IndexNow with WPEngine

Hello,

We apologize for the issue you are facing with the 403 errors while using IndexNow on your WPEngine-hosted website. It sounds like you’ve already done a thorough job of checking the API key and ensuring that it is accessible.

The 403 Forbidden error can often occur if the text file containing the API key has not been created automatically or if there are restrictions in place that prevent access to it. Here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue further:

1. Check API Key Location: Ensure that the API key is correctly placed in the root directory of your website. You can verify this by clicking on the Check Key button in Rank Math to see if it opens the correct API key location.
   

2. Review IndexNow History: Check the IndexNow History tab in Rank Math’s Instant Indexing settings to see if there are any specific error messages associated with the URLs you are trying to submit. A “200 – OK” response indicates successful submission, while other codes may provide insight into what’s going wrong.
   

3. Plugin Conflicts: Sometimes, other plugins can interfere with the functionality of Rank Math. Try temporarily disabling other plugins to see if that resolves the issue.

4. Server Configuration: Since WPEngine has specific configurations, it might be worth asking them to check if there are any server-level rules or security settings that could be blocking the requests from Rank Math.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, we recommend replying to your ticket, and a human agent from the Rank Math Support team will be able to assist you further.

Thank you for raising this concern, and we hope to help you get this resolved soon!

Sources:
How to Fix 403 Forbidden Error with IndexNow » Rank Math

Hello,

Just to make sure this is not something with our plugin, please try using the plugin that Bing created for this purpose (https://wordpress.org/plugins/indexnow/) on the website, and if that is also failing, we can be sure it’s not only related to our plugin but with the submission on your website.

Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Hello,

In this case, we might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress & FTP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.

Please do take a complete backup of your website before sharing the information with us.

It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/

You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/

We really look forward to helping you.

Hello,

We changed the API Key from Rank Math SEO > Instant Indexing > Settings and saved the changes. Then, we tried to submit multiple URLs, and they returned a 202 response.

Please check and confirm it also works for you.

We look forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks.

Hello,

The API key file doesn’t exist in your site’s root directory and that’s why IndexNow is returning a 403 error. Please follow this guide to create a physical file: https://rankmath.com/kb/fix-403-forbidden-error-indexnow/#add-txt-file-manually

Please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.

Hello,

The official IndexNow plugin is also returning the same error now.

It is behaving the same. Some submissions work and then the IndexNow API returns a 403 error. There must be some issue on your site or host’s end. Please check with them again to investigate this further.

Please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.

Hello,

We’re not exactly sure what the issue is here but since it’s happening both in our Instant Indexing implementation as well as the official IndexNow plugin, the issue is most likely coming from your site/server/installation and not an issue specific to Rank Math.

That said, changing the API (or deactivating and reactivating the IndexNow plugin) does seem to temporarily get it to start working again in both plugins, and I’m not sure how long it lasts before the error starts again but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is cache-related. Have you tried speaking with WP Engine to disable their cache – maybe temporarily, for testing purposes? I had to clear the cache after changing the API for the plugins to start working again.

Don’t hesitate to let us know if you need help with anything else.