NuxtSEO Pro
Core Concepts

IndexNow is a protocol for instantly notifying search engines when URLs change, enabling faster indexing than waiting for crawlers.

Nuxt AI Ready supports IndexNow for both static sites (build-time) and server-rendered sites (runtime).

Supported Search Engines

Submitting to IndexNow notifies all participating engines:

EngineEndpoint
Bingapi.indexnow.org
Yandexyandex.com/indexnow
Naversearchadvisor.naver.com/indexnow
Seznamsearch.seznam.cz/indexnow

Getting Started

nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  aiReady: {
    indexNow: true
  }
})

That's it! A stable key is derived from your site URL automatically.

Static Sites (Build-Time)

For static sites generated with nuxi generate, IndexNow submissions happen automatically at build time using hash-based change detection.

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ First Deploy                                                 │
│   Build → generate page hashes → create pages.meta.json     │
│   No previous meta found → skip IndexNow                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Subsequent Deploys                                           │
│   Build → fetch pages.meta.json from live site              │
│   Compare hashes → detect changes (modified/added pages)    │
│   Submit changed URLs to IndexNow                           │
│   Write new pages.meta.json for next deploy                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each page gets a content hash stored in /__ai-ready/pages.meta.json. On subsequent builds, the module compares hashes to detect which pages actually changed and only submits those URLs to IndexNow.

Pages Metadata Endpoint

GET /__ai-ready/pages.meta.json

{
  "buildId": "abc123",
  "pageCount": 50,
  "createdAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "pages": [
    { "route": "/", "hash": "986b464b8e7db2cb" },
    { "route": "/about", "hash": "150f2c142a4edb9d" }
  ]
}

Static Site Setup

nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  aiReady: {
    indexNow: true
  }
})

Run nuxi generate and deploy. Changed pages will be submitted to IndexNow automatically.

Server-Rendered Sites (Runtime)

For SSR sites, IndexNow syncs pages that were indexed at runtime. Enable with cron: true or call the sync endpoint manually.

Automatic Syncing (Cron)

When cron: true, IndexNow syncs automatically every minute after indexing runs:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Cron triggers ai-ready task (every minute)                   │
│           ↓                                                  │
│ batchIndexPages() → index pending pages                     │
│           ↓                                                  │
│ syncToIndexNow() → submit changed pages to search engines   │
│                  → update indexnow_synced_at                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  aiReady: {
    cron: true,
    indexNow: true
  }
})

Manual Sync via Endpoint

For manual integration, use POST /__ai-ready/indexnow endpoint directly.

API Endpoints

Key Verification

Search engines verify your key at /{key}.txt:

GET /your-api-key.txt
# Returns: your-api-key

This route is automatically registered.

Sync Endpoint

Submit pending pages to IndexNow:

POST /__ai-ready/indexnow?secret=<token>&limit=100
ParamTypeDefaultDescription
limitnumber100Max URLs per batch
secretstring—Required if runtimeSyncSecret configured

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "submitted": 50,
  "remaining": 150,
  "error": null
}

Status Endpoint

Check IndexNow stats:

GET /__ai-ready/status

{
  "total": 100,
  "indexed": 95,
  "pending": 5,
  "indexNow": {
    "pending": 10,
    "totalSubmitted": 500,
    "lastSubmittedAt": 1704067200000,
    "lastError": null
  }
}

Integration with Runtime Sync

Chain IndexNow after polling using the CLI:

# Index new/changed pages
npx nuxt-ai-ready poll --all

# Notify search engines of changes
npx nuxt-ai-ready indexnow

For production, specify the URL:

npx nuxt-ai-ready poll --all --url https://mysite.com
npx nuxt-ai-ready indexnow --url https://mysite.com

Or trigger from a scheduled task/cron job:

server/tasks/sync-search-engines.ts
import { syncToIndexNow } from '#ai-ready'

export default defineTask({
  meta: { name: 'sync-search-engines' },
  async run({ payload, context }) {
    const result = await syncToIndexNow(context.event, 100)
    return { result: `Submitted ${result.submitted} URLs` }
  }
})

Rate Limits & Fallback

IndexNow has generous limits:

  • Up to 10,000 URLs per request
  • Up to 100,000 URLs per day

The module handles rate limits automatically:

  1. Fallback to Bing: If api.indexnow.org returns 429, the module retries via www.bing.com/indexnow
  2. Exponential backoff: On repeated rate limits, backs off from 5min → 10min → 20min → 40min → 1hr

Troubleshooting

Key Verification Fails

Ensure your key route is accessible:

curl https://yoursite.com/your-api-key.txt
# Should return: your-api-key

Submissions Fail

Check the status for errors:

npx nuxt-ai-ready status

Common errors:

  • 403: Key not found at keyLocation
  • 422: URLs don't match host
  • 429: Rate limited
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