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How to connect your site to TurboIndex

Four steps, about three minutes. You sign in with Google, pick your sites and give our indexing account Owner access in Search Console. This page shows every screen you will see, and what to do when something does not work.

Free for one site. Nothing to install on your site. Remove access whenever you like.

On this page

What you need

  • A Google account that can open your site in Search Console. If your site is not in Search Console yet, add and verify it there first. TurboIndex works with both Domain properties and URL-prefix properties.
  • Owner permission on that property. Only owners can add other owners, and Google requires the indexing account to be one. If a colleague or a client owns the property, they can do step 3 for you.
  • A sitemap, ideally. We read the sitemaps you already submitted to Search Console. No sitemap? You can paste URLs by hand. If you have one and are not sure it is valid, run it through our sitemap validator.

You do not need a Google Cloud account, a credit card, a plugin or access to your server. The Google Cloud part is only for people who choose Option C.

1Sign in with Google

Click Continue with Google and choose the account you use for Search Console. There is no separate TurboIndex password.

Google shows a consent screen with what we ask for:

  • Your name, email address and profile picture (openid, email, profile). This is your TurboIndex account.
  • View Search Console data for your verified sites (webmasters.readonly). This is read-only. We use it to list your properties, read the sitemaps you submitted and ask Google for the index status of your URLs through the URL Inspection API.

Read-only means what it says: with this permission we cannot add or remove sites, users or sitemaps in your Search Console, and we never see your Google password. The details of what we store are in the privacy policy.

Why index checks use your sign-in and submissions do not

Reading index status works with read-only access from your own account. Sending URLs to the Indexing API is different: Google only accepts those from a service account that owns the property. That is what step 3 is about.

2Choose your sites

After sign-in you see the list of properties from your Search Console, with your permission level next to each one. Tick the sites you want TurboIndex to work on. The free plan covers one site; the paid plans cover more.

  • Properties where you are an Owner can use all three options in step 3.
  • Properties where you are a Full or Restricted user can be monitored, but someone who owns the property has to add the indexing account (send them Option B).
  • If you have both sc-domain:yoursite.com and https://www.yoursite.com/, pick the Domain property. It covers every subdomain and protocol, so there is less to go wrong.

For each site we fetch the sitemaps listed in Search Console and count the URLs, so you can see right away what will be tracked.

3Give the indexing account Owner access

Each site gets an indexing account: a Google service account with an email address that ends in iam.gserviceaccount.com. It is a robot identity, nobody can sign in with it, and it is the account that tells Google "this URL was added or updated".

Google's rule is that this account must be an Owner of the Search Console property. There are three ways to get there. Pick one.

A. One clickWe add the owner for you after one extra Google consent.FastestB. In Search ConsoleFive clicks by hand. No extra permission for TurboIndex.Most controlC. Your own keyYour own Google Cloud project and daily quota. We can create it for you.Own quota

Option A: one click

Click Add access for me in the wizard. Google shows one more consent screen, this time for the permission Manage the list of sites and domains you control (siteverification). When you click Allow, we call Google's Site Verification API once to add the indexing account to the owner list of the property you selected. Then we check with Google that the account is listed as owner.

Consent screen listing the permission to manage the list of sites and domains you control, with Allow highlightedGoogle account permission screenTurboIndex wants additional accessto your Google Accountyou@yoursite.comThis will allow TurboIndex to:Manage the list of sites and domainsyou controlYou can remove this access in your Google Account.CancelAllow1Click Allow. We use it once, to add the indexing account asOwner of yoursite.com.
The extra consent screen for the one-click option (schematic).

Things to know before you choose it:

  • You must be a verified owner of that exact property. Google's owner list only contains people who verified the property themselves (DNS record, HTML file, meta tag and so on). If you were added as owner by someone else, or you own a parent property only, Google refuses the change. We then send you to Option B, which always works.
  • Google may email the other owners of the property to say a new owner was added. That is normal.
  • The permission is optional and separate from sign-in. We use it for this one action, on the sites you pick. We do not verify new sites, and we do not remove anybody.

