You updated your website or business profile. You added a new service, changed your opening hours, or published a new blog post. So when do search engines learn about these changes?

The standard web crawl process often can't give a satisfying answer: weeks, sometimes months. IndexNow solves this problem at the root.

What Is IndexNow?

IndexNow is an open-source web protocol developed by Microsoft and Yandex in 2021. Its core function: when content on a website changes, it sends an instant HTTP notification to supporting search engines (Bing, Yandex, and partners).

The search engine that receives the notification adds the page to a priority crawl queue and indexing is typically complete within 24–48 hours. Compared to traditional crawling, this difference is dramatic.

Why Does IndexNow Matter?

ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot use Bing for web search. Bing knowing you with up-to-date data means being represented accurately and currently on both of these AI platforms.

Without IndexNow, you face these problems:

  • You updated your service list, but ChatGPT is still citing the old one
  • You changed your opening hours, but Copilot gives the old times
  • You published a new blog post, but Bing hasn't seen it yet

IndexNow brings this delay down to nearly zero.

How Does IndexNow Work?

The technical process has three steps:

  1. An API key is created: A unique key file is published on your server (e.g., abc123.txt). This file verifies domain ownership.
  2. An update occurs: When a page is added or changed on your website, an HTTP POST request is sent to the IndexNow API. This request includes the updated page's URL and your API key.
  3. The search engine is notified: Bing (and other engines supporting the protocol) receives the notification and adds the page to its priority crawl queue.

The entire process completes in milliseconds. There is no noticeable delay for the user.

Which Search Engines Support IndexNow?

Platforms that support the IndexNow protocol:

  • Bing (Microsoft) — critical for ChatGPT and Copilot
  • Yandex
  • Seznam.cz
  • Naver

Google does not officially support IndexNow at this time. For Google indexing, you need to submit a URL inspection request through Google Search Console. Since Gemini has a slower update cycle compared to Bing, the wait time for Google is longer.

How Does IndexNow Work in mytrend.ai?

mytrend.ai automatically sends an IndexNow notification every time a business profile is created or updated. No technical knowledge required — just filling in the platform profile is enough.

The process works like this:

  1. You create or update your business profile
  2. mytrend.ai refreshes your business page (including Schema.org JSON-LD)
  3. An IndexNow notification is automatically sent to Bing
  4. Within 24–48 hours, Bing indexes the updated information
  5. ChatGPT and Copilot begin working with the fresh data

Is IndexNow Enough on Its Own?

IndexNow solves indexing speed — but not content quality. Bing still de-prioritizes pages that are notified quickly but have weak content. That's why IndexNow works best alongside these two:

  • Schema.org JSON-LD — for Bing to correctly understand the content
  • llms.txt — for AI models to recognize your business

When all three work together, you get both speed and accuracy: strong content, machine-readable format, and instant notification.

Summary

IndexNow eliminates the biggest delay problem in the search engine indexing process — waiting time. If you want to be represented accurately and with up-to-date information on Bing-based AI platforms (ChatGPT, Copilot), IndexNow is essential.

Further reading: What Is GEO? → | ChatGPT Visibility → | What Is llms.txt? →