List of ping services - does it still work in 2026?

In the WordPress dashboard, under Settings > Writing, there is still a small field called “Update Services”. For years, “magic ping lists” with hundreds of addresses (rpc.pingomatic.com, technorati and so on) circulated online, supposedly getting your post into Google within 5 minutes. In 2026 those lists are outdated and ineffective. This article explains why pinging lost its value and what to do instead to get your site indexed by search engines.

#Does pinging in WordPress still work in 2026

Pinging in WordPress is a relic of the past, and for most webmasters today it does more harm than good. Most services on those old lists no longer exist, and the ones still running are not followed by any serious search engine. Google does not document ping services as a discovery source and shut down its own sitemap ping endpoint after a 2023 announcement, and Microsoft promotes its own IndexNow protocol instead of traditional pinging. Googlebot is now advanced enough to discover pages on its own through crawling and sitemap analysis.

Search engine algorithms have evolved to the point where the old ways of announcing new content no longer carry much weight. Modern Google crawlers work continuously and automatically, watching for changes on websites without needing explicit notifications. So even if your WordPress site sends a ping to a ping service, the search engine will check your sitemap first and only then (if at all) pay attention to any extra signals.

In practice, adding hundreds of ping services to the “Update Services” list in WordPress will not speed up indexing in Google. It does lengthen the background job that sends the pings, because WordPress contacts every service on the list in turn and waits up to 3 seconds for each one that does not answer.

#Why pinging stopped working

Before moving on to modern indexing methods, it helps to understand why traditional pinging stopped being effective. That background makes it easier to follow how indexing has evolved and to pick the right strategy for your own site deliberately.

Technical reasons pinging declined:

The first and most important reason is that ping services shut down en masse over the last fifteen years. Services such as Technorati, Google Blog Search and Weblogs.com, once the backbone of the blogging ecosystem, have long since disappeared or stopped supporting the XML-RPC ping protocol. Pinging services that no longer exist brings no benefit at all and adds needless delays and server load.

The second key reason is a fundamental change in how search engines discover and index content. Google’s documentation on page discovery describes links and sitemaps and does not mention ping services. The company focused on building out its own crawler infrastructure, which can find new pages on its own by analysing links and sitemaps. This strategic shift was a response to the growing amount of ping spam and fake notifications.

The third factor is the standardisation of the XML sitemap format, which became the preferred way for webmasters and search engines to communicate. SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math generate sitemaps automatically and update them whenever content on the site changes. This automation is far more reliable and complete than traditional pinging, because it covers every content type, not just blog posts.

The fourth reason is security. Ping services were repeatedly abused for DDoS attacks and other misuse. Current security practice favours controlled, centralised notification methods such as the Google Indexing API.

What this means in practice for site owners:

The consequences for site owners are clear. A ping to a service that no longer exists does not speed up indexing, and it keeps the background ping job waiting for up to 3 seconds per unreachable address. Repeated pings waste server resources and add network load. Most importantly, relying on pinging can create a false sense of security while the site owner neglects the technical SEO methods that actually matter.

#Which ping services the WordPress handbook still lists

The official Update Services page in the WordPress Advanced Administration Handbook, last updated on January 14, 2026, names three XML-RPC ping endpoints:

https://rpc.pingomatic.com/
https://rpc.twingly.com/
http://ping.blo.gs/

Technorati, Weblogs.com, Google Blog Search and the FeedBurner ping address from the old lists do not appear in the official documentation. The handbook also makes no promise about indexing speed for the three addresses it does list. It says only that update services “process the ping and update their proprietary indices”, and neither Google nor Bing documents those indices as a source of new URLs.

A fresh install fills the field with one address. In the core file wp-admin/includes/schema.php the default value of the ping_sites option is https://rpc.pingomatic.com/, over HTTPS. Sites installed years ago often still carry the http:// variant.

Ping-O-Matic describes itself as “a service to update different search engines that your blog has updated” and says it regularly checks downstream services to make sure they are legitimate and still work. Among its common services it lists Blo.gs and FeedBurner. The same page asks users to ping specialised services only when they are relevant to the blog, so the services are not overloaded.

