Why indexing matters#
A page that is not in a search engine's index cannot rank. After you publish or change a page, search engines may take days or weeks to notice. Site audit › Indexing helps in two ways:
- Tell them. Submit new and changed URLs instantly through IndexNow, and submit your sitemap to Google.
- Track them. See, page by page, whether Google has crawled and indexed the URL, and why not if it hasn't.
Indexing is a tab of Site audit (the old address of the separate Indexing screen opens this tab).
Step 1: set up IndexNow#
IndexNow is an open protocol supported by Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver and other search engines. When you submit a URL, all participating engines are notified at once. Google does not use IndexNow; for Google, use the sitemap and Search Console below.
To use IndexNow, your site must host a small key file that proves you own it:
- In the Indexing tab click Set up IndexNow (the same window is under Site audit as Submit to IndexNow).
- Rankfinity creates a key for the project and shows the file name and its content.
- Upload the file to the root of your website (for example
https://www.example.com/<key>.txt). On WordPress, the Rankfinity Connector plugin or any file manager works. - Click to verify. Rankfinity downloads the file and checks the key.
Without a verified key, submitting is refused and nothing is charged.
Step 2: add URLs#
- Click Add URLs.
- Paste the URLs, one per line. Only URLs on the project's domain (with or without www) are accepted; duplicates are sent once. The maximum per request is shown under the box.
- Confirm. The price is per submitted URL and shown before you confirm. A URL the search engine does not accept is not charged.
Fill with pages from your last site audit (in the IndexNow window) lists the pages from your last audit so you can pick from them.
Step 3: Google — sitemap and status#
Connect Search Console for the project (Search Console and Google Analytics) and link the property. Then:
- Submit sitemap · free — sends your sitemap to Google. Rankfinity connects to Search Console with read-only access, so if Google refuses the write, the screen tells you to add the sitemap once in Search Console yourself. Either way, Google reads it regularly afterwards.
- Recheck status · free — asks Google's URL Inspection for the current status of your URLs. Each Recheck reads a batch of URLs; the screen shows how many inspections you used today out of the daily limit.
Without Search Console the Google columns say "Connect Search Console".
Reading the table#
Each URL you added has a row:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| URL | The page |
| IndexNow | Submitted, or Not accepted with the reason |
| Status | Submitted → Crawled → Indexed, or Not indexed |
| Reason | Google's own reason when not indexed, such as "Crawled – currently not indexed" or "Excluded by noindex" |
| Last crawl | When Google last crawled the page |
| Submitted | When you submitted it |
Filter by status, search by address, page through, and Export CSV.
What to do with "Not indexed"#
- Excluded by noindex — remove the noindex tag if the page should rank.
- Blocked by robots.txt — allow the path in robots.txt (see On-page tools › robots.txt).
- Duplicate / alternate page with canonical — Google chose another URL as the main version; check the canonical tag.
- Crawled – currently not indexed — Google saw the page and decided it is not worth indexing yet. Improve content and internal links, then recheck later.
- Discovered – currently not indexed — Google knows the URL but has not crawled it. Link to it from important pages.
Live bot visits#
With the WordPress plugin installed, a Live bot visits card shows search and AI bots opening your pages: Googlebot, Bingbot, GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, with the page, response code and time. Each visit is Verified (the bot's identity was confirmed), Unverified (only the browser name matched) or Failed check (someone pretending to be the bot). Filter by bot, check result and code, search, and export CSV. The plugin sends visits every 5 minutes. See WordPress plugin.
Common questions#
Does IndexNow make Google index my page? No. Google does not take part in IndexNow. Use the sitemap and Search Console, and the URL Inspection status here to follow progress.
How long until a page is indexed? From hours to weeks. Submitting speeds up discovery; whether the page is indexed depends on its quality and links.
Why is the Recheck limited? Google limits URL Inspection per property per day. Rankfinity keeps part of that limit free for your own use in Search Console.
Can I submit pages from another domain? No. Only URLs on the project's domain are accepted.
Can a client add URLs? No. Clients can view the list and statuses; adding URLs is done by the agency.