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IndexNow: Instant Indexing Notifications

IndexNow is a protocol that notifies participating search engines when your content is published or updated. SEOvault AI implements IndexNow so that when you publish a post, search engines like Bing, Yandex, and Seznam are notified immediately and can crawl the URL faster than waiting for their normal discovery cycle.

Where to find IndexNow settings

Section titled “Where to find IndexNow settings”

Go to SEOvault AI > General > IndexNow in your WordPress admin. The tab shows your current API key, the key file URL, and a submission log. You can also manually submit URLs from this page.

How IndexNow works

Section titled “How IndexNow works”

When IndexNow is enabled, the plugin automatically submits URLs to the IndexNow API at https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow/. The API accepts a JSON payload with your site host, your API key, the key file location, and a list of URLs to index.

To verify ownership, search engines request your key file at:

https://yourdomain.com/{your-key}.txt

The plugin automatically generates a 32-character hex key, writes the key file to your site root, and serves it when the URL is requested. The key file is protected with an X-Robots-Tag: noindex header so it is not indexed.

Auto-submit on publish

Section titled “Auto-submit on publish”

By default, IndexNow auto-submits URLs when you publish or update posts. The plugin hooks into the save_post action for the post types you select.

When a post is published or updated:

  1. The plugin checks if the post is indexable (not noindexed).
  2. It checks if the post type is enabled for IndexNow.
  3. It throttles the submission to avoid duplicate requests within 10 seconds.
  4. It sends the permalink to the IndexNow API.
  5. The submission is logged with the response code.

When a post is trashed, the plugin submits the original permalink (before the __trashed suffix) so search engines can remove it from their index.

Manual submission methods

Section titled “Manual submission methods”

You can manually submit URLs to IndexNow in three ways:

  • Row action: On the Posts or Pages list table, hover over a row and click Submit to IndexNow.
  • Bulk action: Select multiple posts, choose Submit to IndexNow from the bulk actions dropdown, and click Apply.
  • Manual URL submission: On the IndexNow tab, enter one or more URLs in the textarea and click Submit URLs.

Manual submissions bypass the 10-second throttle and are logged separately.

Step-by-step: configure IndexNow

Section titled “Step-by-step: configure IndexNow”
  1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > IndexNow.
  2. Check Auto-Submit on Publish to enable automatic notifications when you publish or update posts.
  3. Under Post Types, select the post types you want to auto-submit. Posts and Pages are typical choices.
  4. Verify your API key is displayed. The plugin generates a key automatically the first time you visit the tab.
  5. Verify the key file URL is accessible. Click the link to confirm the key file is served correctly.
  6. Optionally submit URLs manually using the textarea at the bottom of the tab.
  7. Review the submission log to see recent IndexNow requests and their response codes.
  8. Click Save Changes.

API key management

Section titled “API key management”

The plugin generates a 32-character hex key automatically. If you need to regenerate the key:

  1. Scroll to the Regenerate API Key section on the IndexNow tab.
  2. Click Regenerate Key.
  3. Confirm the action. The old key file is deleted and a new key is generated and written to your site root.

Regenerating the key invalidates the old key. Search engines will need to verify the new key file on your next submission.

Submission log

Section titled “Submission log”

The IndexNow tab shows a log of recent submissions. Each entry includes:

  • URL – the submitted URL (or the first URL with a +N suffix for bulk submissions)
  • Status – the HTTP response code from the IndexNow API
  • Type – whether the submission was manual or automatic
  • Time – when the submission occurred

Common response codes:

  • 200 – Success
  • 202 – Accepted
  • 204 – No Content (success)
  • 400 – Invalid request
  • 403 – Invalid API key
  • 422 – Invalid URL format
  • 429 – Too many requests (rate-limited by IndexNow)
  • 500 – IndexNow server error

Click Clear Log to remove all log entries.

Notes and edge cases

Section titled “Notes and edge cases”
  • Noindex exclusion: Posts marked as noindex are not auto-submitted to IndexNow. The plugin checks the SEOvault AI robots meta before submitting.
  • Throttling: Auto-submissions are throttled to prevent duplicate requests for the same URL within 10 seconds. Manual submissions are not throttled.
  • Password-protected posts: These are not submitted because they are not publicly accessible.
  • Revisions and autosaves: Revisions and autosaves are not submitted.
  • Manual output mode: In Manual output mode, the plugin does not auto-generate SEO values, but IndexNow still works if you enable it. Only posts you explicitly publish are submitted.
  • Disabled output mode: In Disabled output mode, the entire plugin is paused. IndexNow hooks are not registered and no submissions occur.
  • Key file location: The key file is written to your site root (ABSPATH). If your WordPress installation is in a subdirectory, the key file is at the root of the subdirectory. Ensure your server allows writing to this location.
  • Pretty permalinks: IndexNow requires the key file to be accessible at a clean URL. If you see a 404 when accessing the key file URL, go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save Changes to flush rewrite rules.
  • Search engine support: IndexNow is supported by Bing, Yandex, Seznam, and others. Google does not currently participate in IndexNow, but submissions may still be beneficial for the participating engines.
Section titled “Related docs”