# Indexing and IndexNow

> How to tell search engines about new or changed pages with IndexNow, submit your sitemap, and track whether Google has indexed each page.

## 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:

1. **Tell them.** Submit new and changed URLs instantly through IndexNow, and submit your sitemap to Google.
2. **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:

1. In the Indexing tab click **Set up IndexNow** (the same window is under Site audit as **Submit to IndexNow**).
2. Rankfinity creates a key for the project and shows the file name and its content.
3. Upload the file to the root of your website (for example `https://www.example.com/<key>.txt`). On WordPress, the [Rankfinity Connector plugin](/docs/wordpress-plugin) or any file manager works.
4. 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

1. Click **Add URLs**.
2. 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.
3. 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](/docs/search-console-ga4)) 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](/docs/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.