Two very different tools share almost the same name — the Google Indexing API and a link indexing service. Confusing them can cost you weeks of dev time on a solution that will never work for your use case. This guide sets them apart cleanly, with a decision matrix at the end.
What the Google Indexing API is
The Indexing API is a Google-hosted endpoint you can call to notify Google that a URL on your verified property was added or removed. It is officially limited to two content types: JobPosting and BroadcastEvent. It has a daily quota (default 200/day), needs a Google Cloud service account, an OAuth 2.0 flow, JSON credentials, and code to sign requests.
Google's documentation is explicit: the Indexing API is intended for JobPosting and BroadcastEvent schema. Using it for other content types is unsupported and results vary from "works fine" to "gets ignored."
In practice, SEOs have used it for arbitrary pages for years. Sometimes Google honours the ping; sometimes it silently drops it. There is no per-URL status reporting the way a dedicated indexer provides.
What a link indexing service is
A link indexing service (also called a URL indexer or crawler-signal service) is a hosted tool that dispatches a legitimate crawl signal to Google for any URL you submit — your own or someone else's. See our full what is a URL indexing tool primer.
No OAuth, no service account, no daily quota tied to a Google Cloud project. Paste URLs into a dashboard, get live per-URL status back. Works for backlinks on domains you do not own — which is the entire point for link builders.
The core differences (side by side)
| Attribute | Google Indexing API | Link indexing service |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Third-party (e.g. IndexMyLink) | |
| Officially supports | JobPosting, BroadcastEvent | Any public URL |
| Works on backlinks? | No — verified properties only | Yes — any URL |
| Setup | Service account + OAuth + code | Paste URLs, submit |
| Daily quota | 200/day default | Whatever your credit balance allows |
| Per-URL status | No detailed status | Live per-URL status + history |
| Cost | Free (Google-side) + dev time | Pay-per-link, from $1.00 (₹2)/link |
| Best for | Job boards, event sites with proper schema | Link builders, SEOs, publishers, agencies |
Cost comparison — real numbers
The API is technically free on Google's side. In reality the cost is your developer's time to build, maintain and monitor the integration — plus the opportunity cost of the URLs it silently ignores.
- Google Indexing API: $0 in API fees. Roughly 4–8 hours of dev time to set up cleanly. Ongoing monitoring for OAuth token expiry, quota errors, silent drops.
- Link indexing service (IndexMyLink): $1.00 (₹2) – $1.00 (₹9) per link (~$0.02 – $0.10). Zero dev time. Pay only when you index.
For a business indexing 3,000 URLs a month, the service cost is roughly $63.16 ($1.00 (₹6),000) – $284 ($1.00 (₹27),000) (~$70 – $320). Cheaper than one hour of developer time for the API setup, and far cheaper than dealing with the API's limits every week. Full pricing math in the pay-per-link vs subscription comparison.
Setup difficulty
Google Indexing API — hard
- Create a Google Cloud project.
- Enable the Indexing API on the project.
- Create a service account, generate a JSON key.
- Add the service account as an owner in Search Console for each property.
- Write code (Node/Python/PHP) to sign OAuth 2.0 JWT requests.
- Handle rate limits, token refresh, error retries, quota alerts.
Reasonable for a developer, out of reach for most SEOs and marketing teams.
Link indexing service — easy
- Sign up (email only).
- Paste up to 100 URLs into the dashboard.
- Click submit. Watch live status.
30 seconds from account creation to first crawl signal dispatched.
Which to pick for which job
| Your job | Pick |
|---|---|
| Job board publishing 500+ postings/day with proper JobPosting schema | Google Indexing API (its intended use case) |
| Live-event site with BroadcastEvent schema | Google Indexing API |
| Indexing backlinks on third-party domains | Link indexing service (only option) |
| Indexing blog posts, product pages, landing pages | Link indexing service — simpler, no code |
| Bulk indexing 1,000+ URLs at once | Link indexing service — API quotas are a bottleneck |
| Agency work across multiple client domains | Link indexing service — one account, all clients |
| Marketing team without a developer | Link indexing service |
Why pay-as-you-go matters here
If you pick a link indexing service, the next decision is billing. Most legacy services charge a monthly subscription with a fixed quota that resets whether you used it or not. Pay-as-you-go flips this: buy credits when you need them, keep unused credits forever.
For anyone whose indexing volume is not perfectly steady — which is basically every SEO team — pay-as-you-go is dramatically cheaper across a year. Full breakdown: Google link indexer: pay-per-link vs subscription.
Try before you build
If you were about to invest a day setting up the Indexing API for regular pages, pause. Grab 5 free credits on IndexMyLink first, push 5 stubborn URLs through, and see the indexation rate 24–72 hours later. If it works — you saved a day. If it doesn't — you kept the free credits and you still have the API option.
Index your links in under 60 seconds
IndexMyLink pushes any URL or backlink straight into Google's crawl pipeline — pay per link, no subscription. 5 free credits. No card. No subscription. Any URL — your own or a backlink.
Start free — get 5 links →Frequently asked questions
Can I use the Indexing API for non-job pages?
Officially no. Some SEOs try it and see mixed results — Google may honour or silently drop the request. For reliable indexing of general pages, a link indexing service is the safer choice.
Does a link indexing service work on backlinks?
Yes — it can push any public URL, which is exactly why link builders use it on backlinks they built on third-party domains.
Is a link indexing service safe?
A white-hat service using legitimate crawl signals is safe. Avoid tools that mention tier-2 blasts or bookmarking farms.
Which is faster — API or service?
Both dispatch in seconds. The API is limited to 200 URLs/day per project by default; a link indexing service scales with your credit balance, not with an API quota.
Can I combine both?
Yes — some publishers use the Indexing API for their own JobPosting/BroadcastEvent content and a link indexing service for everything else. They solve different problems.