README

Easy-to-use PHP library implementing the IndexNow protocol that allows websites to notify search engines whenever content on any URL is updated or created, enabling instant crawling and discovery.

🎯 Key Features

• Instant indexing - Notify search engines immediately when your content changes
• Multi-engine support - Built-in support for Bing and Yandex, with ability to add custom endpoints
• Simple API - Single method call to ping search engines about URL changes
• Lightweight - Zero external dependencies, uses native PHP cURL
• PHP 8.0+ - Modern PHP with strict typing and clean architecture

🔍 How It Works

The IndexNow protocol is a simple ping mechanism that informs search engines about recent changes to your website content:

1. Generate API Key - Create a unique API key and host it as a text file at your domain root
2. Initialize Service - Create an IndexNow instance with your API key and target search engine
3. Send Notifications - Call sendChangedUrl() whenever you update or create content
4. Search Engine Crawls - The search engine receives the ping and prioritizes crawling your URL

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   Your Website  │     │    IndexNow     │     │  Search Engine  │
│                 │     │     Library     │     │   (Bing/Yandex) │
└────────┬────────┘     └────────┬────────┘     └────────┬────────┘
         │                       │                       │
         │  Content Updated      │                       │
         │──────────────────────>│                       │
         │                       │                       │
         │                       │  HTTP GET with URL    │
         │                       │──────────────────────>│
         │                       │                       │
         │                       │     200 OK            │
         │                       │<──────────────────────│
         │                       │                       │
         │                       │                       │ Crawler visits
         │<─────────────────────────────────────────────│ your URL
         │                       │                       │

🏗️ Architecture

The library consists of a single IndexNow class with a straightforward design:

Components

Component	Description
IndexNow	Main service class handling API key management and endpoint communication
ENGINE_BING	Constant for Bing search engine identifier
ENGINE_YAHOO	Constant for Yandex search engine identifier
ENGINE_ENDPOINT	Predefined endpoint URL templates for supported engines

Supported Search Engines

Engine	Endpoint
Bing	https://www.bing.com/indexnow?key={key}&url={url}
Yandex	https://yandex.com/indexnow?key={key}&url={url}

📦 Installation

It's best to use Composer for installation, and you can also find the package on Packagist and GitHub.

To install, simply use the command:

$ composer require baraja-core/index-now

You can use the package manually by creating an instance of the internal classes.

Requirements

• PHP 8.0 or higher
• cURL extension enabled

🚀 Basic Usage

Simple Example with Bing

use Baraja\IndexNow\IndexNow;

// Create service instance for Bing
$indexNow = new IndexNow(
    apiKey: 'your-api-key-here',
    searchEngine: IndexNow::ENGINE_BING
);

// Notify search engine about changed URL
$indexNow->sendChangedUrl('https://example.com/updated-page');

Using with Yandex

use Baraja\IndexNow\IndexNow;

// Create service instance for Yandex
$indexNow = new IndexNow(
    apiKey: 'your-api-key-here',
    searchEngine: IndexNow::ENGINE_YAHOO
);

// Send notification
$indexNow->sendChangedUrl('https://example.com/new-article');

Multiple Search Engines

You can notify multiple search engines by adding additional endpoints:

use Baraja\IndexNow\IndexNow;

// Start with Bing
$indexNow = new IndexNow(
    apiKey: 'your-api-key-here',
    searchEngine: IndexNow::ENGINE_BING
);

// Add Yandex endpoint
$indexNow->addEndpointUrl(
    engine: IndexNow::ENGINE_YAHOO,
    endpointUrl: IndexNow::ENGINE_ENDPOINT[IndexNow::ENGINE_YAHOO]
);

// This will now notify both Bing and Yandex
$indexNow->sendChangedUrl('https://example.com/updated-content');

Custom Search Engine Endpoint

You can add custom endpoints for other search engines that support the IndexNow protocol:

use Baraja\IndexNow\IndexNow;

$indexNow = new IndexNow(
    apiKey: 'your-api-key-here',
    searchEngine: IndexNow::ENGINE_BING
);

// Add a custom endpoint (use {key} and {url} placeholders)
$indexNow->addEndpointUrl(
    engine: 'custom-engine',
    endpointUrl: 'https://custom-search.com/indexnow?key={key}&url={url}'
);

$indexNow->sendChangedUrl('https://example.com/page');

🔑 API Key Setup

Before using IndexNow, you need to set up your API key:

1. Generate a key - Create a unique alphanumeric string (e.g., ecc3bf28ed494de4b01e754cf6dff0d5)
2. Create a key file - Place a text file named {your-key}.txt at your website root containing the key itself
3. Verify accessibility - Ensure https://yourdomain.com/{your-key}.txt returns your key

Example key file location:

https://example.com/ecc3bf28ed494de4b01e754cf6dff0d5.txt

The content of this file should be:

ecc3bf28ed494de4b01e754cf6dff0d5

📖 API Reference

Constructor

public function __construct(
    string $apikey,
    string $searchEngine = self::ENGINE_BING
)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
$apikey	string	-	Your IndexNow API key
$searchEngine	string	ENGINE_BING	Initial search engine to use

Methods

sendChangedUrl(string $url): void

Sends a notification to all configured search engine endpoints about a changed or new URL.

$indexNow->sendChangedUrl('https://example.com/updated-page');

addEndpointUrl(string $engine, string $endpointUrl): void

Adds a new search engine endpoint. The {key} placeholder in the URL will be automatically replaced with your API key.

$indexNow->addEndpointUrl('custom', 'https://search.com/indexnow?key={key}&url={url}');

Constants

Constant	Value	Description
ENGINE_BING	'bing'	Bing search engine identifier
ENGINE_YAHOO	'yahoo'	Yandex search engine identifier
ENGINE_ENDPOINT	array	Mapping of engine names to endpoint URLs

💡 Best Practices

1. Call on actual changes - Only ping when content genuinely changes to maintain trust with search engines
2. Batch wisely - For bulk updates, consider spacing out notifications
3. Verify key setup - Ensure your API key file is publicly accessible before making calls
4. Monitor responses - While the library doesn't return responses, monitor your search console for indexing status
5. Use in production - IndexNow is designed for production environments; avoid excessive testing calls

🔗 External Resources

• IndexNow Official Website
• Bing IndexNow Documentation
• Yandex IndexNow Documentation

👤 Author

Jan Barasek - https://baraja.cz

📄 License

baraja-core/index-now is licensed under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more details.