The handbook adds two notes that matter in practice. Some hosts, particularly free ones, disable the PHP functions WordPress uses to send pings, and on such a host the handbook recommends emptying the field so WordPress stops trying. On a Multisite network the field is disabled by default for individual sites, and the handbook shows a small must-use plugin that turns it back on through the enable_update_services_configuration filter. It also names Feed Shark as an alternative that pings more than 60 services.

#What WordPress does when it sends a ping

The behaviour lives in WordPress core, so it can be read in the code. When a post is published, _publish_post_hook() schedules a one-off WP-Cron event called do_pings. That event runs generic_ping(), which reads the ping_sites option line by line and calls weblog_ping() for every address. According to wp-includes/comment.php, weblog_ping() uses a timeout of 3 seconds per service. It first tries weblogUpdates.extendedPing with the site name, home URL and RSS feed URL, then falls back to weblogUpdates.ping with the site name and home URL. The address of the new post is not part of the request.

Two consequences follow from that code. The pings run in a cron request after publishing, outside the click on Publish, so a long list mainly lengthens that background job, by up to 3 seconds for each address that does not answer. And because only the home page and the feed travel in the ping, the receiving service has to fetch the feed itself to find out what changed.

Three settings stop pings without touching the list:

• Settings > Reading, “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. privacy_ping_filter() then returns an empty list, and Settings > Writing shows a notice that WordPress is not notifying any Update Services because of the site’s visibility settings.
• The enable_update_services_configuration filter. Returning false hides the Update Services section from Settings > Writing.
• The environment type, since WordPress 7.1. Core removes outgoing pingbacks, trackbacks and ping service notifications, and rejects incoming trackbacks and pingbacks, whenever wp_get_environment_type() returns something other than production, so for local, development and staging. The wp_should_disable_pings_for_environment filter can reverse that decision in either direction. A staging copy with WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE set correctly no longer pings Ping-O-Matic each time someone tests a post.

#Does Google still accept a sitemap ping

No. On June 26, 2023 Google announced on the Search Central blog that it was deprecating the sitemaps “ping” endpoint and that the endpoint would stop working within 6 months. The post explains that unauthenticated sitemap submissions “are not very useful” and that for Google Search “the vast majority of the submissions lead to spam”. Requests to the old address now return a 404 error. Google adds that existing code or plugins calling the endpoint cause no problems for Google Search, and that calling it does nothing useful either. Sitemaps reach Google through a Sitemap: line in robots.txt or through Search Console.

The same post covers the sitemap fields. Google uses lastmod as a signal for scheduling crawls of URLs it already knows, provided the date uses a supported format and matches the real last change of the page. Google “still doesn’t use the changefreq or priority elements at all”, so tuning priorities in a sitemap plugin has no effect on Google.

#How to check the ping_sites option with WP-CLI

On a site with an inherited configuration, the fastest audit runs from the command line with wp option get, wp option update and wp cron event list:

# what the Update Services field contains
wp option get ping_sites

# keep only the WordPress default
wp option update ping_sites 'https://rpc.pingomatic.com/'

# or stop service pings entirely
wp option update ping_sites ''

# 0 means "Discourage search engines" is on, so no pings are sent
wp option get blog_public

# is a do_pings event waiting in WP-Cron
wp cron event list --fields=hook,next_run_relative | grep do_pings

# the environment type WordPress 7.1 uses to decide about pings
wp eval 'echo wp_get_environment_type();'

On Multisite, add --url= with the address of the subsite to read or change its own option.

#History of pinging in WordPress since 2003

Knowing the history of pinging explains why the technique was considered effective for so long and why it is outdated today. It is also a good window into how the web evolved and how the approach to indexing content changed.

#How pinging worked from 2003 to 2008

In the early days of blogging, pinging was a new idea that changed how search engines found new content. When you published a new post, WordPress sent an XML-RPC signal to content aggregators. Those services then visited your site, indexed the content and published a link to your article in their directory. The whole process could take just a few minutes, which was unthinkable compared with the weeks of waiting for indexing through traditional methods.

