Sitemap ping is gone: testing Google's and Bing's old endpoints in 2026

FIELD TEST · 2026-10-05 · 2 legacy endpoints + 6 own sites · live probe

Sample and method: two legacy sitemap ping URLs and the six sites we run, probed once each on 5 October 2026 with curl, desktop Chrome user agent, redirects followed, no JavaScript. For each ping URL we recorded the HTTP status; for each own site we recorded the status and <loc> count of its sitemap.xml.

The sitemap ping endpoint is gone on both engines we tested. On 5 October 2026, Google's old ping URL answered 404 and Bing's answered 410 Gone. Sitemap ping was the unauthenticated REST call a CMS or plugin used to announce that a sitemap existed or had changed. It has been retired, and those status codes are the proof that any code still calling it is talking to nothing.

How we tested the two endpoints

We sent one request to each known legacy URL, with the same sitemap parameter pointing at a real sitemap, and read the status code. No authentication, no special headers. This is exactly what a plugin does when it triggers a ping.

Two engines, four URLs, zero working endpoints. We did not test any other search engine, and we did not check whether a ping ever reached a queue on the receiving side before this date — we only measured what the endpoints return today.

What the sitemap ping endpoint used to do

It was part of the Sitemaps Protocol introduced in 2005, and it let a site submit a sitemap URL without owning a verified account. Google explained why it went away when it closed the endpoint: "these unauthenticated sitemap submissions are not very useful. In fact, in the case of Google Search, the vast majority of the submissions lead to spam" (Google Search Central, read 2026-10-05). The deprecation notice was published on 26 June 2023 and gave a six-month window.

The same announcement made a second point that is easy to miss: "the HTTP requests ('pings') to the deprecated REST endpoint will result in a 404 error. Any existing code or plugins which use this endpoint will not cause problems for Google Search; you don't need to make any changes." That is the honest reading of our 404 and 410 results. A dead ping is not an error that hurts you; it is just wasted work.

It also said what the sitemap is for now, which is narrower than most people assume: it is a hint about URLs, and its most useful field is lastmod. "You can still submit your sitemaps through robots.txt and Search Console" is the documented replacement, and the same notice added that Google "still doesn't use the changefreq or priority elements at all".

What to use instead

Three live routes replace the single ping call, and each answers a different question. Pick by what you can actually verify.

IndexNow is the closest replacement to the old ping in spirit, and it is not the same thing. It is an authenticated-ish call against api.indexnow.org with a hosted key, and it submits individual or bulk URLs rather than a sitemap. Bing's documentation states the honest limit in its own FAQ: "Using IndexNow ensures that search engines are aware of your website changes. Using IndexNow does not guarantee that web pages will be crawled or indexed by search engines."

The practical setup is: keep the Sitemap: line in robots.txt, submit once in Search Console, and use IndexNow for fresh URLs. Pinging a dead endpoint on every publish is the one thing to remove.

What this means for your site

We checked our own six sites the same day. All six declare a sitemap in robots.txt and all six serve it, so none of them depended on a ping to be discoverable.

Every one of those sitemaps is a plain <urlset>, not a sitemap index. The changefreq and priority values we found in them are ignored by Google; the field that matters is lastmod, and it only helps if it is accurate. We did not audit whether each lastmod was truthful — that is a different measurement, and it is the one that decides whether a sitemap actually helps scheduling.

One boundary on the whole piece: a status code tells you an endpoint is dead, not what any particular plugin does with the failure. Our probe cannot tell whether a CMS logs the 404, swallows it, or retries in a loop. Check your own logs if you suspect a plugin is pinging anyway.

Common questions

Do I need to remove sitemap ping code from my site?

Not for Google's sake — its notice says old ping code "will not cause problems for Google Search". You remove it to stop wasting requests and to stop the false sense that publishing just notified anyone. Replace it with the routes in the table above.

Does IndexNow replace sitemaps?

No. A sitemap is a standing list of URLs a crawler can read on its own schedule; IndexNow is a one-off nudge about specific URLs. Bing's own FAQ says submitted URLs still count against your crawl quota, so it is a priority signal, not a free pass. Keep both.

Is sitemap ping the same as submitting a sitemap?

No, and this is the confusion that outlived the endpoint. Submitting a sitemap means declaring it once (robots.txt, Search Console) so the crawler fetches it on its next pass. Pinging was an immediate, unauthenticated notification. Only the first still exists.

How did you measure this?

One request per endpoint on 5 October 2026, desktop Chrome user agent, redirects followed, status code recorded. Separately, one request per own site for robots.txt and sitemap.xml, with a count of <loc> elements. No rendering; nothing was submitted or changed on any site.

The thing worth taking away is small and firm: an endpoint you have been told to call on every publish has answered nothing for years, and no error is raised when it fails. Declaring the sitemap once and pushing fresh URLs is the part that still works, and turning crawls into indexed, queryable pages is the part QueryWin works on. For the two live pieces, see how to create a sitemap, the sitemap line in robots.txt across 30 homepages, and setting up IndexNow.