Ask search engines to recrawl with IndexNow

IndexNow is a free way to tell search engines that a page is new or has changed, so they recrawl it soon instead of waiting to find it. Arva SEO sends your changes to IndexNow, which shares them with Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver and Yep. It's free on every plan.

Google doesn't use IndexNow. For Google, keep your sitemap up to date in Google Search Console.

Set it up once

Search engines only accept changes from the website's owner. To prove it, the website shows a small key file at its address, such as https://example.com/your-key.txt.

On WordPress, the free Arva SEO Connector (1.2.0 or later) shows the key file for you. Update the plugin under Dashboard → Updates if needed, then:

1. Open the website, then Search data.
2. On the IndexNow card, choose Check the key file. It says Key file found when it works.

On any other website:

1. Open the website, then Search data.
2. On the IndexNow card, choose Download to save the key file. Its name is your key followed by .txt.
3. Upload it to your website's root folder (often public_html), the same folder as your homepage, without renaming or changing it.
4. Open the address shown on the card to check it loads, then choose Check the key file.

What's sent

• Automatically: when WordPress publishes a post from Arva SEO, or applies an SEO title or meta description you sent from Optimize, that page is sent about a minute later. Changes made close together go out in one request.
• When you ask: open a page in Optimize and choose Ask search engines to recrawl. It's sent straight away.

The IndexNow card lists the last submissions and whether each was accepted.

If something isn't working

• Key file needed or Not sent: the key file couldn't be found. Check that it opens in a browser at the address on the card, with only the key inside. Caching or security plugins sometimes block .txt files; allow it, then check again.
• Not accepted with a request to slow down: you've sent a lot in a short time. Wait an hour or so and try again.
• A page isn't recrawled straight away: IndexNow tells search engines a page changed; each one still decides when to crawl it and whether to index it.