A typical ping list from those years contained dozens or even hundreds of services. The most important ones were: http://rpc.pingomatic.com/, the aggregator of aggregators, which distributed pings to many services at once; http://technorati.com/ping/, then the most popular blog service and in effect a blog search engine; http://weblogs.com/, one of the first ping services, running since 1999; http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/, Google Blog Search, Google’s dedicated blog search engine; http://ping.feedburner.com/, FeedBurner, a service for managing RSS feeds; and http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2, Weblogs.com, a blog aggregator.

Pinging worked for a few key reasons that may seem obvious now but were a breakthrough at the time. First, search engines depended on external signals to discover new pages, because their own crawlers were far less advanced than today’s. Second, ping services often created backlinks to the pinged sites, which was a form of natural link building. Third, indexing was unprecedentedly fast: a post could be indexed within minutes, not hours or days.

#Why pinging lost its value between 2008 and 2015

As Google and its own crawler developed, pinging steadily lost importance. Googlebot learned to discover pages more efficiently by analysing links from already indexed pages, XML sitemaps and browser add-ons for webmasters. Ping services began closing one after another: Technorati left blog search, Google Blog Search disappeared, and FeedBurner lost relevance after Google acquired it.

During this period SEO plugins started promoting XML sitemaps as the preferred indexing method. Yoast SEO made automatic sitemap generation one of its key features. Somewhat paradoxically, this shift coincided with Google’s algorithms growing ever more complex, which pushed site owners towards a more thorough approach to technical SEO.

#How indexing changed from 2016 to 2026

The last decade brought a complete change in how indexing works. Google focused on Core Web Vitals and user experience as key ranking factors. The introduction of mobile-first indexing in 2019 forced site owners to go responsive and optimise for mobile. In 2026 Google promotes AI Overviews and expects Schema.org structured data for content that should appear in synthesised answers.

At the same time, Microsoft introduced the IndexNow protocol as an alternative to traditional pinging. IndexNow is far more advanced than the old RPC pings: it uses cryptographic keys to verify site ownership and supports notifications about deleted pages, not just new ones. Bing and Yandex actively promote the protocol, which makes it a real alternative to Google’s methods.

#Which indexing methods work in 2026

Rather than wasting time on outdated ping lists, focus on the methods that deliver results. Below is a detailed look at every modern indexing method, with practical implementation tips.

#1. XML sitemap in WordPress

The XML sitemap is the absolute baseline of any indexing strategy in 2026. It is an XML file listing every URL on your site, together with extra information such as the last modification date, change frequency and priority. SEO plugins generate sitemaps automatically and update them whenever content changes.

For standard WordPress sites:

Yoast SEO automatically generates /sitemap_index.xml plus separate sitemaps for individual content types. The Yoast sitemap structure includes post-sitemap.xml for posts, page-sitemap.xml for pages, category-sitemap.xml for categories, tag-sitemap.xml for tags, and many more for custom post types and taxonomies. Rank Math also uses /sitemap_index.xml as the entry point, as its sitemap documentation shows. All in One SEO generates /sitemap.xml as the main sitemap.

XML sitemap structure:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="https://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/post-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-01-29T10:00:00+00:00</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/page-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-01-28T15:30:00+00:00</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/category-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-01-29T08:00:00+00:00</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
  <sitemap>
    <loc>https://example.com/product-sitemap.xml</loc>
    <lastmod>2026-01-29T09:45:00+00:00</lastmod>
  </sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

Adding a sitemap to Google Search Console:

Adding a sitemap to Google Search Console is simple, but the details matter. First, sign in to Google Search Console and pick your site from the property list. Then open the “Sitemaps” section in the left-hand menu. In the “Add a new sitemap” field, enter the URL of your main sitemap, for example https://your-site.com/sitemap_index.xml for Yoast SEO and Rank Math, or https://your-site.com/sitemap.xml for All in One SEO. Click “Submit” and wait for confirmation. The Sitemaps report then shows when Google last read the file and how many URLs it found. Google gives no fixed indexing time: in its sitemaps overview it states that a sitemap helps it discover URLs but does not guarantee that every item will be crawled and indexed.

