Microsoft Bing has announced that the popular WordPress SEO plugin, Rank Math, is integrating the IndexNow instant indexing protocol. Publishers don’t require an API key or a Bing Webmaster Tools account to benefit from this feature. Setting up IndexNow using the Rank Math SEO plugin is straightforward with step-by-step instructions provided.
Rank Math WordPress SEO Plugin
Rank Math is a widely-used SEO plugin with over one million active installations. Its popularity stems from its user-friendliness and the wealth of features it offers for free, including local SEO structured data and local search SEO optimizations—features that other SEO plugins often charge extra for.
Rank Math User Interface
Rank Math’s ease of use is largely attributed to its user-friendly interface (UI) that arranges features as modules. These modules can be toggled on or off according to your needs. For example, if you don’t need local SEO optimization, you can simply leave that module turned off. If you want Rank Math to generate site maps for your website, just turn that module on. Activating a module enables a "settings" button that redirects you to a screen where you can configure settings.
IndexNow Integration into Rank Math
The module user interface (UI) design makes it simple to use IndexNow. Just turn on the feature and click the settings button to finalize setup. This straightforward approach simplifies something that is typically complex.
Convenience of the IndexNow Module
The IndexNow feature is available as a new module that can be enabled and configured with a few easy steps. Usually, to participate in the IndexNow instant indexing program, a publisher would need to sign up on the Bing Webmaster Tools website to get an account and obtain an API. With the Rank Math SEO plugin, this is no longer necessary.
Activating the IndexNow module within Rank Math is all you need to do. Rank Math takes care of obtaining an IndexNow API key without requiring a Bing Webmaster Tools account.
How to Set Up IndexNow Using Rank Math
Step 1: Navigate to the Rank Math Dashboard
To get started, first select Rank Math from the left-hand WordPress menu and then select Dashboard.
Step 2: Select the IndexNow Module
The next screen displays all available modules.
After selecting the IndexNow Module, you will see the on/off toggle switch turn blue and a "Settings" button appear at the bottom left of the module.
Step 3: Configure the IndexNow Settings
Clicking the settings button will open another page, which is the final step in the setup process.
You can now select the types of content you want to notify Bing to crawl and index.
The choices are:
- Posts
- Media
- Pages
- MailPoet Pages (if MailPoet is installed)
For most publishers, selecting posts, media, and pages will suffice.
What Happens Next
After selecting which pages you want Bing to index, the Rank Math IndexNow module will handle the API key setup, and you are done. From then on, the IndexNow protocol will notify Bing whenever a post or page is published, updated, or deleted. Media content selected for indexing will also be included in the notifications.
IndexNow Instant Indexing
Currently, IndexNow is utilized by Bing and Yandex. Various SaaS site builders and content delivery networks like Cloudflare and Akamai also support the IndexNow indexing protocol. The protocol not only speeds up the indexing of new or updated content, but it also helps reduce bot traffic on your site, thus freeing up resources for site visitors. Additionally, it reduces data center resources on the search engine side, helping to lower the carbon footprint, which is beneficial for the environment.
The implementation in Rank Math makes the process easy and frictionless. Rank Math was already an excellent choice for an SEO plugin, and the addition of the IndexNow module makes it even more compelling, especially since Yoast has yet to offer IndexNow support.
Citation
Read the Official Announcement on the Bing Blog
Rank Math Supports IndexNow for WordPress Sites
