IndexNow, real-time indexing

Search engines Bing and Yandex are launching a new open-source protocol for indexing websites: IndexNow. The idea is that you can incorporate changes into the search index instantly at the touch of a button. It sounds interesting, but at the moment, companies such as Google and WordPress are not particularly keen on the idea. 

WordPress does not support IndexNow

Implementing this technique in WordPress is very straightforward. In WordPress, you have the save_post-action, which is executed every time a new post is published or updated. All you need is a special key, which you can request free of charge from Bing. It is rather remarkable that WordPress isn’t exactly jumping at the chance to adopt the IndexNow protocol.

Google doesn’t index via IndexNow either

It was to be expected that Google would not be keen on IndexNow. Google wants to retain control over its own indexing process. With IndexNow, website administrators determine when Google should start indexing. Furthermore, IndexNow’s links to competitors such as Bing (Microsoft) and Yandex pose a risk. Websites with high-quality content are visited more frequently by Google, and new content updates are indexed quickly. Faster indexing by Google is also something SEO specialists would like to see. 

Google already has a real-time connection via Google Jobs. You can notify Google of changes to job vacancies using a special XML sitemap every time you update the CMS. In Google Search Console, you can manually submit URLs for fast indexing.

Little impact on the Netherlands

IndexNow has little impact in the Netherlands, so this new technology is of little use here. Does your company operate in the United States or China? If so, it’s certainly important. It’s easy to implement in WordPress, so please give us a call if you’d like to integrate IndexNow into WordPress.