Advanced sitemap configuration:

// functions.php - zaawansowana konfiguracja sitemap w Yoast SEO

// Dostosuj priorytety w sitemap
add_filter( 'wpseo_sitemap_post_priorities', 'wppoland_sitemap_priorities' );
function wppoland_sitemap_priorities( $priorities ) {
    // Najwyższy priorytet dla strony głównej
    $priorities['home'] = '1.0';
    // Wysoki priorytet dla stron i wpisów
    $priorities['post'] = '0.8';
    $priorities['page'] = '0.8';
    // Średni priorytet dla produktów
    $priorities['product'] = '0.7';
    // Niższy priorytet dla archiwów
    $priorities['archive'] = '0.3';
    // Bardzo niski priorytet dla załączników
    $priorities['attachment'] = '0.1';
    return $priorities;
}

// Wyklucz określone strony z sitemap
add_filter( 'wpseo_sitemap_exclude_post_type', function( $exclude, $post_type ) {
    return $exclude || $post_type === 'nasz-wykluczony-typ';
}, 10, 2 );

// Dodaj niestandardowe URL do sitemap
add_filter( 'wpseo_sitemap_additional_urls', 'wppoland_custom_sitemap_urls' );
function wppoland_custom_sitemap_urls( $urls ) {
    $urls[] = [
        'loc' => 'https://twoja-strona.pl/strona-bez-wordpressa/',
        'prio' => 0.5,
        'changefreq' => 'monthly',
        'lastmod' => date( 'c' ),
    ];
    return $urls;
}

#2. Google Indexing API for job postings and livestreams

The Google Indexing API is an advanced tool for sites that need immediate indexing. It is a dedicated API that lets you notify Google directly about new, updated or deleted pages. According to Google’s quickstart, a notification lets Google schedule the page for a fresh crawl.

When the Indexing API is worth using:

The same quickstart limits the API to pages with JobPosting structured data or with BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject, so job boards and livestream pages. Product pages, events and property listings are outside that scope and should rely on the sitemap.

Implementing the Indexing API in WordPress:

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Indexing API for job postings
 * Save as: wp-content/mu-plugins/indexing-api-jobs.php
 */

// Google allows the Indexing API only for pages with JobPosting structured
// data or with BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject. Replace job_listing
// with the post type that outputs JobPosting markup on your site.
const WPPOLAND_INDEXING_API_POST_TYPES = [ 'job_listing' ];

add_action( 'transition_post_status', function ( $new_status, $old_status, $post ) {
    if ( ! in_array( $post->post_type, WPPOLAND_INDEXING_API_POST_TYPES, true ) ) {
        return; // posts, pages and products go through the sitemap
    }
    if ( 'publish' !== $new_status || wp_is_post_revision( $post ) ) {
        return;
    }

    // OAuth 2.0 access token of a service account with the scope
    // https://www.googleapis.com/auth/indexing
    $token = wppoland_indexing_api_token();
    if ( ! $token ) {
        return;
    }

    wp_remote_post( 'https://indexing.googleapis.com/v3/urlNotifications:publish', [
        'headers' => [
            'Authorization' => 'Bearer ' . $token,
            'Content-Type'  => 'application/json',
        ],
        'body'    => wp_json_encode( [
            'url'  => get_permalink( $post ),
            'type' => 'URL_UPDATED',
        ] ),
        'timeout' => 10,
    ] );
}, 10, 3 );

wppoland_indexing_api_token() stands for the OAuth flow with a service account created in Google Cloud Console. According to Google’s quickstart, the service account also has to be added as an owner of the property in Search Console; our article on Google Search Console and the Indexing API walks through the setup. When a listing expires, send the same request with the type URL_DELETED. Ordinary posts, pages and product pages are deliberately left out: for them the API is not intended, and the sitemap does the job.

Rank Math and the Indexing API:

Rank Math itself does not talk to the Google Indexing API. Its “Instant Indexing” module submits URLs to IndexNow-enabled search engines, as Rank Math’s IndexNow guide describes. For Google, the same team publishes a separate plugin, Instant Indexing for Google, and its own description notes that Google recommends the Indexing API only for job posting and live streaming sites. For any other content, the sitemap stays the right channel.

