What-is-Microsoft-IndexNow

In today’s competitive online world, Indexing your content is essential for achieving a high ranking in search engines. The faster your content is indexed, the faster it is ranked, and the more likely it will appear correctly in the search engine results pages or SERPs. Of course, you must have relevant and well-written content to rank, but that is another matter.

Indexing is unpredictable, as you cannot control how quickly search engines index your website. A search engine may not crawl and index your new page for a few days or weeks. To shorten this procedure and accelerate indexing, IndexNow came to help.

Also, a hat tip to our Project Manager, Urooj Fatima, for this blog post idea.

What is IndexNow, and why is there such a buzz about it?

Microsoft IndexNow is a brand-new protocol by Yandex and MicrosoftBing. When installed, it automatically sends the updated URLs via the IndexNow, Bing API, and Yandex API protocols every time WordPress detects the creation, updation, or deletion of a page or term. Once search engines are informed of revisions, they swiftly crawl the affected websites and update their index and search results.

The essential SEO elements ensure that search engines crawl and index your content, as your website won’t be able to receive any search traffic if your content isn’t included in the index. However, indexing is not necessarily a quick procedure—the speed at which search engines index your website depends on several aspects, including the size, authority, and complexity of your website.

How does it work?

Search engines can get index data in two ways: through pull and push.

Pull Indexing

Pull indexing is the process by which a search engine accesses your website to request web pages and collect data from your server. Typically, search engines have operated in this way.

Push indexing

When pages are added, deleted, or other changes are made, the web publisher or content management system alerts the search engine via push indexing.

IndexNow uses Push indexing instead of typical “pull” indexing. You don’t have to rely on search engines to find out what’s new on your website. Instead, you’ll allow them to contact you whenever your content is updated. This is where the IndexNow protocol excels because any URLs you send to a search engine that accepts submissions using the IndexNow API will also be sent simultaneously to every other search engine using the protocol. And IndexNow will automatically notify the involved search engines of an update.

The Evolution of Search Indexing is IndexNow

IndexNow is popular because it marks a significant shift in how search engines can find newly published and updated documents. Publishers benefit from quick indexing and less server load caused by bots. Adoption by major search engines will result in positive growth in the relationship between publishers and search engines.

Does the IndexNow Protocol Change Google Indexing?

A Google representative recently disclosed that the company would be testing the IndexNow protocol, a recent attempt by Yandex and Microsoft. Each search engine is welcome to use this protocol. Website owners can use IndexNow to have all of their web pages and content swiftly indexed by the search engine.

Google claims its crawling and indexing processes are effective, but they plan to test whether the IndexNow protocol can support its ongoing sustainability efforts. Since 2007, Google has also made a point of being carbon neutral. Google claims that across all of its campuses and data centers, they are on track to go carbon-free by 2030. Google will examine the possible advantages of the IndexNow protocol as the web crawlers will not be required to check whether web pages have been updated. This approach saves search engines and website owners a lot of bandwidth, time, and resources.

A few businesses that support the IndexNow protocol are listed below:

  • Cloudflare
  • Akamai
  • Wix
  • Botify
  • Yext
  • Duda

IndexNow and its Benefits

The Microsoft IndexNow enterprise is particularly beneficial for websites with constantly updated pages or substantial, enterprise-level websites with low URL discoverability rates and a weak internal linking structure. Microsoft IndexNow would benefit online enterprises since it allows for quick distribution of pricing and inventory information to search engines.

There are currently 9000 + active installations of the IndexNow plugin.

The main advantage of Microsoft IndexNow enterprise for publishers is the reduced time between updates being made and search engines detecting them, which emphasizes the transition of indexing from pull to push. If you don’t want search engines to miss any updates on your web, you must install this plugin.

How to add IndexNow to your site?

Microsoft IndexNow can be easily added to your site without any coding.

There are several ways to add IndexNow to your site. In this post, we have discussed two different methods.

  1. Activation with AIO SEO plugin
  2. Activation with the IndexNow plugin

Let’s take a look at the installation methods.

IndexNow activation with AIO SEO Plugin

The most highly recommended plugin for WordPress websites is All in One SEO. Over 3 million websites have this active plugin installed, which is simple to use.

AIO SEO added the IndexNow feature in a recent release.

Install the All-in-One SEO plugin.

AIOSEO Plugin

  • The AIO SEO plugin must be installed first. 
  • For improved SEO on your website, we advise using the paid version of the AIO SEO plugin.
  • Choose a plan, then finish the payment procedure. Install the plugin on your website after downloading it.
  • To activate the Microsoft IndexNow license, go to the dashboard and select the AIO SEO general settings tab.

IndexNow Activation:

IndexNow Activation

  • Once the Microsoft IndexNow license has been activated, go to AIO SEO » Feature Manager.
  • The IndexNow option will appear.
  • Turn on the toggle switch.
  • We just need to check the Microsoft IndexNow API after that.

Verification of IndexNow API from settings:

Verification

  • Click the manage link in the description once you’ve enabled the IndexNow feature.
  • Click the Save Changes button after selecting the IndexNow check box.
  • Verify IndexNow
  • You don’t have to manually regenerate the API key because the plugin generates and hosts it automatically.

That’s all it takes to activate this protocol from the AIO SEO plugin.

IndexNow activation using the IndexNow Plugin

To assist users in implementing IndexNow, Microsoft has also built a different plugin that you can use.

Microsoft IndexNow is a free plugin installed from the WordPress repository.

  • Once the plugin is activated, Go to Settings » IndexNow.
  • Since the plugin submits URLs for content indexing automatically, you do not need to create and host API keys.
  • That’s all. Your website now has the IndexNow feature.

Which search engines are participating in the IndexNow protocol?

The first two search engines to actively participate in IndexNow were Microsoft and Yandex. In October 2021, they publicly launched the IndexNow protocol. Microsoft Bing, Yandex, and Seznam are on the list of participating search engines as of June 2022. Currently, Google is not a part of this initiative but has stated that they will test the IndexNow protocol. Therefore, Google may eventually adopt the protocol.

Conclusion

You must now have become familiar with Microsoft IndexNow, why you should use it, and how you can add this plugin to your website. Microsoft still has a long way to go before proving that its API is competent at speeding up indexing for search engines. The protocol might gather enough popularity to get support from Google whenever it decides to support IndexNow after testing.

We sincerely hope you have liked and benefited from this blog. For more blogs, check out Genetech Solutions.

Contact us at any time if you have questions.

 

Lareb is a Content and Marketing Specialist with expertise in creating content for diverse industries. Her current role has given her the opportunity to create impactful strategies that build brand awareness and drive lead generation. Give her any challenge, and she'll tackle it with due diligence, hard work, and a passion for learning. But not without a bit of initial panic first! (She just needs a quick freak-out to kick things off!) In her downtime, she’s hooked on crime, thrillers, and psychological shows, often left wondering what drives people to the edge. If you catch her sipping an iced latte, you know she’s in her zone (curious, creative, and at her best.)