Microsoft Bing announced that the popular WordPress SEO plugin Rank Math is integrating the IndexNow instant indexing protocol. Publishers don’t even need an API key or a Bing Webmaster Tools account to enjoy the benefits of instant indexing. Getting started with IndexNow with the Rank Math SEO plugin is easy, especially with these step-by-step instructions.
Rank Math WordPress SEO Plugin
Rank Math is a popular SEO plugin with over one million active installs. It’s popular because of its ease of use, but also because the plugin offers a huge selection of features that are completely free, including local SEO structured data and local search SEO optimization, other SEO plugins cost extra.
Rank Math UI
What makes Rank Math easy to use is that all functionality is organized in a user interface (UI), using module Can be turned on or off according to your needs.
If you don’t need local SEO optimization, please turn off this module.
Open this module if you want Rank Math to generate a sitemap for your website.
Opening a module (in order to access a function) activates a “set up” button, which when clicked takes you to another screen where you can configure settings.
Screenshot of the Rank Math module UI
Integration of IndexNow and Rank Math
Use IndexNow’s module user interface (UI) approach to make it easy to set up. You just need to turn on the feature and click the settings button to continue with the last step to get IndexNow working for your website.
It’s a great user interface that simplifies things that are often very difficult.
The convenience of the IndexNow module
The IndexNow feature was introduced as a new module, just turn it on and configure it with a few simple choices.
Typically, in order to participate in the IndexNow instant indexing program, publishers must register on the Bing Webmaster Tools site to obtain an account, and then obtain the API.
This is no longer the case if you use the Rank Math SEO plugin.
All you have to do is activate the IndexNow module in Rank Math. Rank Math handles obtaining the IndexNow API key without using a Bing Webmaster Tools account.
How to Set Up IndexNow with Rank Math
Step 1: Navigate to the Rank Math Dashboard
To get started, first select Rank Math from the WordPress menu on the left, then Dashboard: Rank Math > Dashboard.
Screenshot of the Rank Math WordPress menu
Step 2: Select the IndexNow Module
The next screen shows all available modules:
Once the IndexNow module is selected, you’ll see the off/on toggle turn blue and the Settings button appear at the bottom left of the module.
Screenshot of IndexNow module
Step 3: Configure IndexNow Settings
After clicking the settings button, another page will open and this will be the last page you have to deal with.
The configuration of the IndexNow module is simple. But the interface isn’t as clear as one might think, which is surprising considering how easy the rest of Rank Match is to configure.
In order to access the hidden IndexNow settings, you must click on the little “gear” icon on the left labeled “Settings”.
screenshot of settings button
After clicking the “Settings” button, you can now start choosing what types of content you want to alert Bing to crawling and indexing.
The choices are:
- post
- media
- page
- Plus the option to select the MailPoet page (if you have MailPoet installed)
For most publishers, you only need to select Posts, Media and Pages. That’s pretty much it.
Screenshot of Rank Math IndexNow settings
what happens next
After choosing which pages have the Bing index, the Rank Math IndexNow module will process the API key and you’re done.
From now on, the IndexNow protocol will notify Bing when a post or page is published, when a post or page is updated, and when a post or page is deleted.
If you choose to have your media indexed, that content will also be part of the notification.
IndexNow instant indexing
IndexNow is currently only used by Bing and Yandex. Many SaaS website builders and content delivery networks such as Cloudflare and Akamai support the new IndexNow indexing protocol.
Not only does the protocol speed up the indexing of new or updated content, it also helps reduce bot traffic on the site, freeing up resources for site visitors.
On the search engine side, it will reduce data center resources, another opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of data centers, which is good for the environment.
The implementation of Rank Math couldn’t be simpler.
Rank Math is already a great choice for SEO plugins.
The addition of the IndexNow module makes Rank Math more useful and attractive, especially since Yoast still refuses to offer IndexNow as an option.
