IndexNow Log

I submitted my blog site to Bing Webmaster Tools approximately two nights ago, around 8:00 PM (I had only created the blog and published my first post around 6:00 PM that same evening).

It wasn’t until 12:00 PM yesterday that I finished setting up the Node.js API for IndexNow and submitted the URLs of several of my articles to Bing’s IndexNow service.

It was only around 4:00 PM today—quite a while later—that the IndexNow interface finally began displaying data.

In other words, counting from the moment I first set up Bing Webmaster Tools, it took roughly 45 hours—approximately two days—before any IndexNow data became available.

If counting from the moment of my first submission to IndexNow, it took about 28 hours—roughly one day—to see any IndexNow data.

Bing Indexing

As I’ve mentioned before, the way the Bing search engine assigns weight is quite unique; it places a particularly strong emphasis on external links.

However, links included in YouTube video descriptions do not count toward this metric.

Earlier today, ChatGPT AI suggested that sharing external links to my Astro blog on social media—specifically on X (formerly Twitter)—would yield better results.

I went ahead and shared one of my posts (though it currently displays Astro’s default cover image; I still need to configure a custom one. Once this current article is published, I’ll test out how its social sharing card renders).

As of this afternoon, a site: query on Bing still indicates that the content has not yet been indexed.

Surprisingly, it appears that Google Search Console has already indexed the homepage.

According to ChatGPT, this is a positive sign: once the homepage begins to be indexed, it indicates that the new domain is of good quality and relatively trustworthy, suggesting that other Google crawlers have also started their work.

Google’s indexing speed varies; at its fastest, it happens automatically within 24 hours, while at its slowest, it can take up to a week.

I have tested this with my other blogs; for sites that are updated regularly, Google typically indexes new content within a day of publication.

However, I had never really paid attention to Bing’s indexing status until recently. Upon reviewing the data, I discovered that the majority of my traffic was actually coming from Bing (I am referring to my other blogs here, not the current one).

Tips

Notes regarding this article:

For a new blog site, remember to submit an IndexNow request promptly. However, do not rush to check your analytics dashboard; wait at least a full day before reviewing the data—there is no need to feel anxious.

Secondly, given Bing’s specific indexing criteria, it is recommended that you prioritize sharing your blog posts on the social media platform “X.” You can hold off on considering other platforms for the time being.

After sharing a post on X, click the link yourself to open it; this action should register an external backlink on Bing’s end, thereby facilitating the indexing process.