John K Mitchell's Misc Blog

IndexNow: What It Is and Why Small Business Websites Should Care
IndexNow: What It Is and Why Small Business Websites Should Care


Want your website updates to show up faster on search engines? IndexNow might be the shortcut you’ve been waiting for. It’s quick, simple, and free — but there’s a catch: not every search engine uses it. Still, if you’re running a small business website, understanding how it works (and whether it’s worth adding) can make a real difference to how fast your new pages get noticed online.


What Is IndexNow?


Let’s start with the basics. Every time you publish something new on your website — whether it’s a blog post, a new product page, or an update to your opening hours — search engines need to find it. Normally, they rely on something called “crawling,” where automated bots roam the web looking for new or changed content (there is  the option on the Google Search Console to submit the new page, but it takes a few extra steps compared with IndexNow.) . That process can take days or even weeks. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=2763