Option B: add the owner by hand in Search Console

This takes about two minutes and gives TurboIndex no extra permission. The wizard shows the email address of your indexing account with a copy button. In this guide we use a placeholder:

[email protected]

Open Google Search Console in another tab and follow the five steps.

B1Open Settings

Choose the right property in the selector at the top left. Then click Settings at the bottom of the left menu. On a phone, open the menu with the three lines first.

Search Console left menu with Settings highlighted for yoursite.comSearch Consoleyoursite.comOverviewPerformanceURL inspectionPagesSitemapsLinksSettingsOverview121. Choose your property in the top left.2. Click Settings at the bottom of the left menu.

B2Open Users and permissions

On the Settings page, click the row Users and permissions.

Search Console Settings page with the Users and permissions row highlightedSearch ConsoleSettingsyoursite.comProperty settingsOwnership verificationYou are a verified ownerUsers and permissions1AssociationsChange of addressClick Users and permissions. It lists who can access the property.

B3Click Add user

The blue Add user button is in the top right corner. If you do not see it, you are not an owner of this property. Ask an owner to do these steps, or pick a property you own.

Users and permissions page with the Add user button highlightedSearch ConsoleUsers and permissionsyoursite.comAdd userUSERPERMISSIONYYouyou@yoursite.comOwner1Click Add user in the top right. Only owners see this button.

B4Paste the email and choose Owner

Paste the indexing account email into Email address. Open the Permission list and choose Owner. Then click Add.

The list starts on Full. Full is not enough for the Indexing API, so check it says Owner before you click Add.

Add user dialog with email turboindex-1@turboindex-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com and permission OwnerSearch ConsoleAdd userEmail addressturboindex-1@turboindex-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.comPermissionOwner!Must be Owner. Full or Restricted will not work.CancelAdd1231. Paste the indexing account email.2. Set Permission to Owner.3. Click Add.

B5Check the list, then verify

The indexing account now appears in the table with the permission Owner. Go back to TurboIndex and click Verify access. We ask Google, and you get a green check or the exact reason it failed.

Google can need a minute or two before the new owner is visible to its APIs. If the check fails right after adding, wait a moment and try again.

Users table listing turboindex-1@turboindex-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com with permission OwnerSearch ConsoleUsers and permissionsyoursite.comAdd userUSERPERMISSIONYYouyou@yoursite.comOwnerTturboindex-1@turboindex-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.comOwnerThe indexing account is listed as Owner. You are done here.

Option C: your own Google Cloud key

With this option the indexing account lives in your own Google Cloud project. The reasons to do it: the daily Indexing API quota (200 publish requests per project per day by default) belongs to you alone, and you can delete the key or the whole project at any time from your side. It is free. Google Cloud does not ask for billing details for these APIs.

There are two ways to get there: we create it for you in a minute or two, or you create it by hand in about ten (steps C1 to C6).

One project per site at most. Stacking projects is not fine.

Google's documentation says that attempts to get around the quota with multiple accounts or similar tricks may lead to access being revoked. Do not create a pile of projects for one site. When we create projects for you, we make only as many as your plan needs, never more than one per site, and your sites share them. Each site draws on one project at a time.

The quick way: Set it up for me

Rolling out

Set it up for me opens to everyone once Google has finished reviewing the Google Cloud permission it asks for. Until then, the steps by hand below do the same in about ten minutes.

