What is IndexNow and how Wix uses it automatically

IndexNow is an open-source protocol developed by Microsoft, Yandex, and other search engines that allows websites to notify search engines instantly when content is published or updated. Instead of waiting for a search engine to recrawl your site on its own schedule, IndexNow sends a ping to participating search engines the moment a URL changes. Wix has implemented IndexNow natively on its premium plans, meaning eligible Wix users benefit from automatic IndexNow notifications without manual configuration. However, this feature is not available on Wix free plans - upgrading to a paid Wix plan is required to access automatic IndexNow submissions.

Which Search Engines Support IndexNow

• Microsoft Bing: full IndexNow support, one of the protocol founders
• Yandex: full IndexNow support
• Naver: the dominant Korean search engine supports IndexNow
• Seznam: the Czech search engine supports IndexNow
• Google: does not currently participate in IndexNow (uses its own crawl scheduling)

IndexNow on Wix: Premium Plan Requirement

Wix's native IndexNow implementation is available exclusively to users on paid Wix plans. If you are on the free Wix plan (using a .wixsite.com subdomain), IndexNow submissions are not automatically made on your behalf. To benefit from automatic IndexNow notifications, you must be on a premium Wix plan with a connected custom domain. This is consistent with Wix's broader approach: advanced SEO and indexing features are reserved for paying customers, while free plans provide only basic site functionality.

How Wix Implements IndexNow on Premium Plans

For premium Wix users with a connected custom domain, Wix generates an IndexNow API key for your site and stores the verification file at a specific URL on your domain. When you publish a new page or update an existing one in the Wix Editor, Wix automatically sends an IndexNow ping to all participating search engines with the URL that has changed. This process happens in the background without any action required from you - it is a built-in platform behaviour for eligible paid plan users.

How to confirm your Wix plan includes IndexNow and verify it is active

• Log in to your Wix Dashboard and click on your site name to open the site dashboard.
• Navigate to Plans & Billing or Upgrade your Plan to view your current active Wix plan.
• Confirm you are on a paid Wix premium plan - Light, Core, Business, or Business Elite all include automatic IndexNow on eligible domains.
• Navigate to Settings > Domains in your Wix Dashboard and confirm a custom domain is connected and active - a connected custom domain is required for IndexNow to function.
• Publish or update a page on your Wix site to trigger an IndexNow submission.
• Wait 24-48 hours after publishing, then log in to Bing Webmaster Tools at bingwebmastertools.com.
• Navigate to Configure My Site > URL Submission in Bing Webmaster Tools and check the submission log for your recently published URL.
• If the URL appears in the BWT submission log with a success status, IndexNow is working correctly on your premium Wix site.
• Verify your IndexNow key file is accessible by visiting yoursite.com/[your-api-key].txt in a browser - the file should contain only the API key as plain text.
• If you are on a free Wix plan and want IndexNow, visit wix.com/upgrade and select a paid plan that includes advanced SEO and custom domain features.

Why This Matters Even Though Google Ignores It

Bing and other IndexNow participants represent a meaningful combined search market share, particularly in certain countries and demographic groups. Bing also powers Copilot, some DuckDuckGo results, and several AI search tools. Faster indexing in Bing means faster appearance in these downstream search products. For time-sensitive content - news, events, time-limited offers - IndexNow can make the difference between being found while the content is relevant or after it expires.

What Free Plan Users Can Do Instead

• Upgrade to a paid Wix plan to unlock automatic IndexNow and all advanced SEO features
• Manually submit individual URLs to Bing Webmaster Tools using the Submit URLs feature - this is free and works independently of IndexNow
• Submit your sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools to allow Bing to crawl your content on its own schedule
• Use Google Search Console URL Inspection to request Google indexing for individual pages
• Focus on internal linking from existing indexed pages to help Google discover new content faster

How to Verify IndexNow Is Working on Your Wix Site

Use these steps to confirm that your Wix premium plan has IndexNow active and that submissions are appearing correctly in Bing Webmaster Tools.

Verifying that Wix IndexNow is active and submitting URLs correctly

• Log in to Wix Dashboard and navigate to Plans & Billing - confirm you are on a paid premium plan (Light, Core, Business, or Business Elite).
• Go to Wix Dashboard > Settings > Domains and verify that a custom domain is connected and set as the primary domain - IndexNow requires a connected custom domain to function.
• Open a browser and navigate to Wix Dashboard > Marketing & SEO > SEO Tools > Site Inspection to check for any technical issues that might affect IndexNow submissions.
• Publish a new page or make a significant content update to an existing Wix page to trigger an IndexNow submission.
• Wait 24-48 hours, then log in to Bing Webmaster Tools at www.bing.com/webmasters and navigate to your site.
• In Bing Webmaster Tools, go to Configure My Site > URL Submission and look for the recently published URL in the submission log.
• Confirm the URL appears in the log with a success status - if it does, IndexNow is working correctly on your Wix site.
• To verify the IndexNow key file is accessible, open a browser and navigate to yoursite.com/[your-api-key].txt - the file should contain only your API key as plain text with no HTML.
• If the key file returns a 404 error, check your plan status and domain connection again, then contact Wix support with a description of the issue.
• If you are still on a free Wix plan and want IndexNow, visit wix.com/upgrade to select a paid plan that includes a custom domain and automatic IndexNow submissions.