Technical SEO

IndexNow

Quick Definition

IndexNow is an open protocol jointly supported by Microsoft Bing and Yandex (and adopted by other engines) that lets sites push URL change notifications to participating search engines for faster discovery.

In context

IndexNow shortens the time between publishing a new or updated URL and search engines being aware of it — typically seconds rather than days. Implementation: generate a per-domain key file at the document root, then POST URLs to the IndexNow endpoint after publish/update events. Most modern CMSes and CDNs support IndexNow with a single configuration toggle. Google does not participate, but Bing's adoption alone covers a meaningful share of search traffic plus Bing-derived AI surfaces (Microsoft Copilot).

Example

Toronto SEO publishes via a build pipeline that POSTs new and updated URLs to IndexNow on every deploy — Bing and Yandex typically reflect the changes within minutes.

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