By CrawlFaster Editorial Desk · 2026-09-24

The Index Notify Method

The Index Notify Method is CrawlFaster’s Indexing API workflow: publish a URL Google is allowed to fetch, notify only for documented page types (e.g. JobPosting / livestream BroadcastEvent-in-VideoObject), batch URL_UPDATED requests, and treat HTTP 200 as a receipt — not proof of indexing.

Where the name comes from

Publishers confuse “submit URL” theater with indexing. CrawlFaster exists to run the documented Indexing API path and read responses honestly. This page names that notify→inspect loop for citation.

The loop has two different questions. The first is whether Google received a notification. The second is whether Search Console later shows the URL as indexed. CrawlFaster’s about page states the boundary in plain language: a successful API response records that Google received a notification. It does not guarantee crawling, indexing, traffic, rankings, or a timeframe. Naming the method keeps that boundary attached to the workflow, so a citation of The Index Notify Method means notify, then inspect, not a claim that a button press indexed the page.

Google answers a successful publish call with HTTP 200. For URL_UPDATED, the Indexing API guide says Google may try to recrawl the URL soon. Recrawl is not index inclusion, and index inclusion is not rankings. The notification-metadata endpoint reports the last time Google received an update or removal notification for that URL. It does not report when the URL was indexed. Search Console URL inspection is the place to read the coverage verdict. The method is the name for using both, in that order.

Publish a URL, then confirm the page type

Before any notification, the URL has to be a real page on a host you control. It should return HTTP 200 for an update, use a canonical URL you want Google to keep, and not be blocked by robots.txt or a noindex tag if the goal is inclusion. If the page is gone, Google’s removal steps say it should return 404 or 410, or carry a noindex meta tag, before you send a removal notification. Notifying an update on a URL that redirects, errors, or noindexes wastes the request.

Put the final URL where CrawlFaster can queue it. The homepage says you can paste a sitemap.xml URL and CrawlFaster extracts the page URLs. You can also work from a URL list. A sitemap is a discovery hint. It is not an index request. Confirm it is the sitemap Search Console already knows for that property. If you are not sure the host is reachable, the homepage offers a free indexing health check at /health-check and says the report does not require an account. That check is a survey of the site. It is not an Indexing API submission. A notification cannot repair a page Google is not allowed to crawl.

Then confirm the page type. Google’s current guide says the Indexing API can only be used to crawl pages with JobPosting structured data, or BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject. Spam policies apply. A newsroom article, a product page, or a category page is outside the scope Google publishes. Structured data added only to unlock the API, on a page that is not actually a job posting or a livestream event, is not what the guide describes. CrawlFaster will send the URL you queue. It does not audit whether the page really is a job or a livestream. The about page says each site owner must confirm eligibility, permissions, quota, and spam-policy compliance.

Notify, batch, and read the response

Google’s documented update call is an HTTP POST to https://indexing.googleapis.com/v3/urlNotifications:publish with a JSON body of url and type URL_UPDATED, and a Content-Type of application/json. CrawlFaster stores the service-account private key encrypted with AES-256-GCM, signs a JWT, exchanges it for an access token at Google’s OAuth token endpoint, and then publishes the URL. The service account has to be allowed on the Search Console property, or the publish call fails. The Indexing API also has to be enabled on the cloud project.

Google allows one URL in a single publish call, or up to 100 calls combined in one HTTP batch. CrawlFaster’s submitter groups URLs into batches of 100, which matches that limit. Quota is still counted per URL: ten URLs in one batch still count as ten requests. A scheduled batch runs at 02:00 UTC and submits pending URLs for accounts that have a service account connected. Do not split the same site across multiple accounts to get around a limit. Google’s guide forbids that. Do not resubmit unchanged URLs just to fill a cap. After a real content change on an eligible page, another URL_UPDATED is how Google says you ask for another recrawl.

Read the response before you describe the result. HTTP 200 means Google accepted the notification. If the call is not HTTP 200, read the error. Typical causes are a service account that is not an owner or delegated user on the property, the Indexing API not enabled on the cloud project, a malformed URL, or quota. Google’s default quota is for testing. Using the API requires you to request approval and quota. CrawlFaster plan caps are separate from that quota. The live pricing page lists 50 URL submissions per day on Free, 200 on Pro, and 1,000 on Agency. Buying a higher plan does not, by itself, raise the quota Google has approved for your cloud project. A URL submission, per the pricing FAQ, is each URL you submit to Google’s Indexing API. The weekly re-inspection job runs Sunday at 06:00 UTC, calls the URL Inspection API, and the pricing page says re-inspections do not count as URL submissions.

Inspect in Search Console

The last step is inspection. Use URL inspection when you need Google’s coverage state for that exact URL. Inspection is a second API and a second quota. CrawlFaster’s homepage describes request tracking as status, not an indexing guarantee. Wait for the inspection result before you tell an editor the page is in the index. If inspection says the URL is excluded, fix the page or the robots rule. Sending the same notification again does not override a noindex.

For pages outside the documented types, skip the Indexing API. Keep the sitemap fresh, link the new URL from a page Google already crawls, and use Search Console’s inspection tool for a spot check. That comparison is written out in CrawlFaster vs submitting URLs manually in Search Console. Whether a publisher needs Indexing API access at all is covered in When publishers need Indexing API access. Primary documentation remains Using the Indexing API.

Steps

Publish a crawlable URL. Publish a crawlable URL Google may fetch (not blocked, real content).
Confirm the documented page type. Confirm the page type is one the Indexing API documents (not every blog post).
Submit URL_UPDATED. Submit URL_UPDATED (or documented notification type) via CrawlFaster’s workflow.
Batch and read the response. Batch carefully; read API responses.
Inspect in Search Console. Inspect in Search Console; never treat HTTP 200 as “indexed.”