these beside the Google block but with separate labels. Our monthly SEO report template can serve as the base for the layout.

One caution: visits from Bing usually sit on a different scale from Google, so comparing the two channels in percentages can mislead. Read each channel against its own history.

• Number and timing of notified addresses.
• Distribution of response codes.
• Significant issues in the indexing report.
• Change in organic visits from Bing compared with its own past.

Example Template: IndexNow and Bing Webmaster Tools Setup Checklist

The table below audits an IndexNow and Bing Webmaster Tools setup row by row for a hypothetical product site. The values are examples; adapt them to your own site.

Imagine a small shop that switched IndexNow on through a plugin and received a 403 on the first notification. Following the table, the first place to look is row two: the name and content of the key file. Once the file sits in the right location, the test address returns 200 and the shop can move on to bulk submission.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is IndexNow?

IndexNow is a protocol that lets you tell participating search engines the moment a URL on your site is added, updated or deleted. Instead of waiting for a crawler to notice the change, you send a notification. It does not replace crawling or sitemaps; it only speeds up the news that something changed.

Does IndexNow guarantee indexing?

No. According to the IndexNow documentation, a successful response only means the search engine received your URL. Whether the page gets indexed, when it is crawled and how often it is processed remains the search engine's decision, based on its own quality and crawl capacity. A notification is a signal, not a promise.

How do you create an IndexNow API key?

You can generate a key with the IndexNow key tool or create your own. The documentation describes a key of 8 to 128 characters using letters, digits and dashes. Then you host a UTF-8 text file named after the key, containing the key, at the root of your site. Each subdomain counts as a separate host and needs its own key.

If I use IndexNow, do I still need a sitemap?

Yes, you still need one. The two do different jobs. IndexNow reports recently added, updated or deleted URLs quickly, while a sitemap gives the full inventory of your URLs and supports longer-term crawling. Using both, each for its own purpose, is the sensible setup.

Does Google support IndexNow?

This article makes no claim about Google and IndexNow; the IndexNow documents we rely on do not name Google as a participant. For Google, the documented route is Search Console plus an XML sitemap. Check Google's own documentation for its current position rather than assuming the Bing-side workflow carries over.

How do I add my site to Bing Webmaster Tools?

Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools, add your site and verify ownership with one of the methods the tool offers. Then submit your sitemap and look at the indexing reports. The interface and verification options can change over time, so follow the tool's current instructions instead of relying on a screenshot or an old tutorial.

Conclusion and Next Step

Your decision is which sites and which kinds of change IndexNow will cover. On frequently changing sites you manage, a small setup is enough: choose meaningful changes instead of reporting everything, keep the sitemap, and run the Search Console route for Google separately.

Indexing matters, and so does where your content earns its links. If you want to place your own piece on a publisher's site, look at the order flow on the guest post page: you choose a site, add it to the cart, pay, follow the seller's approval and the delivery notice, and use the dispute route if something goes wrong.