Getting your website & its content indexed is the very first step towards driving traffic from organic search. Because, simply put, when content isn’t properly indexed (let alone indexed at all), it can’t rank at all either. And, if it never ranks, it’ll never drive organic traffic from search…
Fortunately, Rank Math’s built-in support for Instant Indexing with both Google & Bing makes crawling and indexing your website easier than ever. In this article, we’ll walk you through exactly how to set up Instant indexing with the help of Rank Math:
How to Index Your Content Instantly on Bing?
To configure Instant Indexing for Bing, follow the exact steps we’ve discussed below:
1 Install the Rank Math Plugin
First and foremost, you need to install and setup the Rank Math plugin. You can skip this step if you already have the Rank Math plugin installed on your WordPress website.
2 Verify Your Website on Bing
Once you have installed the plugin, you need to verify your website on Bing Webmaster Tools.
2.1 Create an Account
In order to connect your website to Bing Webmaster Tools, you need to create an account. You can make use of any email address of your choice. If you do not have one, then you need to create one on the Bing Webmasters site.
2.2 Verify Your Website
Once you have logged in, you need to verify your website by using any of the two methods shown below. You can either add your site manually, or if you have already verified your website on Google Search Console, then you can connect with it, and Bing will import all of your settings and data. For this tutorial, we have added the website manually.
2.3 Choose Verification Method
Next, you will get a few options to choose from. We will choose the HTML Meta Tag option and use that to verify our website using Rank Math.
2.4 Paste the Code in Rank Math SEO
Paste the code in Rank Math SEO by going to WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > General Settings > Webmaster Tools and save the changes.
Once done, hit the Verify button by going back to Bing Webmasters Tool.
Your website is now connected to the Bing Webmasters Tool.
3 Enable the Instant Indexing API Module
In order to enable the Instant Indexing API, head over to WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > Dashboard > Modules and enable the Instant Indexing API module as shown below:
4 Configure Instant Indexing Settings
Once the module is enabled, head over to WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > Instant Indexing and add your Bing API key that we’ll get in the next step.
5 Get the Bing API Key
Follow the below steps to get your API Key from Bing Webmaster Tools:
Step 1: Visit Bing Webmasters Tools and log in.
Step 2: Navigate to the ‘gear’ icon as shown below:
Step 3: Select the API Key Option as shown below:
Step 4: Click Generate API Key button and copy the Generated API Key :
6 Add the API Key to Rank Math’s Instant Indexing Settings
Now you need to add the API key into Rank Math’s Instant Indexing settings. In order to do so, head over to Rank Math > Instant Indexing and enter the API key that you copied from Bing’s Webmaster Tools in the previous step.
Please remember to select the type of content (Posts, Pages, Media, or CPTs) you would like to be submitted automatically.
Note: If you’ve also installed our Instant Indexing for Google plugin, the user interface of our Instant Indexing settings will look slightly different from the above screenshots.
You’ve now successfully set up the Instant Indexing API with Bing, and whenever you publish a new post or update an existing one, Rank Math SEO will automatically submit the URL to Bing depending on the settings that you have selected.
How to Index Your Content Instantly on Google?
Let us now take a look at how to get your website crawled instantly by Google using their new Indexing API.
1 Download the Plugin Files
At first, you need to get the Instant Indexing for Google installed on your website. You can install the plugin right inside your WordPress Dashboard under Plugins > Add New.
Once the plugin is installed, activate the plugin as shown below.
Once activated, you’ll be able to configure Instant Indexing for Google under Rank Math > Instant Indexing.
2 Create an Indexing API Project
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you need to create an Indexing API Project. In order to do so, follow the steps as shown below:
2.1 Go to the Google API Console and Create a New Project
Please ensure that you’re creating a new Indexing API project.
And then click Agree and continue. Once done, your new API Indexing Project will be created.
2.2 Create a Service Account
Create a service account by opening the service accounts page and select the project that you created.
Once you have created your project, then click the Create Service Account button as shown below:
Enter a name and description for the newly created service account. Select and copy the entire Service Account ID because you will need this at a later stage. Then click on Create button.
Don’t forget to change the role to Owner and click Continue.
Download the file that contains your API key by clicking the Create Key button:
Choose the default JSON format and click Create.
2.3 Add the Service Account as an Owner of Your Google Search Console Property
First and foremost, you’ll need to register and verify your website with the Google Search Console. Once you have verified your property open the Google Search Console, select your property, and then click on Settings as shown below:
Click on Users and Permissions and then Click on the three dots next to your account, and then click on Manage property owners:
Click on the Add an owner button in the Verified owner’s section. Doing so, a page will open in a new tab. Enter the Service account ID (the one you copied out earlier) in the new owner’s email address field and click Continue:
Switch back to the previous tab and refresh it. You will now be able to see the Service account listed as a new Owner.
3 Configure the Plugin
Now head back to your WordPress dashboard as we’ll configure the Instant Indexing settings.
3.1 Insert Your API Key
Navigate to Rank Math > Instant Indexing settings in your WordPress admin area, and paste in the contents of your JSON file, or just upload the file.
3.2 Use Google’s Indexing API to Index Any Post/Page on Your Site
Head over to the Console tab. Enter a URL (or more) in the Instant Indexing section, and click the Send to API button as shown below:
After a few moments, you’ll see the following success message if everything’s been configured correctly up until this point:
You can also index the URLs from the WordPress Posts section.
Or use the bulk actions options to get multiple posts indexed or updated quickly.
And that’s it – you’ve successfully set up Instant Indexing for this website with Rank Math! For more information about the benefits of Instant Indexing – please refer to our detailed guides about getting your content indexed on Google & Bing:
- How You Can Get Google To Crawl Your Website Instantly
- How to Get Bing to Index Your Content Instantly
If you still have any questions about using the Instant Indexing feature on your website, please feel free to reach our support team directly from here, and we’re always here to help.