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2.11Intermediate9 min

IndexNow: 3.5 Billion URLs Daily, Without Google

Lucas Blochberger··Updated 11 June 2026
Definition

IndexNow is a push protocol for instant URL indexing on Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam and Yep. 3.5 billion URLs are submitted daily, IndexNow is responsible for 22 percent of all clicked Bing URLs. Google does not support IndexNow as of April 2026.

Key Takeaways

  • ✓3.5 billion URLs are submitted daily via IndexNow
  • ✓IndexNow responsible for 22% of all clicked Bing URLs
  • ✓Supported by: Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, Yep
  • ✓Google does NOT support IndexNow (despite testing since October 2021)
  • ✓Shopify: Native integration since May 2025
  • ✓WordPress: 10+ million active installations
  • ✓No native Next.js integration: can be implemented webhook-based

IndexNow has achieved significant adoption, however without the most important search engine provider.

Adoption and Impact

The latest verifiable Bing data (December 2024) shows 3.5 billion daily submitted URLs and IndexNow as the source for 22 percent of all clicked Bing URLs. Shopify launched native integration in May 2025, Cloudflare expanded to all Paid Plans in Q4 2025.

Google Missing

Google does not support IndexNow as of April 2026, despite test announcement in October 2021. For sites primarily optimizing for Google, IndexNow remains an add-on for Bing visibility and AI platforms that use the Bing index (particularly ChatGPT Search).

Next.js Integration

No native integration. Recommended approach: Payload CMS webhooks trigger a Node.js script that sends changed URLs to api.indexnow.org/IndexNow.

Data & Statistics

Über 3,5 Milliarden URLs werden täglich über IndexNow eingereicht; 18 Prozent aller neu in Web-Suchergebnissen angeklickten URLs stehen im Zusammenhang mit dem Protokoll

Bing Webmaster Blog (Microsoft) (2024)

2024: 2,5 Milliarden eingereichte URLs, 17 Prozent aller angeklickten Bing-URLs stammen aus IndexNow

Wikipedia: IndexNow (Abschnitt Adoption and tools) (2024)

September 2023: über 60 Millionen Websites nutzten IndexNow und reichten täglich über 1,4 Milliarden URLs ein

Wikipedia: IndexNow (zitiert Search Engine Journal) (2023)

Suchmaschinen-Marktanteil Österreich: Google 81,87 Prozent, Bing 9,01 Prozent

StatCounter GlobalStats - Search Engine Market Share Austria (2026)

Google nimmt nicht an IndexNow teil und betreibt weiterhin seine eigene Pull-basierte Crawling-Infrastruktur

PPC Land (2024)

GPTBot-Anteil stieg von Mai 2024 bis Mai 2025 von 2,2 auf 7,7 Prozent, bei einem Anstieg der Anfragen um 305 Prozent

Cloudflare Blog (2025)

2024 bestehen 48 Prozent der mobilen Seiten die Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS)

Web Almanac 2024 (HTTP Archive) - SEO (2024)

2024 setzen 65 Prozent der mobilen und 69 Prozent der Desktop-Seiten rel=canonical

Web Almanac 2024 (HTTP Archive) - SEO (2024)

HTTP/3 wird von rund 34 Prozent der zehn Millionen größten Websites unterstützt

Wikipedia: HTTP/3 (zitiert W3Techs) (2024)

FAQ

What is IndexNow and how does it work?
IndexNow is an open push protocol that allows a website to actively notify search engines about new, changed, or deleted URLs. Technically, it requires an API key, a key file in the root directory for host verification, and an HTTP notification (GET or POST) of the affected URLs. A single submission reaches all participating search engines.
Does Google support IndexNow?
No. Google does not participate in IndexNow and continues to rely on its own pull-based crawling infrastructure. IndexNow therefore does not replace Google indexing but complements it with a channel to Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam.cz, and Yep.
Is IndexNow worthwhile in the DACH region where Google dominates?
Yes, with limitations. In Austria, Bing has around 9 percent market share, meaning roughly every tenth search. Additionally, Bing powers Microsoft's Copilot assistants, which are present in many companies via Microsoft 365. Since the implementation effort is low and the service is free, the complementary channel usually makes sense.
How do I integrate IndexNow into a Next.js website?
Next.js has no native integration. The clean approach is a post-build script: place the key file in the public directory, generate the sitemap with next-sitemap, diff the current sitemap against the last version, and only report changed URLs. The script runs as the final step of the deploy pipeline, not with every commit. Alternatively, Cloudflare Crawler Hints activates IndexNow automatically without a custom script.
What is the difference between IndexNow, XML sitemap, and Google Indexing API?
The XML sitemap is passive and lists all URLs for all search engines including Google. IndexNow is an active push for Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, and Yep. The Google Indexing API is officially intended only for JobPosting and livestream pages and is not a general push channel. The combination makes sense: sitemap for all, IndexNow for participating engines, clean internal linking for Google.
Is IndexNow compliant with GDPR data protection?
Generally yes. IndexNow only transmits publicly accessible URLs and the API key server-to-server, without cookies or access to the visitor's device, which means no consent requirement arises. URLs with personal data parameters do not belong in a public sitemap anyway. Those who want to avoid transmission to Yandex (Russia, third country) can restrict submission to individual endpoints like Bing.
What is the most common mistake when using IndexNow?
Over-submission. This includes pushing the entire sitemap with every build or repeatedly reporting unchanged URLs. This provides no benefit and can be interpreted as a spam signal. Another common mistake is reporting URLs that return a redirect, 404, or noindex. Reported URLs should be consistent with canonical, robots.txt, and other SEO signals.

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