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IndexNow

IndexNow is an open protocol that lets websites instantly notify search engines when content is published, updated, or deleted — without waiting for the next scheduled crawl. Minorank SEO supports IndexNow out of the box, pinging Bing and Yandex automatically.

How IndexNow works​

  1. On plugin activation, a unique 32-character hexadecimal key is generated and stored.
  2. The key is served at https://yoursite.com/{key}.txt — search engines retrieve this file to verify you own the domain.
  3. When you publish or update a post, Minorank automatically sends a POST request to https://api.indexnow.org/ with your key and the updated URL.
  4. Bing and Yandex receive the signal and schedule an immediate crawl of that URL.

Enabling auto-ping​

Go to Minorank SEO → Settings → IndexNow:

  1. Toggle Auto-ping on publish / update to on.
  2. Click Save All Settings.

From this point forward, every published or updated post, page, or custom post type is automatically submitted to IndexNow.

Manual pings​

Even with auto-ping enabled, you can trigger manual pings from the same Settings section:

Ping homepage​

Click Ping Homepage to immediately submit your homepage URL to IndexNow. Useful after updating homepage content, meta tags, or schema.

Ping a specific URL​

Paste any URL on your site into the Ping URL field and click Ping URL. The URL is submitted immediately. Use this for:

  • Pages updated outside the normal publish flow
  • Pages where you changed meta tags or schema without editing the content
  • Forcing a re-crawl after fixing a technical issue

Verifying the key file​

To confirm IndexNow is set up correctly, visit:

https://yoursite.com/{key}.txt

The key is shown in the IndexNow section of the Settings page. The file should return a plain text response containing only the key string.

:::warning Key file returns 404? If the key file returns a 404, WordPress rewrite rules need flushing. Go to Settings → Permalinks in WordPress admin and click Save Changes. Then try the key file URL again. :::

Which search engines receive the signal?​

IndexNow is supported by Bing and Yandex. When you submit to the IndexNow API endpoint, both are notified simultaneously.

Google does not currently participate in IndexNow — for Google, rely on the XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console.

Auto-ping behaviour​

  • Auto-ping fires when a post is published (status changes to publish) or updated (post save with publish status).
  • Draft saves, scheduled posts, and password-protected pages do not trigger a ping.
  • Pingbacks are rate-limited to avoid submitting the same URL twice within a short window.

Next steps​

  • XML Sitemap — submit the sitemap to Google Search Console for Google indexing
  • REST API — trigger IndexNow pings via the API (POST /indexnow/ping)