#3. IndexNow for Bing and Yandex

IndexNow is a protocol created by Microsoft that lets you notify search engines immediately about new and updated content. Unlike traditional pinging, IndexNow uses cryptographic keys to verify site ownership, which rules out fake notifications.

Supported search engines:

The IndexNow FAQ lists Amazon, Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz and Yandex among the participating search engines; Google does not take part. Microsoft actively promotes the protocol as an industry standard and encourages other search engines to adopt it. Yandex plays a small role in most Western markets, but it is widely used in Russia and neighbouring countries.

Implementing IndexNow in WordPress:

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: IndexNow on publish
 * Save as: wp-content/mu-plugins/indexnow.php
 * Requires define( 'INDEXNOW_KEY', '...' ); in wp-config.php
 * and the file <key>.txt containing only that key in the site root.
 */
add_action( 'transition_post_status', function ( $new_status, $old_status, $post ) {
    if ( 'publish' !== $new_status || ! defined( 'INDEXNOW_KEY' ) ) {
        return;
    }
    if ( wp_is_post_revision( $post ) || ! is_post_publicly_viewable( $post ) ) {
        return;
    }
    $response = wp_remote_post( 'https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow', [
        'headers' => [ 'Content-Type' => 'application/json; charset=utf-8' ],
        'body'    => wp_json_encode( [
            'host'        => wp_parse_url( home_url(), PHP_URL_HOST ),
            'key'         => INDEXNOW_KEY,
            'keyLocation' => home_url( '/' . INDEXNOW_KEY . '.txt' ),
            'urlList'     => [ get_permalink( $post ) ],
        ] ),
        'timeout' => 10,
    ] );
    if ( is_wp_error( $response ) ) {
        error_log( 'IndexNow: ' . $response->get_error_message() );
    }
}, 10, 3 );

A mu-plugin loads on every request and has no activation step, so the key file is created once by hand rather than from register_activation_hook(), which only fires for a regular plugin’s main file. The key travels in the request body and in the key file; it does not belong in a <meta> tag. If Rank Math or All in One SEO already sends IndexNow, skip this code, otherwise every URL is reported twice.

Creating the IndexNow key file:

According to the IndexNow documentation, the key must be 8 to 128 characters long and may contain only the letters a-z and A-Z, digits and dashes. Save it as a UTF-8 text file named after the key, for example abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr.txt, in the root of the domain, and put only the key inside. Search engines fetch that file to confirm that the key belongs to the site. A response of 202 means the URL was received and the key check is still pending.

#4. Submitting your RSS feed to aggregators

RSS feeds remain an important content distribution channel in 2026, although their role in indexing is smaller than it used to be. Feed aggregators such as Feedly, Bloglovin’ and Inoreader automatically fetch and index content from subscribed feeds, which can help search engines discover a site sooner.

WordPress feed URLs:

WordPress automatically generates several types of feeds for your site. The main feed for the whole site lives at https://your-site.com/feed/. A feed for a specific category is https://your-site.com/category/category-name/feed/. A feed for a tag is https://your-site.com/tag/tag-name/feed/. A feed for a specific author is https://your-site.com/author/author-name/feed/. A feed for a custom post type is https://your-site.com/feed?post_type=type-name.

Registering feeds with aggregators:

Feedly (https://feedly.com) is the most popular RSS aggregator in the world. Users only need to enter your feed URL in Feedly to get automatic notifications about new content. Feedly also indexes feeds in its own search, which can increase the visibility of your content. Bloglovin’ (https://www.bloglovin.com) is popular with bloggers and people who follow trends. Inoreader (https://inoreader.com) offers advanced automation features and can be used to set up alerts for specific keywords.

#5. WordPress embeds and oEmbed

oEmbed is a protocol that lets one site embed content from another without copying HTML code. When another site links to your article using oEmbed, it signals to search engines that your content is valuable and worth indexing.

WordPress automatically supports oEmbed for many popular services, including YouTube, Twitter/X, Instagram, Vimeo and many others. If another WordPress site links to your article, WordPress automatically tries to fetch the metadata and show a preview of your article. This process generates signals that can help with indexing.