In the wizard choose Use my own key, then Set it up for me. Google shows a consent screen with two permissions: See, edit, configure, and delete your Google Cloud data (cloud-platform) and Manage the list of sites and domains you control (siteverification). When you click Allow, we do in your account exactly what steps C1 to C6 describe:

  1. create one Google Cloud project for the site, named after it (for example TurboIndex yoursite-com, with an id like turboindex-a1b2c3);
  2. turn on the Web Search Indexing API, the Google Search Console API and the IAM API in that project;
  3. create a service account such as [email protected], with no role in your project;
  4. create one JSON key for it and store the key encrypted, the same way an uploaded key is stored;
  5. add the service account as Owner of your property and check with Google that it worked.
Consent screen asking to see, edit, configure and delete your Google Cloud data and to manage the list of sites and domains you control, with Allow highlightedGoogle account permission screenTurboIndex wants accessto your Google Accountyou@yoursite.comThis will allow TurboIndex to:See, edit, configure, and delete yourGoogle Cloud dataManage the list of sites and domainsyou controlYou can remove this access in your Google Account.CancelAllow1Click Allow. We use it once, for this setup, and do not keep it.It ends with the new account as Owner of yoursite.com.
The consent screen for Set it up for me (schematic).

Things to know before you choose it:

  • We use the Google Cloud permission once. Google gives us an access token that expires within an hour and no refresh token. We use it while the setup runs and do not store it, so afterwards we cannot reach your Google Cloud at all. The project, the service account and the key belong to you.
  • A first visit to Google Cloud may be needed. If your Google account has never used Google Cloud, Google asks you to accept its terms of service before a project can be created. The wizard tells you when that happens: open Google Cloud once, accept, and press Try again.
  • Work and school accounts can have Google Cloud switched off by their administrator, and Google Cloud organizations created since May 2024 do not allow service account keys by default. The wizard explains which one it hit. Option A and Option B work in both cases.
  • Adding the owner needs the same thing as Option A: you must be a directly verified owner of the property. If you are not, the wizard shows the service account email and you add it with steps B1 to B5.
  • Running the setup again for the same site reuses its project and its key. It never creates a second project for a site.
  • Only the keys your plan needs. One key sends Google's 200 a day, so Pro needs 2, Agency 10 and Ultimate 50, never more than you have sites. Once you have them all, a new site shares the key with the fewest sites instead of getting a project of its own (you add it as Owner with one click, as for any key), and a site whose own key works gives its TurboIndex key back. The Indexing keys page makes the missing keys for all your sites at once.
  • About 12 projects per Google account. Google lets one account make about 12 projects, then asks you to request more. The Indexing keys page says when your account reaches its limit and links to Google's request form.

By hand

Choose this if you want to pick the project yourself or reuse one you already have.

C1Create a project

Open console.cloud.google.com. Click the project picker in the top bar, then New project. Give it a name such as turboindex-mysite, click Create and make sure the new project is the selected one.

Google Cloud console project picker with New project highlightedGoogle Cloud consoleSelect a projectSelect a projectNew projectNew projectProject nameturboindex-mysiteCreateOrganisation and location can stay empty.1231. Open the project picker in the top bar.2. Click New project.3. Give it a name, click Create and keep it selected.

C2Enable the two APIs

Go to APIs & Services, then Library. Search for "indexing", open Web Search Indexing API and click Enable. The button changes to Manage when it is on.

Do the same for Google Search Console API. We use it to confirm that your service account really is an owner.

API library with the Web Search Indexing API card and its Enable button highlightedGoogle Cloud consoleturboindex-mysiteAPIs & Services › Libraryindexing apiAPIWeb Search Indexing APITells the search engine that a page changed.EnableAPIGoogle Search Console APIEnable121. Open Web Search Indexing API and click Enable.2. Do the same for Google Search Console API.

C3Create a service account

Go to IAM & Admin, then Service accounts, and click Create service account. Type a name, for example turboindex, and click Create and continue.

The next two steps (roles and user access) are optional. The account needs no role in your project. Click Done.

Create service account form with the name field filled inGoogle Cloud consoleturboindex-mysiteIAM & Admin › Service accounts+ Create service accountService account detailsService account nameturboindexEmail address (created for you)turboindex@turboindex-mysite.iam.gserviceaccount.comCreate and continue1231. IAM & Admin, Service accounts, Create service account.2. Type a name. 3. Click Create and continue.The two optional steps after it can be skipped: click Done.

C4Create a JSON key

Click the new account in the list, open the Keys tab, click Add key, then Create new key. Choose JSON and click Create.

