Google Indexing API - a protocol that allows you to notify Google about the appearance of new pages, changes to the content of existing pages or their deletion. After receiving the notification, the Google robot scans the page in priority mode. In this way, the page gets into the index or is updated in the search results much faster than it would be with the usual detection of changes by a robot.
DEMO Admin
demo/demo
Fast Google Indexing on OpenCart
For quick indexing of OpenCart product pages, categories, manufacturers, informational articles, Google documentation recommends using the Indexing API instead of waiting for the robot to read the Sitemap. As this will speed up the page crawl. So, we've created the Google Indexing API extension for OpenCart, so you can automatically notify the search engine about site changes or submit URL indexing requests right from your admin panel.
The extension can automatically send scanning requests to Google after:
- Adding a product
- Product editing
- Product removal
- Adding a category
- Editing a category
- Delete a category
- Adding a manufacturer
- Editing by the manufacturer
- Remove the manufacturer
- Adding an information page
- Editing information page
- Deleting an information page
It is also possible to manually send the URL packet to Google and it will still take you only a few seconds, unlike manually submitting the URL through Google Search Console.
Using the Indexing API is absolutely free, but there is a request (URL submission) quota of 200 requests per day for one project. If you plan to send a larger number of URLs per day, you can request a quota increase, this operation is also provided free of charge.
The extension allows you to automatically submit daily URLs from your list within the daily quota.
The work of the module does not depend on the template used by the site. Works with standard SEO, SEO PRO and non-SEO mode.
Multilanguage and multistore are supported.
Module installation instructions:
- Create a project in Google Cloud Console, create a service account, enable "Web Search Indexing API" and get a key in json file format - Instructions.
- In Google Search Console, grant access to the service account created above. That is, add a user with "Owner" permission.
- Upload the module in the admin panel in the "Extensions" : "Install".
- Go to the "Modifications" section and update the cache.
- Go to the "Extensions" : "Extensions" : "Feeds" and enable the module Google Indexing API.
- Edit module. Turn on the status of the module, copy the content of the json file received from Google and paste it into the "API Key" field and adjust all other options to your needs and save the settings.
- Check module operation.
- Bingo!
v1.2.6 (27/03/2024) - Fixed the manufacturer URLs in extension for OpenCart 4
v1.2.5 (20/03/2024) - Fixes from previous version 1.2.4
v1.2.4 (18/03/2024) - Update
Internal calculation of quota usage.
Queue of URLs for indexing (daily sequential automatic submission of URLs from your list within the quota).
Sending URLs from a list in a txt file with automatic deletion of sent URLs from the list.
Added more instructions and recommendations in the extension settings.
Extensions for OpenCart version below 2.3.x.x will no longer be updated.
v1.2.3 (17/11/2023) - Fixed URL generation in multi-store
v1.2.2 (18/07/2023) - Added support for language prefixes in URLs (if third-party modules are used). Optimized module scripts. Added compatibility with OpenCart 2.2.0.0
v1.2.1 (12/04/2023) - The indexing request is not sent if the product is created with the status "Disabled"
v1.2.0 (12/04/2023) - Structural changes. Fixed URL generation. Fixed automatic removal of URLs. Added automatic request to remove URL when the product/category status is disabled
v1.1.1 (16/01/2023) - Added Google Indexing extension for OpenCart 4.0.x.x
v1.1 (04/01/2023) - Added group deletion of URLs in manual mode; Added error processing and recording; Added the module link to the admin menu for quick access.
How to follow the quota?
You have a total quota for indexing through the Indexing API - 200 URLs per day. If you exceed the Google quota, simply do not accept the URL and it will be visible in the extension log.
You can monitor quota usage in Google Cloud https://support.google.com/a/answer/6301355
The Google Indexing API quota is updated daily at 00:00 UTC.
What is the cost of using Google's Indexing API?
Indexing API is completely free to use. There are no paid tariffs. If you do not have enough quotas, you can send a request to increase them, but the fee for this is not removed and the use of the API remains free.
What is the Google Indexing API for?
With the Google Indexing API, pages are indexed faster, there is no need to wait for the bot to find the page in the site map or see it on other pages of the site. You can also quickly report changes to the page so that it is scanned faster. Thus, the page enters the priority queue for scanning.
It is possible to mass delete pages from the index, for example, duplicate pages or those pages that accidentally got into the search results. Working with sending URLs is much faster than working through Search Console and, in fact, the module replaces working with links through Search Console.
Does the Google Indexing API module work with multilingual URLs?
Yes, the module works with any multilingual links, both with and without language prefixes. That is, if you have several languages on your site, and you edit a product or another page, then all the URLs of this page will be sent for reindexing.
Can the Google Indexing API replace the Sitemap?
According to the documentation, Google recommends using the Indexing API instead of the xml sitemap, because this method of passing the URL will trigger the crawling of pages by the bot faster than the updated sitemap will be scanned and analyzed by the same Googlebot. However, if it is necessary that all the pages of your site get into the index, the Sitemap file should not be neglected and it should also be passed on.
What is the Cron-launch of the Google Indexing API module for?
A cron run is required to delay sending URLs for crawling. That is, if you often edit content, make changes, save, check, and so that after each save the indexing request is not sent, you can use delayed sending. Then the module scans changes in products and categories for the specified period and sends their URL to Google.
In order to set a cron task, copy the cron link from the module settings and paste it into the panel of your hosting, creating a new task in the Cron manager. The script launch method must be WGET or GET.
To monitor whether deferred URL submission is working, enable debugging in the Log module tab. A log of all operations will be recorded there.
Why does the "Error: 403. Permission denied. Failed to verify the URL ownership" error occur?
This means that your Indexing API service account does not have access to the domain resource in Google Search Console.
Open your "Domain resource" in Google Search Console, go to Settings > Users and permissions > Add user, in the Email address field enter the email of the service account that was automatically generated earlier, in the Permission field select "Owner".
You must be logged in to view the files!