#6. Submitting to Google News and industry indexes

For specialised content, it is worth considering submission to dedicated indexes and industry directories. Google News (https://news.google.com) is a news index that is particularly valuable for sites publishing news and current information. Bing News is the Microsoft equivalent. Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com) is an index of academic publications, ideal for scientific content. Industry-specific directories can be valuable for particular niches.

#Sitemap vs Indexing API vs IndexNow compared

The right indexing method depends on the type of site, how often it is updated and the resources available. The table below compares all the methods discussed:

Recommendations by site type:

For a personal blog, an XML sitemap plus Google Search Console is enough. Pingomatic is optional but will not hurt. Avoid adding hundreds of ping services to the list in WordPress.

For an online shop, an XML sitemap with accurate lastmod values does the work; product pages are outside the scope of the Google Indexing API. IndexNow for Bing is optional.

For a job board, the Indexing API is essential. Job listings lose value if they are not indexed immediately. Set up URL_UPDATED notifications for updates and URL_DELETED for removed listings.

For a multilingual site, set up separate sitemaps for each language. Use hreflang in the HTML. Submit each sitemap separately to Google Search Console.

For a local business site, an XML sitemap plus links from your Google Business Profile are key. Consider LocalBusiness Schema.org markup. Submit the site to local directories.

#How to optimise indexing in WordPress

#Sitemaps in Yoast SEO, Rank Math and All in One SEO

Yoast SEO is the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress, with more than 12 million active installations. It automatically generates /sitemap_index.xml with all content types. It offers Google Search Console integration directly from the WordPress dashboard. It updates the sitemap automatically when you publish new posts. It has built-in schema.org and E-E-A-T features. It requires WordPress 6.0 or later.

Rank Math is a lighter, increasingly popular alternative. Its sitemap index also lives at /sitemap_index.xml, with separate sitemaps per content type. Its built-in “Instant Indexing” module sends IndexNow notifications; Google Indexing API support comes only from the separate Instant Indexing for Google plugin. It offers automatic notifications about new content. It has built-in support for Schema.org and local SEO. It is compatible with WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.

All in One SEO is a simple plugin for beginners. It generates /sitemap.xml with basic data. It offers settings import and export. It has a simple step-by-step setup wizard. The Pro version adds WooCommerce integration and Video SEO.

#How to send IndexNow and pings automatically on publish

<?php
/**
 * Automatyzacja indeksacji w WordPress
 * Ten kod dodaje automatyczne powiadomienia przy publikacji
 */

// Wywołaj powiadomienie przy każdej publikacji
add_action( 'publish_post', 'wppoland_notify_indexing_services' );
add_action( 'publish_page', 'wppoland_notify_indexing_services' );
add_action( 'publish_product', 'wppoland_notify_indexing_services' );
add_action( 'publish_job', 'wppoland_notify_indexing_services' );

function wppoland_notify_indexing_services( $post_id ) {
    // Pomiń rewizje
    if ( wp_is_post_revision( $post_id ) ) return;

    // Pomiń automatyczne zapiski
    if ( wp_is_post_autosave( $post_id ) ) return;

    // Pomiń wpisy z noindex
    if ( get_post_meta( $post_id, '_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex', true ) ) return;

    $url = get_permalink( $post_id );

    // 1. Pingomatic (tradycyjny ping - niskie znaczenie)
    wp_remote_post( 'https://rpc.pingomatic.com/', [
        'body' => xmlrpc_encode_request( 'weblogUpdates.ping', [ get_bloginfo( 'name' ), $url ] ),
        'timeout' => 5,
    ]);

    // 2. IndexNow dla Bing (jeśli skonfigurowany)
    if ( defined( 'INDEXNOW_API_KEY' ) && ! empty( INDEXNOW_API_KEY ) ) {
        wp_remote_post( 'https://www.bing.com/indexnow', [
            'body' => json_encode([
                'host' => parse_url( get_site_url(), PHP_URL_HOST ),
                'key' => INDEXNOW_API_KEY,
                'urlList' => [ $url ],
            ]),
            'headers' => [
                'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
            ],
            'timeout' => 10,
        ]);
    }

