IndexNow URL notifications

IndexNow tells participating search engines that a URL was added, updated, or deleted. It is a change notification, not an indexing request or a ranking signal you can verify from the response.

Set up one host

Choose the public asset directory that your site deploys at its root:

seo indexnow setup --site https://example.com --output ./public

The command generates a key, writes <key>.txt into that directory, and stores the key locally. It does not deploy the file. Deploy the site, then check the public file:

seo indexnow verify --site https://example.com

The local key mapping is stored in the system keychain when available, with a private file fallback. seo indexnow status lists configured hosts and public key locations. seo indexnow remove --site https://example.com removes the local mapping but leaves the deployed file alone.

Validate before notifying search engines

Start with a dry run:

seo indexnow submit \
  --site https://example.com \
  --url https://example.com/changed-page \
  --dry-run \
  --json

The dry run validates the key, host, URLs, duplicates, and local limits. It does not fetch the key file or contact IndexNow.

Remove --dry-run after the key file is public and the URLs have genuinely changed:

seo indexnow submit \
  --site https://example.com \
  --url https://example.com/changed-page

You can also pass comma-separated --urls or a newline-delimited --file. Each run accepts at most 1,000 unique URLs, and every URL must belong to the configured host. The command verifies the public key file before it sends the bounded JSON request to the fixed IndexNow endpoint.

Agents and CI can set SEO_INDEXNOW_KEY for one process instead of saving a key. Keep JSON mode explicit so the command never prompts:

SEO_INDEXNOW_KEY=<key> seo indexnow submit \
  --site https://example.com \
  --file ./changed-urls.txt \
  --dry-run \
  --json

Read the response accurately

HTTP 200 means the URLs were received. HTTP 202 means the URLs were received while key validation is pending. Neither response proves crawling, indexing, ranking, or traffic.

The implementation follows the IndexNow protocol documentation. The local 1,000 URL limit is deliberately lower than the protocol maximum so one accidental command cannot send a very large update.