When and How to Use Manual Submission

While InstaIndex automates the process of notifying search engines about changes to your Shopify store, there are situations where you might need to use manual submission. Understanding when and how to use this feature ensures that your content is effectively communicated to search engines, maintaining optimal visibility for your store.

When to Use Manual Submission

Manual submission is typically not necessary if automatic submissions are active and functioning correctly. However, you might consider using manual submission in the following scenarios:

• Special Cases: If you're on a legacy plan that doesn't support automatic submission for blog posts and pages, manual submission allows you to notify search engines about updates to these content types.
• Monthly Submission Limit Reached: If you've exceeded your plan's monthly limit for automatic submissions, you can use manual submission to ensure critical updates are still communicated.
• Finer Control Over Submissions: If you prefer to select specific URLs to submit and have disabled automatic submissions, manual submission gives you the control to notify search engines about particular changes.
• Recent Significant Changes Before Installation: If you made important updates shortly before installing InstaIndex, such as bulk importing new products, you can manually submit these URLs to inform search engines promptly.

In these cases, it's best to submit URLs within a few minutes of making the changes to align with the intended use of the IndexNow protocol.

How to Use Manual Submission

InstaIndex allows you to manually submit up to 10,000 URLs at once, making it efficient for bulk updates. Here's how you can manually submit URLs:

Submitting Individual Items from Shopify Admin

To manually submit a single product, collection, blog post, or page:

1. Navigate to the Item: In your Shopify admin, go to the specific product, collection, blog post, or page you wish to submit.
2. Access More Actions: At the top of the item's page, click on the "More actions" dropdown menu.
3. Submit to IndexNow: Select "Submit to IndexNow" from the dropdown options. This action will notify all supported search engines about the changes to that specific item.

Bulk Submitting Multiple Products or Collections

To manually submit multiple products or collections:

1. Go to Products or Collections: In your Shopify admin, navigate to the Products or Collections page.
2. Select Items: Use the checkboxes to select the items you want to submit. Due to Shopify limitations, you can select up to 50 items at a time.
3. Choose Submit Action: Click on the "Actions" dropdown menu and select "Submit to IndexNow". This will submit all selected items to the supported search engines.

Important Considerations

• Avoid Submitting Unchanged URLs: Manually submitting URLs that haven't changed is discouraged. Doing so is considered misuse of the IndexNow protocol and may lead to penalties from search engines.
• Use Sitemaps for Existing URLs: For existing content that hasn't recently changed, submit your sitemap to search engines. This allows them to become aware of all your URLs and index them at their own pace, complementing the real-time updates handled by InstaIndex.
• Manual Submission Is Not a Replacement for Automatic Submission: Rely on automatic submissions whenever possible, as they ensure timely and efficient communication with search engines without additional effort on your part.

Summary

Manual submission is a valuable feature for specific situations where automatic submissions are insufficient or unavailable. By understanding when and how to use it appropriately, you can maintain effective communication with search engines, ensuring your store's content remains visible and up-to-date.

If you have any questions or need assistance with manual submissions or any other feature of InstaIndex, please don't hesitate to contact our support team—we're here to help!