    // 3. Google Indexing API: only for job postings and livestreams,
    //    handled by the mu-plugin from the Indexing API section.

    log_indexing_notification( $post_id, $url );
}

/**
 * Logowanie powiadomień indeksacji
 */
function log_indexing_notification( $post_id, $url ) {
    if ( defined( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG' ) && WP_DEBUG_LOG ) {
        error_log( sprintf( '[Indexing] Powiadomienie wysłane dla: %s (ID: %d)', $url, $post_id ) );
    }
}

#What is changing in indexing in 2026

#How Core Web Vitals and AI Overviews affect indexing

2026 brings several significant changes in how search engines index and evaluate websites. Understanding these trends will help you adapt your indexing strategy to current requirements.

Core Web Vitals carry more weight, a trend continuing from previous years. Slow pages get indexed less often, because Googlebot has a limited crawl budget and prefers pages that load quickly. The current Core Web Vitals are LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), INP (Interaction to Next Paint) and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift). INP replaced FID (First Input Delay) as a Core Web Vital on 12 March 2024, as web.dev announced. Optimise images, minimise JavaScript and use lazy loading to improve your Core Web Vitals.

AI Overviews in Google is a feature that shows synthesised AI answers to user queries. For your content to be included in AI Overviews, it needs to be well structured and carry Schema.org data. Implement JSON-LD schema for articles, products, FAQ, HowTo and other content types. Unique, in-depth content has a better chance of appearing in synthesised answers.

Mobile-first indexing is now the standard rather than a trend. Google primarily indexes the mobile version of a site. Make sure your site is fully responsive and all content is available on mobile devices. Avoid hiding content on mobile with display: none, as it can hurt indexing.

Multi-modal indexing means Google gives growing weight to images and video during indexing. Optimise alt text for images, use modern formats (WebP, AVIF) and add transcripts for video. VideoObject structured data for videos can noticeably improve visibility in search results.

#How to prepare your site for indexing changes

To be ready for future changes in indexing, put these practices in place now: implement JSON-LD schema for every content type on the site, not only products and articles but also organisations, people, BreadcrumbList and other relevant types; optimise LCP and CLS by monitoring Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console and using tools such as PageSpeed Insights; use modern image formats such as WebP and AVIF, which compress better without quality loss; build natural internal links with appropriate anchor text between topically related pages; follow algorithm changes through Google’s official blogs and SEO industry publications.

#How to check whether a page is indexed in Google and Bing

#Indexing reports in Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free Google tool that is absolutely essential for managing a site’s indexing. Its “Sitemaps” report shows the status of every submitted sitemap and the number of indexed URLs. The “Pages” report shows which pages are indexed and which were excluded for reasons such as noindex, duplicate content or robots.txt issues. The “URL Inspection” tool lets you check the indexing status of a single URL and request reindexing. The “Core Web Vitals” report shows how site performance affects indexing and ranking.

#Indexing reports in Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools is the Bing equivalent of Google Search Console. It offers a “Sitemaps” report with sitemap status, a “URL Index” report with indexing details, IndexNow API integration and tools for diagnosing indexing problems.

#How to submit sitemap URLs with a bash script

Google has no public endpoint that accepts arbitrary URLs from a script. Its only endpoint for single URLs is the Indexing API, https://indexing.googleapis.com/v3/urlNotifications:publish, which needs an OAuth token of a service account and is limited to job postings and livestreams. For everything else, submit the sitemap in Search Console. What a script can do is send the URLs from a sitemap to IndexNow, which accepts up to 10,000 URLs per POST request according to the IndexNow FAQ:

#!/bin/bash
# indexnow-from-sitemap.sh: send the URLs of one sitemap to IndexNow
SITEMAP_URL="https://example.com/post-sitemap.xml"
HOST="example.com"
KEY="abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr"

URLS=$(curl -s "$SITEMAP_URL" | grep -o '<loc>[^<]*</loc>' | sed -e 's/<loc>//' -e 's/<\/loc>//' | head -100)

JSON=$(printf '%s\n' $URLS | jq -R . | jq -s --arg host "$HOST" --arg key "$KEY" \
  '{host: $host, key: $key, keyLocation: ("https://" + $host + "/" + $key + ".txt"), urlList: .}')

curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' -X POST "https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8' \
  -d "$JSON"

The script needs curl and jq. It reads a sub-sitemap such as post-sitemap.xml, because the index file lists sitemaps, not pages.

