Submitting URLs via an indexing API

What a submission request does

A submission request hands a list of URLs to an indexing service and asks it to get them crawled. Over an API this is a single authenticated POST with a JSON body. The service accepts the job, returns an identifier and processes the URLs in the background, so the caller never holds a connection open while crawling happens. That shape is common to most backlink indexer APIs; the field names differ between vendors.

This guide uses the IndexChex v1 interface as the worked example. IndexChex publishes this handbook and documents the same endpoint on its API reference. Its role is to submit URLs for Googlebot crawling; it does not use Google's Indexing API, which Google limits to job-posting and livestream pages.

Endpoint and headers

Sending Accept: application/json matters: it makes validation failures come back as JSON instead of a redirect. Key handling is covered in API keys and security.

Request body

Standard submission costs 1 credit per URL and standard jobs complete within 24 hours. Instant submission costs 60 credits per URL. A scheduled check adds 1 credit per URL, reserved up front. URLs that are not valid web addresses are dropped; if none remain the job is refused.

curl example

curl -X POST https://indexchex.com/api/v1/index-submit/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: $INDEXCHEX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Guest posts, week 41",
    "urls": [
      "https://example.org/guest-post-a",
      "https://example.net/resource-page"
    ],
    "checker": 3
  }'

Python example

import os
import requests

API = "https://indexchex.com/api"
HEADERS = {
    "Authorization": os.environ["INDEXCHEX_API_KEY"],
    "Accept": "application/json",
}

def submit(urls, name=None, instant=False, check_after_days=0):
    payload = {"urls": urls, "instantIndex": instant, "checker": check_after_days}
    if name:
        payload["name"] = name
    r = requests.post(f"{API}/v1/index-submit/jobs", json=payload,
                      headers=HEADERS, timeout=30)
    if r.status_code != 202:
        raise RuntimeError(f"{r.status_code}: {r.json().get('message')}")
    return r.json()

job = submit(["https://example.org/guest-post-a"], name="Week 41", check_after_days=3)
print(job["job_id"], job["status"])

The requests library sets Content-Type: application/json automatically when json= is used.

The 202 response

A successful call returns HTTP 202 Accepted:

{
  "job_id": 48211,
  "status": "pending",
  "total_urls": 2,
  "submitted_urls": 0,
  "successful_count": 0,
  "failed_count": 0,
  "name": "Guest posts, week 41",
  "queued_at": "2026-10-08T09:14:02+00:00",
  "scheduled_check_days": 3,
  "scheduled_check_status": "pending",
  "scheduled_check_at": "2026-10-11T09:14:02+00:00"
}

Persist job_id before doing anything else. It is the only handle for polling the job, and if it is lost the job can only be found again in the dashboard. The three scheduled_check_* fields are null when checker was 0 or omitted.

Choosing standard or instant

Standard mode suits bulk backlink lists, where cost per URL matters more than minutes. Instant mode suits a small number of URLs that need a crawl right away, such as a launch page or a newly placed paid link. IndexChex's weekly measurements on recurring URL sets (as of October 2026) average an 85%+ indexation rate for standard mode and 95%+ of URLs indexed within 5 to 10 minutes for instant mode. These are averages, not guarantees: IndexChex guarantees Googlebot crawling, and whether a page is indexed remains Google's decision.

Practical rules

• Deduplicate before sending. Every URL in the array is charged, so strip repeats and tracking parameters client side.
• Split by mode and by limit. Lists longer than 10,000 URLs, or 1,000 for instant, must be cut into several jobs. Rate limits and batching shows a chunking helper.
• Prefer a scheduled check over a manual one. Setting checker to 3 to 5 days lets the indexing report arrive without a second job; for one-off verification see checking index status via an API.
• Do not resend on timeout without checking. A request that timed out on the client may still have created a job. Look at recent jobs before submitting the same list again, as described in handling API errors.

Where this fits

Submission is one step in an automated loop: submit, poll, check, resubmit what is still missing. Teams already on SpeedyIndex can run the same loop through the compatible v2 interface; see migrating a SpeedyIndex integration. For what separates scripted access from dashboard-only tools, read what backlink indexer software is, and for the account-level view see the IndexChex software and API entry.