DH IndexNow

Instant URL submission to Bing (IndexNow) and Google (Indexing API) — built for enterprise WordPress environments.

Overview

DH IndexNow is a lightweight, zero-dependency WordPress plugin that notifies search engines the moment URLs are published, updated, or deleted — without waiting for the next crawl cycle.

Supports:

• Bing / IndexNow protocol — bulk submission up to 100 URLs per request
• Google Indexing API — per-URL submission via Service Account OAuth 2.0

Designed for high-output WordPress sites where crawl budget and index freshness directly impact commercial performance.

Features

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0+
• PHP 8.0+
• OpenSSL extension (for Google JWT signing)
• HTTPS on the domain (required by both APIs)
• Google Cloud Service Account with Indexing API enabled
• Bing Webmaster Tools account (to verify submissions)

Installation

Manual

1. Download the latest .zip from Releases
2. Upload via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
3. Activate — the plugin will auto-generate your IndexNow key and create the verification file at your site root

Via WP-CLI

wp plugin install https://github.com/DigitalHitmen/dh-indexnow/releases/latest/download/dh-indexnow.zip --activate

Configuration

Step 1 — IndexNow (Bing)

1. Go to Settings > DH IndexNow > General
2. Your API key is auto-generated on activation
3. Verify the key file is reachable: the settings page shows a live status check
4. Submit a test URL and confirm receipt in Bing Webmaster Tools

Step 2 — Google Indexing API

1. In Google Cloud Console:
   • Create a project
   • Enable the Web Search Indexing API
   • Create a Service Account → generate a JSON key
2. In Google Search Console:
   • Add the service account email as an Owner for your property
3. In Settings > DH IndexNow > General:
   • Paste the full Service Account JSON into the credentials field
   • Save — the plugin validates the JSON format on save

Step 3 — Configure Triggers

• Select which post types should trigger auto-submission
• Add any URLs to the exclusion list
• Confirm "Enable Auto-Submit" is toggled on

Manual Submission

Go to Settings > DH IndexNow > Manual Submit:

• URL list — paste one URL per line
• Bulk by post type — select a post type and submit all published URLs (large sets are processed via WP-Cron in batches)
• Results appear inline showing per-engine HTTP response codes

Logs & Queue

Settings > DH IndexNow > Logs shows all queued and processed submissions:

• Filter by: Status (pending / done / failed) · Engine (Bing / Google)
• Export filtered results as CSV
• Clear logs (truncates the queue table)

WP-Cron Schedule

To verify cron is running on your server:

wp cron event list | grep dh_indexnow

If you're using a server-side cron (recommended for production), disable WP-Cron in wp-config.php:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

And add to crontab:

*/5 * * * * curl -s https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron > /dev/null 2>&1

Security

• Google Service Account JSON is AES-256 encrypted at rest using openssl_encrypt with WordPress AUTH_KEY
• All AJAX endpoints require manage_options capability + nonce verification
• All DB queries use $wpdb->prepare()
• The IndexNow key verification file is served with X-Robots-Tag: noindex

Hooks & Filters

// Modify the URL list before submission to Bing
add_filter('dh_indexnow_urls_before_bing', function($urls) {
    return array_filter($urls, fn($url) => str_contains($url, '/products/'));
});

// Modify the URL list before submission to Google
add_filter('dh_indexnow_urls_before_google', function($urls) {
    return $urls;
});

// Add custom post types to auto-trigger
add_filter('dh_indexnow_auto_submit_post_types', function($types) {
    $types[] = 'product';
    return $types;
});

Changelog

v1.0.0

• Initial release
• Bing IndexNow bulk submission
• Google Indexing API via Service Account JWT
• Auto-trigger on publish / update / delete
• DB-backed queue with retry logic
• Manual submission UI + logs

Contributing

1. Fork the repo and create a branch from develop
2. Follow WordPress Coding Standards
3. Run phpcs --standard=WordPress . before submitting a PR
4. Open a PR into develop with a clear description of the change

License

MIT © Digital Hitmen