IndexNow helps with faster indexing of product updates and shopping ads
IndexNow, an indexing protocol spearheaded by Microsoft Bing’s search team, announced that IndexNow helps with real-time indexing and structured data support. This allows you keep you your products and shopping ads up to date within Bing and the search engines that use the IndexNow protocol.
Plus, Microsoft announced that Amazon and Shopify both are using IndexNow for their platforms.
Shopping and IndexNow. Microsoft wrote, “by implementing IndexNow with the schema below, you can skip the need for a separate merchant feed, streamlining how your updates get discovered.” This helps you keep your price update, product stock levels, or new product launches up-to-date within Bing Search and other search engines that use IndexNow.
Structured data. If you use structured product data such as schema.org/Product, along with IndexNow, your product data will be more up-to-date. Microsoft said this includes:
- Organic search results
- Shopping surfaces powered by search engines
- Select ad experiences that rely on indexed page content
Which fields. Microsoft recommends you use the following fields in your structured data:
- dateModified
- title (name in JSON-LD)
- description
- price (list/retail price)
- link (product landing page URL)
- image link (image in JSON-LD)
- shipping (especially important for Germany and Austria)
- id (a unique identifier for the product)
- brand
- gtin
- mpn
- datePublished
These are the optional fields:
- category (helps group products for search and shopping platforms)
- seller (recommended for marketplaces or resellers)
- itemCondition (e.g., NewCondition, UsedCondition)
How to add support. Platforms like Shopify are built in to support this but if you have your own custom e-commerce platform, here is how to add support:
- Add structured data using schema.org to your product pages—this includes fields like price, availability, product name, and unique identifiers.
- Enable IndexNow if your CMS or platform doesn’t already support it.
Amazon and Shopify with IndexNow. While Shopify sites have this built in, Microsoft also announced that Amazon also announced they support IndexNow.
Microsoft said, “Amazon plans to begin adopting IndexNow in mid-June, enabling its systems to more efficiently detect changes across the web—helping reduce unnecessary crawling and keeping its infrastructure aligned with the most current content available.”
Shopify currently supports IndexNow, but Amazon will be adding it soon.
Why we care. If you run an e-commerce store and you want your products to update faster on Bing Search and other search engines that use IndexNow, this is an excellent way to help with that. Just add IndexNow to your site and submit product schema along with it.
