IndexNow from a content system: what a plugin does

What a CMS integration actually does

Every integration does the same three things underneath.

It places a key file. The protocol needs a text file containing the key on the hostname being announced, and a plugin usually generates the key and serves the file itself, so the site owner never handles it. The rules for that file are set out under the key file.

It listens for a publishing event. When the system saves a page in a way it treats as a change, the plugin builds a request naming that address.

It sends the request to an endpoint and, in better integrations, records the answer. The request is the same one any other route sends, as set out under the request format. Nothing about a plugin makes an engine treat a submission differently.

Automatic submission covers discovered and changed URLs only, enabling it imports no history, and full-site submission is manual. Installing a plugin on an existing site announces nothing that was already published; those pages are announced when they next change, or by a deliberate one-off submission.

WordPress plugins that support IndexNow

Bing keeps a list of platforms and plugins that support IndexNow on its own getting-started page. For WordPress, as of October 2026, it names the IndexNow plugin, Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO and SEOPress. Three of them are set out below from their own documentation; plugins change between versions, so each statement carries its source.

The IndexNow plugin

Published in the WordPress plugin directory by Bing Webmaster Tools. Its directory page says it detects page creation, update and deletion and submits the addresses automatically in the background, lets you submit an address by hand, and generates and hosts the key on activation. The directory listed it at version 1.0.4 with more than 100,000 active installations in October 2026.

Rank Math

Its knowledge base says IndexNow submission is available in the free version. It submits addresses automatically when a post is published or modified, lets you choose which content types are included, and does not submit addresses set to noindex. It also offers batch submission by hand, a history of submissions with the response code for each, and a control to change the key.

Yoast SEO

Yoast announced IndexNow in June 2022 as part of Yoast SEO Premium, switched on by default, with a single setting to turn it on or off. We found no later statement from Yoast that changes this; check the current feature list before relying on it in the free version.

AIOSEO and SEOPress appear on Bing's list as well; their own documentation is the place to check what each sends and records.

Bing's list also names content platforms where IndexNow is built in and needs no setup, and plugins for other systems such as Joomla, Drupal and Shopify. That list is maintained by Bing, not by this site.

What to check before relying on a plugin

A plugin that is installed is not the same as a plugin that is working. Four things are worth confirming once.

What counts as a change

Systems differ on whether editing a draft, changing metadata, reordering a listing or saving without edits counts as a publishing event. A plugin that fires on every save announces changes that did not happen; one that fires only on first publication misses every later edit.

Which pages are included

Content types, archives, tag pages and attachment pages may or may not be sent. Pages set to noindex should not be, since announcing a page you have asked engines not to index sends two contradictory signals.

Whether deletions are sent

The protocol's guidance is to submit addresses that now redirect and pages that answer with a 404 or a 410, so engines learn that something is gone. Not every integration does.

Whether the answer is recorded

A plugin that keeps a history with the response code for each submission lets you see a refused key or a refusal for volume. One that sends silently leaves you guessing. What each code means is set out under IndexNow response codes.

Running more than one integration

Two integrations announcing the same site is a common accident: an SEO plugin with IndexNow switched on, plus the dedicated plugin, plus a feature of the hosting or delivery layer. Each one places its own key and sends its own submission for the same change.

Nothing breaks immediately, but every submission counts towards the site's crawl quota with the engine, and the same change announced several times is attention spent on nothing. Pick one sender per hostname and switch the others off. If the delivery layer already sends submissions, as it does on Bridge CDN, a CMS plugin adds nothing; how that route works is set out under IndexNow at the edge.

When a CMS integration is the wrong route

A CMS integration only sees what passes through the CMS. Pages generated by another process, files served directly, a shop or a documentation section running on separate software: none of them produce an event the plugin can hear. For those, the change is visible either at the delivery layer or in the process that publishes them, which is set out under sending from your publish process.

A CMS integration also cannot reach Google. Google does not participate in IndexNow, so no plugin, whatever its name, sends it a submission. Plugins that offer instant indexing on Google use a different interface, Google's Indexing API, which Google limits to job posting and livestream pages; the difference is set out under Google Indexing API vs IndexNow.

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