Support Index Now for SEO with Bing and other search engines
We are working through an issue with one client who hosts their website on Hubspot CMS. Bing stopped indexing their pages in August 2022. Prior to that date indexing was fine.
Researching this Bing (and Microsoft) is suggesting we install IndexNow (https://www.indexnow.org) on the website. CloudFlare has native support for IndexNow but we do not have access to HubsSpots version that is used on our websites hosted by Hubspot.
Upon researching futher, to manually set it up, we need to place an api key in the root domain. Since we cannot do that on Hubspot we are using the workaround by uploading the file and using a Hubspot Redirect.
So far so good. The next problem comes when updating search engines like bing, you need to run a script that submits the pages that changed to the search engine. Cannot do that with Hubspot, even though Hubspot knows when page content changes.
The idea is for Hubspot to either support configuring CloudFlare to update search engines automatically when website pages change or to natively support Index Now and send notice to search engines once a day regarding URLs that have changed.
Wordpress has two options, The Yost plugin supports Index Now and Microsoft offers a free plugin to Wordpress that does the same.
The only way to go woudl be to support IndexNow natively, isn't it. Just as much as supporting Schema and all other reasonable industry-wide initiatives. Thank you very much for considering keeping up with modern CMS requirements.
Hopefully Hubspot will start to take Bing products more seriously now as they catch up quickly with google. This along with integrated bing ads would be very welcome.
Hey Hubspot, please consider supporting modern CMS requirements like IndexNow and Schema.org for all page types. Hubspot = Inbound Marketing, maximizing SEO on all search networks should be a top priority.
As a CMS Enterprise customer, I am surprised that this feature is not escalated beyond simple idea upvoting. In my mind this is a strategic feature that with very little effort has a huge upside for customers, and closes a gap to alternative CMS solutions that have already implemented this. Also, it seems that Hubspot currently not only does not support this, it also has critical blockers for implementing any workaround suggested by Please escalate this and provide a timeline for supporting IndexNow.
With the recent update on ChatGPT that includes SearchGPT as a useful tool for users, it's important for HubSpot to support IndexNow. There’s more to search beyond Google 😉.
To resolve the issue with HubSpot not supporting IndexNow directly, one potential solution is to continue with your current workaround of uploading the API key and using a HubSpot redirect but enhance the process by automating the script that submits changed pages to Bing. You could explore integrating a third-party tool or script through HubSpot's API or an automation platform like Zapier that triggers an update to search engines whenever content changes. Alternatively, it would be beneficial to request that HubSpot natively support IndexNow or work with Cloudflare to automate the updates for search engines when pages change. This would streamline the process and reduce manual intervention, similar to what WordPress achieves with plugins.
If Hubspot doesn't natively support IndexNow, your workaround with the uploaded file and redirect is a solid start. To automate submissions to Bing without Hubspot-native functionality, consider setting up an external server or script to monitor content changes via Hubspot's Content API and submit the updated URLs using the IndexNow API. Alternatively, you can push Hubspot to integrate IndexNow by advocating for support through their feedback channels. External automation tools or manual submissions may be the best interim solution.