#What speeds up indexing in Google instead of pinging

#Myths about pinging in WordPress

MYTH #1: “You need to ping 100 services”. FACT: Pingomatic alone is enough, or switch it off entirely. Traditional ping lists are outdated and ineffective.

MYTH #2: “Pinging = faster indexing in Google”. FACT: Google uses sitemaps and its crawler, not RPC pings. Pinging may help with smaller search engines, but not with Google.

MYTH #3: “The more pings, the better”. FACT: Inactive ping services lengthen the background ping job and add pointless outgoing connections.

MYTH #4: “You have to submit every page manually”. FACT: Automatic sitemaps and APIs are far more effective than manual submissions.

#Which indexing methods work best

First place, with the highest priority, goes to the XML sitemap: the foundation that must be set up correctly on every WordPress site. Second is Google Search Console, required to monitor and manage indexing in Google. Third is the Google Indexing API, essential for job listings and livestream pages. Fourth is IndexNow, recommended for better visibility in Bing. Fifth is internal linking, the best way to guide crawlers naturally through the site. Sixth is content quality: unique content attracts crawlers and links.

#Recommended indexing setup for WordPress

// Recommended indexing setup in 2026

// 1. Use an SEO plugin (Yoast or Rank Math) with an automatic sitemap
// 2. Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console
// 3. Google Indexing API only for job postings (JobPosting) and livestreams (BroadcastEvent)
// 4. Set up IndexNow for Bing (optional)
// 5. Leave ping_sites empty or with Pingomatic only
// 6. Focus on content quality and internal linking

// Settings > Writing > Update Services:
// Keep only: https://rpc.pingomatic.com/
// Or clear the field entirely

// Rank Math > Instant Indexing sends IndexNow, not the Google Indexing API.
// For Google: the separate plugin Instant Indexing for Google,
// with service account credentials from Google Cloud Console.

#How to speed up indexing of a new page

#What to check before publishing a new page

• Check that the page has unique content (at least 300 words for articles)
• Make sure there is no noindex tag in the SEO settings
• Check that the page is accessible to Googlebot (robots.txt)
• Add at least one internal link to the new page from another page
• Make sure the URL is SEO friendly and contains the keyword

#What to do after publishing a page

• Check the Sitemaps report in Search Console to confirm Google has read the sitemap; Google publishes no fixed waiting time for indexing
• If it is urgent, submit the URL through Google Search Console (the “URL Inspection” tool)
• For job listings and livestreams, use the Indexing API
• Monitor the status in Google Search Console under “Pages”
• Check whether the page shows up in site:your-domain.com results

#Why a page is not indexed and how to fix it

#Conclusions

Pinging in WordPress is a relic of the past, and in 2026 it matters very little for indexing. Instead of worrying about ping service lists and maintaining outdated “Update Services” lists, focus on modern indexing methods that actually deliver results.

A properly configured XML sitemap is the foundation, and it has to be set up correctly and submitted to Google Search Console. The Google Indexing API is essential for job boards and livestream pages. IndexNow offers a simple alternative for faster indexing in Bing. Content quality and internal linking are the factors that most affect how well indexing works.

You can leave Update Services in WordPress empty or keep only https://rpc.pingomatic.com/. Do not add any other services: they will not help and they only lengthen the background ping job. Instead, invest your time in optimising sitemaps, configuring Google Search Console and creating valuable content that naturally attracts links and search engine crawlers.

Keywords: WordPress pinging, ping list, Update Services, XML Sitemap, Google Indexing API, IndexNow, pingomatic, Google indexing, Google Search Console, Yoast SEO sitemap, Rank Math Instant Indexing, ping services, RPC ping, site indexing, SEO indexing 2026, sitemap.xml, submit sitemap, how to get a site indexed, fast indexing, shop indexing, job listing indexing, Core Web Vitals, E-E-A-T.

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