What is IndexWrangler?

IndexWrangler is a minimal web tool for submitting URLs to Bing using the IndexNow protocol. IndexNow lets you notify search engines the moment content is added, updated, or deleted, instead of waiting for crawlers to discover changes on their own.

This tool helps you with three things: generate an IndexNow key, verify that the key file is correctly hosted on your domain, and submit one or more URLs to Bing. Submissions made through any participating engine are shared across all IndexNow-enabled search engines.

How it works (4 steps)

1. Generate an API key. The key proves ownership of your domain and authenticates submissions. Use the Generate button in the tool, which creates a random key for you.
2. Host your key file. Download the <key>.txt file and place it at the root of your site (https://yourdomain.com/<key>.txt). The file must contain only the key, UTF-8 encoded.
3. Submit URLs. Enter the pages that changed (one per line) and submit. The tool sends them to Bing's IndexNow endpoint.
4. Verify. Use the Verify button to confirm the key file is live and readable, and use Bing Webmaster Tools to confirm URLs were received.

API key requirements

• Length: 8 to 128 characters.
• Allowed characters: lowercase a-z, uppercase A-Z, digits 0-9, and dashes -.
• The key file must be named exactly <key>.txt and contain only the key.
• Preferred location is the domain root. If you host it elsewhere on the same host, you must pass a keyLocation when submitting.
• Each subdomain is a separate host and needs its own key file.

Submitting URLs

A single URL can be submitted with a GET request:

https://www.bing.com/indexnow?url=url-changed&key=your-key

Multiple URLs (up to 10,000 per request) are submitted as a JSON POST, which is what this tool uses:

POST /indexnow HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Host: www.bing.com

{
  "host": "www.example.com",
  "key": "your-key",
  "keyLocation": "https://www.example.com/your-key.txt",
  "urlList": [
    "https://www.example.com/url1",
    "https://www.example.com/url2"
  ]
}

• All URLs must belong to the same host as the key.
• URLs should be URL-encoded per RFC-3986 (e.g. : → %3A, / → %2F).
• Submit only changed content (added, updated, or deleted), not your entire site.

Response codes

See the dedicated status code reference for full details. In short:

• 200 OK - submitted successfully.
• 202 Accepted - received; key validation pending (common on first submission).
• 400 Bad Request - invalid format.
• 403 Forbidden - key not valid (file missing or contents don't match).
• 422 Unprocessable Entity - URLs don't belong to the host, or key doesn't match the schema.
• 429 Too Many Requests - rate limited (potential spam).

Best practices

• Notify IndexNow whenever content is added, updated, or removed.
• Wait at least 5 minutes before resubmitting the same URL, and only resubmit on meaningful changes.
• Use IndexNow for fast discovery and XML sitemaps for complete coverage; the two complement each other.
• Don't submit URLs that changed before you started using IndexNow; use sitemaps with accurate lastmod instead.
• You can submit redirected (301/302) and deleted (404/410) URLs so engines update their index.
• Every submitted URL counts toward your crawl quota, but signals priority.

Troubleshooting