Your projects
IndexNow
IndexNow tells Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver and Yep when a page on your site is new, has changed or has gone. Lookout sends those pages for you once you publish one small file. Google doesn’t use IndexNow.
Set it up
Open your project, go to Pages and choose the IndexNow tab.
Step 1: Generate the key
Choose Generate key. Lookout makes a key for this project only. It stays the same, so you publish it once.
Step 2: Publish the key file
Create a plain text file named after the key, such as 3f9c2a7e5b1d4c8a9e6f0b2d7a4c1e85.txt, at the root of your site. Its only contents are the key. The tab shows the exact file name, and the address it must open at and the key, each with a Copy button.
The file must answer with HTTP 200 at that address, with no redirect. On a static site or a framework such as Next.js, Astro or Laravel, put it in the public folder and deploy. On WordPress, upload it to the folder that holds wp-config.php.
Step 3: Check the file
Choose Check file. The first time Lookout finds the file with the key, and while auto-send is on (it is unless you turn it off), it sends every indexable page from your latest completed scan. If not, the tab says what it found, such as a 404 or different contents, so you can fix it and check again.
What Lookout sends
An indexable page is one that answers HTTP 200, has no noindex and has no canonical pointing to another address. After each completed scan, Lookout sends:
- new indexable pages;
- pages whose title, description, canonical, robots or another field Lookout watches changed;
- pages it sent before that now answer 404 or 410.
Turn off Send changed pages after each scan to stop that. Send all now sends every indexable page again at once, and each page has its own Send button. Both work whether auto-send is on or off.
The send log
The tab lists the latest 50 requests Lookout made in the last 180 days, newest first: when, how many addresses, which endpoint answered, why it went and the result.
Lookout sends to Bing at api.indexnow.org first. When Bing neither accepts nor refuses the request (a rate limit, a server error or no reply), Lookout sends the same request to Yandex, which shares it with the other engines. The log shows both, for example Bing 429 → Yandex 202.
| Result | What it means | What Lookout does |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted (200 or 202) | Received. | Sends after a scan skip those pages until they change. |
| Rejected (403) | The key file didn’t match. | Check the file, then use Send all now. New and changed pages also go after the next scan. |
| Rejected (422, or another status from 400 to 428) | The request wasn’t valid, such as an address on another host. | Fix the address, then send again. New and changed pages also go after the next scan. |
| Not accepted (429, 5xx or another reply) or No reply | Neither endpoint accepted or refused the request. | A send after a scan tries again at an hourly run after about an hour; the tab shows when. After Send all now or Send, send again later. |
If the key file goes
Lookout checks the key file about once a day, and before each send after a scan. Send all now and Send use the latest check. If it’s gone, has other contents or can’t be reached, sending pauses and the IndexNow tab says so. Put the file back and choose Check file; sending after scans starts again, and Send all now sends anything you missed.