Established two years ago with the primary objective of streamlining how websites signal their content changes to search engines, IndexNow has been on an impressive trajectory.
As of now, 60 million websites join the platform daily, and an astounding 1.4 billion URLs are submitted each day.
Addressing the Disconnect Between Search Engine Results And Real-Time Content Updates
The typical scenario for internet users is one where search results do not always reflect the latest changes on a website.
This discrepancy occurs because search engines are often in the dark about when and where a site’s content has been altered.
To compensate, they crawl the web ceaselessly. This crawling not only eats into the bandwidth of website owners but also hinders search engines from focusing on genuinely updated content.
The lack of real-time updates frustrates businesses and consumers, limiting timely and relevant search results.
How IndexNow Solves the Problem
IndexNow addresses this issue head-on by sending a simple ping to participating search engines whenever a URL has been added, updated, or deleted.
This streamlined approach allows businesses to instruct search engines on what must be crawled. With cloud services like CloudFlare and content management systems like WordPress, enabling IndexNow is essentially a plug-and-play operation.
For those utilizing leading SEO plugins like Yoast, All-in-One SEO, RankMath, and SEOPress, IndexNow is already included. Users of Wix Premium and Duda have the service pre-enabled, requiring no additional steps.
Enabling IndexNow: A Four-Step Process
Even if your website is not using the above services, activating IndexNow is straightforward.
- Generate an API key.
- Host this key on your web server’s root directory.
- Add the necessary code to your website to submit URL updates to IndexNow’s API.
- Monitor the details of your submitted URLs via Webmaster Tools.
In an era where real-time information is not just a luxury but a necessity, IndexNow’s solution is nothing short of transformative. It streamlines the process of search engine updates, making it efficient for businesses and consumers to access timely and relevant information.
Featured image: PowerUp/Shutterstock
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