IndexNow Explained: Get Updates to Bing and Copilot in Minutes

IndexNow is a free, open protocol that lets your website tell Bing and other participating search engines the moment a page is added, changed or deleted. You host a small key file to prove the site is yours, then send the page address. Microsoft says fast updates matter for AI answers in Bing and Copilot. Google doesn't participate.

Updated October 2026. The ping itself takes seconds. What each search engine does with it, and when, is up to that engine, so this guide is careful to separate the two.

What is IndexNow, in plain English?

Without it, a search engine notices changes on your site only when it comes back to re-read your pages on its own schedule. IndexNow flips that around. It's "a simple ping so that search engines know that a URL and its content has been added, updated, or deleted" (IndexNow.org). A ping is just a short automated message, and a URL is a page address. Microsoft describes IndexNow as a free, open-source protocol (Bing).

One message reaches many engines. Submitted URLs "will be automatically shared with all other participating search engines," so you only need to notify one (IndexNow documentation).

Which search engines use IndexNow?

As of October 2026, IndexNow's FAQ lists these participating endpoints, the addresses you send pings to (IndexNow FAQ):

Search engine	Uses IndexNow?	Notes
Microsoft Bing	Yes	Microsoft ties fast updates to freshness in AI search and Copilot (Bing)
Amazon	Yes	Microsoft said in May 2025 that Amazon planned to adopt IndexNow (Bing); it now appears on the endpoint list
Yandex	Yes	Listed endpoint
Naver	Yes	Listed endpoint
Seznam.cz	Yes	Listed endpoint
Yep	Yes	Listed endpoint
Google	No	Not on the list. Google suggests a sitemap or Search Console's URL Inspection tool instead (Google)

There is also a shared global endpoint at api.indexnow.org. For Google, crawling "can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks," and there's a quota on individual URL requests (Google).

How does IndexNow help with Copilot and other AI answers?

Microsoft's own guidance connects the dots. Its 2025 sitemap guidance says "freshness signals directly influence how quickly updates are reflected in search results and AI generated answers," and that IndexNow changes are surfaced quickly, "especially important for freshness in AI search" (Bing).

In February 2026, Bing Webmaster Tools added an AI Performance report that shows how often your pages are cited in Microsoft Copilot and in Bing's AI-generated summaries. Microsoft presents IndexNow there as a way to help AI systems use the current version of your content (Bing).

Other assistants may benefit indirectly. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers and points to Microsoft's privacy policy (OpenAI), and Ahrefs found that Copilot's citations overlap most with Bing's results (Ahrefs). Keep expectations honest, though. IndexNow itself says submitting a URL "does not guarantee immediate indexing," and each engine weighs its own crawl quota, schedule and quality signals (IndexNow FAQ). Being indexed is also not the same as being recommended.

What is the key file, and why do I need it?

The key shows the search engine that a ping really comes from the site's owner. The rules (IndexNow documentation):

Create a key of 8 to 128 characters using letters, numbers and dashes. A random 32-character string works well.
Save a plain text file named after the key, such as 3f9a2c71e8b44d6a9c0e5b7d1a2f4c8e.txt, containing only the key, in UTF-8 encoding.
Upload it to the top level of your site, so it opens at yoursite.com/yourkey.txt.
Leave it there. If the file is missing or doesn't contain the key, engines answer with a 403 error, meaning the key isn't valid.

If you can't place files at the top level, the protocol lets you host the key in a folder and point to it with a keyLocation setting. That key then only covers pages inside that folder, and the documentation strongly recommends the top-level option instead (IndexNow documentation).

How do I send an update?

Your website platform may already do it. Bing says many content management systems and content delivery networks offer built-in support (Bing), and Microsoft has named Shopify among the platforms supporting IndexNow (Bing). Check your platform's SEO settings or plugins first.

To do it by hand, open an address like this, all on one line: https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow?url=https://yoursite.com/menu&key=yourkey. To send many pages at once, one POST request (a standard way for software to send data) can carry up to 10,000 URLs (IndexNow documentation). The reply code tells you what happened:

Code	What it means
200	Received. This only means the engine got it, not that the page is indexed.
202	Received, and your key is still being checked.
400	Bad request. The format is wrong.
403	Key not valid. The key file is missing or doesn't contain the key.
422	The URLs don't belong to your site, or the key doesn't match.
429	Too many requests, which may be treated as spam.

What should I submit, and how often?

Only pages that changed. IndexNow's FAQ says, "Do not resubmit unchanged URLs" (IndexNow FAQ).
Keep your sitemap too. IndexNow recommends an XML sitemap for ongoing discovery (IndexNow FAQ), and Bing says each page's lastmod date should reflect the true time its content changed, not when the sitemap was rebuilt (Bing).
Good moments to ping: new hours, holiday closures, new prices, a new service page, a new location, or a page you removed.

IndexToAI's install kit includes an IndexNow key file and sends IndexNow pushes to Bing when your AI profile or listed pages change. You can also do all of this yourself, for free, with the steps above.

Quick answers

Does Google use IndexNow?

No. Google isn't among IndexNow's participating search engines. For Google, submit a sitemap and use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console. Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Does IndexNow guarantee my page gets indexed?

No. IndexNow's FAQ says submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing. Each engine decides whether to crawl based on its own quotas, scheduling and quality signals. A 200 response only means the ping was received.

Does IndexNow help with ChatGPT?

Indirectly at most. IndexNow updates Bing and the other participating engines. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers. The step OpenAI itself asks for is allowing OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt file.

Is IndexNow free?

Yes. Microsoft describes IndexNow as a free, open-source protocol. You need a key file on your site and a way to send the ping, which many website platforms and plugins can handle for you.