Back in 2018, I published a list of the top 10 ping sites to help you get your blog indexed faster. A lot has changed since then. Most of those tools are gone, and the ones that remain no longer do much for Google.
So I rewrote this post from scratch. You will learn what pinging was, why it stopped working, and what I use today to get new pages indexed within days instead of weeks.
Quick answer: Ping sites do not help you get indexed on Google in 2026. Google ignores them, and it even shut down its own sitemap ping feature in 2023. To get indexed fast, submit a sitemap in Google Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool for important pages, and turn on IndexNow for Bing and other search engines.
What Is a Ping, and Why Did Ping Sites Stop Mattering?
A ping is a small automatic message that tells a service “my site has new content.” In the early blogging days, ping services like Ping-o-Matic passed that message to blog search engines and directories. Those services would then come and look at your new post.
Ping sites made this easy. You pasted your URL, picked a list of services, and hit submit. That was useful when blog directories mattered and search engines discovered content slowly.
Here is why that no longer works:
- Google never relied on these networks. Google finds pages by crawling links and reading sitemaps, not by listening to blog ping services.
- Google shut down its own ping feature. In June 2023, Google announced it was retiring the sitemap ping endpoint. It said most of these unverified pings were spam and not useful. Since early 2024, those pings simply return an error.
- Most ping sites have disappeared. The blog directories they fed are mostly gone, and many “ping to 2,000+ sites” tools now look like link spam.
- FeedBurner is effectively retired. I used to recommend Google’s FeedBurner ping page. Google put FeedBurner into maintenance mode in 2021, so it is no longer an option.
The idea behind pinging is still alive, though. It just moved to verified tools you control, which I cover below.
Should You Still Use Ping Sites?
You do not need to, but one is harmless. WordPress already pings Ping-o-Matic for you every time you publish. You can see it under Settings > Writing > Update Services, where http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ is listed by default.
My advice:
- Leave the default Ping-o-Matic entry alone. It costs nothing and needs no setup.
- Do not paste long ping lists into Update Services. Most of those addresses are dead and just slow down publishing.
- Avoid tools that promise to ping your URL to thousands of sites or build backlinks for you. They will not help indexing, and the links they create are low quality.
If a page is not getting indexed, the fix is almost never another ping. Use the methods in the next section instead.
5 Ways to Get Your Pages Indexed Fast in 2026
These are the methods I use on my own sites. Do the first three once, and every new post benefits automatically.
| Method | Helps with | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| XML sitemap in Google Search Console | One-time setup | |
| URL Inspection “Request Indexing” | Per page, a few a day | |
| IndexNow | Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, Yep | One-time plugin setup |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Bing and Bing-powered AI search | One-time setup |
| Internal links from strong pages | All search engines | Every new post |
1. Submit Your XML Sitemap to Google Search Console
A sitemap is a list of all the pages you want search engines to find. WordPress creates one automatically, and SEO plugins like Rank Math, Yoast and AIOSEO make a better one.
Add your site to Google Search Console, open Sitemaps, and submit your sitemap URL (usually /sitemap_index.xml or /wp-sitemap.xml). Google will check it regularly from then on.
One tip from Google itself: make sure each page’s “last modified” date in the sitemap only changes when you really update the page. Google uses that date to decide what to recrawl.
2. Use URL Inspection for Important Pages
This is the closest thing to a “ping” that Google still offers. In Search Console, paste your page URL into the search bar at the top, wait for the check, and click Request Indexing.
Use it for new or freshly updated pages that matter most. Google gives you only a small number of requests per day, and a request does not guarantee indexing. It just puts your page in the queue.
3. Turn On IndexNow
IndexNow is the modern version of pinging. When you publish or update a page, your site instantly tells participating search engines about it. One submission is shared with all of them: Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam and Yep.
Google does not support IndexNow yet, so think of it as an extra for everything outside Google.
On WordPress, you can turn it on with:
- Rank Math: the Instant Indexing module
- AIOSEO: the IndexNow feature
- IndexNow plugin: the free official plugin from Microsoft Bing
4. Add Your Site to Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools lets you import your site straight from Google Search Console in a couple of clicks. You can then submit your sitemap and individual URLs.
This matters more than it used to. Bing’s index powers Microsoft Copilot and is widely reported to feed ChatGPT’s web search. Being indexed on Bing helps your content show up in AI answers, not just in Bing results.
5. Link to New Pages From Pages That Already Rank
Search engines discover new pages mostly by following links. When you publish something new, add a link to it from two or three of your older, popular posts. This is often the fastest way to get Google to crawl a new page, and it also helps the new page rank.
Still Not Indexed? Check These First
If a page stays out of Google for weeks, there is usually a reason that no ping can fix. Open the page in URL Inspection and look at what Search Console says. The most common causes:
- The page is blocked. A
noindextag, a robots.txt rule, or the “Discourage search engines” box in Settings > Reading stops indexing completely. - Wrong canonical. The page points to another URL as the main version, so Google indexes that one instead.
- “Crawled, currently not indexed.” Google saw the page but did not think it was worth adding. Make it more useful, more original, or merge it with a similar page.
- “Discovered, currently not indexed.” Google knows the page exists but has not crawled it yet. More internal links usually help.
- Thin or duplicate content. Short pages, tag archives and near-copies of other posts often get skipped.
- The site is very new. New sites get crawled less. Keep publishing helpful content and earning a few links, and crawling picks up over time.
FAQ
Do ping sites still work in 2026?
Not for Google. Google does not use blog ping services, and it retired its own sitemap ping in 2023. A few ping services still run, but they will not speed up indexing in a way you will notice.
Can pinging my site too often cause a penalty?
There is no evidence that pinging itself causes a Google penalty. It is simply wasted effort. The real risk comes from “mass ping” tools that also create spammy backlinks.
What replaced ping sites?
For Google: an XML sitemap in Search Console plus URL Inspection. For Bing and other engines: IndexNow, which is a verified, modern version of pinging.
Does Google support IndexNow?
No. As of 2026, IndexNow works with Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam and Yep, but not Google. Use it alongside your sitemap, not instead of it.
How long does it take Google to index a new page?
It can be a few hours or a few weeks. Sites that publish often and have good internal links usually get new pages indexed within a few days.
Is the Ping-o-Matic entry in WordPress safe to keep?
Yes. It is the WordPress default and does no harm. Just do not add long lists of extra ping services.
Conclusion
Ping sites were a smart shortcut in 2012. In 2026, they are a leftover from the blog directory era. Google does not listen to them, and most of the tools I recommended years ago are gone.
What works now is simple: submit your sitemap in Google Search Console, request indexing for your most important pages, turn on IndexNow, add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools, and link to new posts from your best content. Set these up once, and your new pages will get found faster on Google, Bing and the AI tools that rely on them.
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