IndexNow setup — get into Bing & Bing Chat in minutes
IndexNow is the push protocol Bing, Yandex, and Microsoft Copilot use to learn about new and changed pages in near real time. Here is how to set it up correctly — and the honest truth about what it does and does not do for AI search.
The 4-step setup
Works whether you have an Established subscription or set it up manually.
Generate your IndexNow key
A random 32+ character alphanumeric string. We generate it for you (Established tier and above) — or generate your own with `openssl rand -hex 16`.
Deploy the key file
Place a file at /{key}.txt at your domain root, where the file content is the same key string. Example: example.com/a1b2c3d4e5f6...txt → content: "a1b2c3d4e5f6...". This is how IndexNow validates ownership.
Verify ownership
Click "Verify" in your dashboard. We fetch the key file and confirm the contents match. If it works, you are ready to ping.
Ping IndexNow on every content change
When you publish or edit a page, send the URL to IndexNow. We expose a single-URL endpoint and a bulk endpoint. Pair it with your CMS webhook or run on a schedule from your audit cadence.
How to deploy the key file
IndexNow validates ownership by fetching /{key}.txt at your root. Here is how to put it there for the most common stacks.
IndexNow — FAQ
Does IndexNow actually move the needle for AI search?
Indirectly, yes — for Bing-side AI surfaces. Bing Chat, Microsoft Copilot, and Edge AI features all run on the Bing index. The faster Bing knows about your new / changed pages, the sooner those AI surfaces can cite them. For OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity directly, there is no IndexNow equivalent yet. Setting up IndexNow does not hurt and is genuinely worth doing for Bing Chat coverage.
What does the audit do with IndexNow?
Two things: (1) at Established tier and above, the dashboard manages key generation, rotation, ownership verification, and the actual ping requests — so you can fire IndexNow on every site audit completion or on a schedule. (2) The Visible / Indexed tiers still see a walkthrough plus the URL endpoint to ping manually with curl, if you prefer.
Will my Google ranking suffer if I pivot toward IndexNow?
No. Google does not consume IndexNow but does not penalize it either. You should continue submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console regardless. IndexNow is an addition for Bing, not a replacement for Google methods.
How often should I ping IndexNow?
On content change. Bing publishes a rough guidance of "thousands of URLs per day per site is fine, millions is not." For most marketing / SaaS / blog sites: ping on publish + on schedule re-audit if the URL changed. For product / ecom: ping on price + availability changes. We rate-limit automatically.
What if I do not have Established tier?
You can still set up IndexNow manually using this walkthrough. The paid tier just removes the manual key management work — generate, rotate, verify, ping, all from the dashboard. The IndexNow protocol itself is free and open.