Skip to main content
Organic Search

IndexNow Installation Instructions

Instantly tell search engines about new and changed pages

Written By David

Last updated 8 days ago

IndexNow is included from Starter.

IndexNow is a simple way to ping search engines (like Bing) the instant you publish or update a page. Setup takes a few minutes: you put your Cromojo key on your site, then click Verify. Follow the steps for your platform.

How it works

Cromojo gives you an API key. Your site needs to show that key in a small text file at the root of your domain, for example https://yourdomain.com/a1b2c3d4e5f6.txt, so search engines can confirm it's really you. Once you click Verify in Cromojo, Cromojo can submit changes through IndexNow automatically.

There are two ways to get the file onto your site:

  • Your platform has a built-in IndexNow setting (for example BlogHunch). You paste your Cromojo key into that setting and the platform hosts the file for you. No upload, no redirect.

  • Your platform has no IndexNow setting (Webflow, WordPress without an IndexNow plugin, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix). You upload the key file to your media library, then create a redirect from the root of your domain to where the file was stored.

Before you start

Download your key file from Cromojo (open your site, go to IndexNow, then Download key file). Note the exact filename. It is a long string of letters and numbers ending in .txt, for example a1b2c3d4e5f6.txt. Your key is that filename without the .txt. In the steps below, replace yourkey.txt with your filename.

If your site uses www (for example https://www.yourdomain.com), contact support before verifying so we can check the site is registered with the correct host.

For platforms with a built-in IndexNow setting (BlogHunch and similar)

Some platforms send IndexNow pings themselves when you publish and host the key file for you. You can use one key for both your platform and Cromojo, so there's nothing to upload.

If your platform lets you edit the key:

  1. Copy your key from Cromojo (the filename from Before you start, without .txt).

  2. In your platform's IndexNow settings (on BlogHunch, the IndexNow API Key field), replace the existing key with your Cromojo key and save. Don't click Generate, as that creates a new random key.

  3. Test it: open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. You should see the key text.

  4. Back in Cromojo, click Verify

If your platform generates its own key and doesn't let you change it:

  1. In your platform's IndexNow settings, copy the URL of the verification file.

  2. Open that URL in a browser to check it shows the key.

  3. Contact support and send us that URL, and we'll sort it out with you.

Either way, your platform and Cromojo will submit with the same key and work side by side.


For Webflow

Webflow doesn't have a built-in integration for IndexNow, so we use an asset upload plus a redirect.

  1. Upload your API key file

    • In the Webflow Designer, open the Assets panel and upload yourkey.txt.

  2. Set up a 301 Redirect

    • Go to Site Settings → Publishing → 301 Redirects.

    • Old path: /yourkey.txt (the filename from Before you start, with a leading slash)

    • Redirect to page: paste the file URL you copied in step 1

    • Click Add redirect path.

  3. Publish your site

  4. Test it: open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. You should see the key text.

  5. Back on Cromojo, click Verify


For WordPress

  1. Upload your API key file

  2. Set up a 301 Redirect

    • Use a redirect plugin such as Redirection or Yoast SEO Premium.

    • Source URL: /yourkey.txt

    • Target URL: paste the file URL you copied in step 1

    • Save the redirect.

  3. Test it: open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. You should see the key text.

  4. Back in Cromojo, click Verify.

    Note: if your security or upload settings block .txt files, you may need to allow the file type or ask your host.


For Shopify

  1. Upload your API key file

    • Go to Settings, then Files, and upload yourkey.txt.

    • Click the link icon next to the file to copy its CDN URL. You will paste this URL in step 2.

  2. Set up a redirect

    • Go to Online Store, then Navigation, then URL Redirects, then Create URL redirect.

    • Redirect from: /yourkey.txt

    • Redirect to: paste the CDN URL you copied in step 1

    • Save.

  3. Test it: open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. You should see the key text.

  4. Back in Cromojo, click Verify.


For Squarespace

  1. Upload your API key file

    • Squarespace has no general file library. Add a File Block to any page (a hidden or unlinked page works well), upload yourkey.txt through it, then copy the link the block creates. It will look like https://yourdomain.com/s/yourkey.txt. You will paste this URL in step 2.

  2. Set up a URL Mapping

    • Go to Settings → Advanced → URL Mappings.

    • Add this line, replacing the second part with the link you copied in step 1: /yourkey.txt -> /s/yourkey.txt 301

    • Save.

  3. Test it: open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. You should see the key text.

  4. Back in Cromojo, click Verify.


For Wix

  1. Upload your API key file

    • Go to your Wix Dashboard → Media Manager and upload your yourkey.txt file.

    • Select the file, click Copy URL. You will paste this URL in step 2.

  2. Set up a redirect

    • Go to SEO Tools, then URL Redirect Manager, then New Redirect.

    • Old URL: /yourkey.txt

    • New URL: paste the file URL you copied in step 1

    • Save.

  3. Publish your site

  4. Test it: open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. You should see the key text.

  5. Back in Cromojo, click Verify.

My platform has no IndexNow setting and no redirects

Some hosted builders don't let you upload files or create redirects at the root of your domain. If yours is one of them, contact support with your domain and we'll look at the options for your setup.

Verification failed?

  • Open https://yourdomain.com/yourkey.txt in a browser. If you see a 404 or your site's homepage, the file isn't reachable yet. For the redirect method, check that the old path matches the filename exactly and that the site is published. For a built-in setting, check that you saved the Cromojo key and didn't generate a new one.

  • If the page shows a different key than the one in Cromojo, the two don't match. Update the key on your site (or in your platform's IndexNow setting) to your Cromojo key.

  • If your site uses www and the bare domain redirects to it, contact support and we'll check the host registered on your site.

  • If you use Cloudflare or a firewall, allow our crawler IP 178.104.46.97. See our Cloudflare article in Troubleshooting.

Related articles