Your browser downloads a .json file. Google does not keep a copy, so this download is the only one. Treat it like a password.

Service account Keys tab: Add key, Create new key, JSON selectedGoogle Cloud consoleturboindex-mysiteService accounts › turboindexturboindex@turboindex-mysite.iam.gserviceaccount.comDetailsPermissionsKeysAdd key ▾Create new keyUpload existing keyCreate private keyKey typeJSONRecommendedP12CancelCreate12341. Keys tab. 2. Add key. 3. Create new key. 4. JSON, then Create.The file downloads once. Keep it private.

C5Upload the key in TurboIndex

In the wizard choose Use my own key and upload the file. We store the key encrypted and show you the client_email from inside it. That address is your service account.

{

"type": "service_account",

"project_id": "turboindex-mysite",

"private_key": "(hidden)",

"client_email": "[email protected]"

...

}

C6Add that email as Owner

Follow steps B1 to B5 from Option B, but paste your service account email. Then click Verify access in TurboIndex. We check three things: the key is valid, the Indexing API is enabled, and the account is an owner of the property.

Add user dialog with email turboindex@turboindex-mysite.iam.gserviceaccount.com and permission OwnerSearch ConsoleAdd userEmail addressturboindex@turboindex-mysite.iam.gserviceaccount.comPermissionOwner!Must be Owner. Full or Restricted will not work.CancelAdd1231. Paste the indexing account email.2. Set Permission to Owner.3. Click Add.

4What happens next

Once access is verified, the site starts working on its own. This is the order of events:

  1. Sitemap sync. We read your sitemaps and store every URL. We read them again every few hours, so new pages and changed lastmod dates are picked up without you doing anything.
  2. Index check. We ask Google's URL Inspection API for the status of your URLs. Google allows 2,000 inspections per property per day, so a large site takes several days to check completely.
  3. Queue. Pages that are not indexed go into the submission queue, newest and never-submitted first. Pages that are already indexed are not submitted.
  4. Submission. We send Google as many URLs a day as your plan allows: 20 on Free, up to 200 per site on the bigger plans, which is Google's default quota for one Google Cloud project. The count starts again at midnight Pacific Time. If you turn on IndexNow, the same URLs go to Bing, Yandex and the other IndexNow engines.
  5. Follow-up. We check submitted URLs again over the following days and update their status. A page that is still not indexed after 14 days (3 to 7 on the paid plans) is queued once more. Indexed pages are rechecked once a month on Free and every week on the paid plans, so you notice if one drops out.

Honest timelines

A submission asks Google to crawl a page soon. It is not an instruction to index it. In our experience Google usually crawls a submitted page within a few days, often sooner. Whether the page then enters the index, and stays there, is Google's decision and depends on the page: thin, duplicated or orphaned pages often stay out no matter how many times they are submitted.

You should also know that Google officially supports the Indexing API for job posting and livestream pages only, and says that all submissions go through spam checks. It does trigger crawls for ordinary pages today, but Google could change that. This is why we also rely on sitemaps, IndexNow and index monitoring, which are fully supported. When a page stays out, the dashboard shows the reason Google gives (for example "Crawled, currently not indexed" or "Excluded by noindex tag"). Our indexability checker finds the technical blockers in a few seconds.

Troubleshooting

403 "Permission denied. Failed to verify the URL ownership."

Google is saying that the indexing account does not own a property that covers this URL. The usual causes, most common first:

  • The account was added as Full or Restricted instead of Owner. See the next item.
  • The account was added to a different property. With URL-prefix properties the prefix must match the URL exactly: https://yoursite.com/ does not cover https://www.yoursite.com/page or http://yoursite.com/page. Add the account to the property that matches your live URLs, or use the Domain property.
  • There is a typo in the email address. Copy it with the button instead of typing it.
  • You added it less than a couple of minutes ago. Wait and press Verify again.

The account was added as Full instead of Owner

This is the most common mistake, because Full is the default in the dialog. You do not need to remove the user. Open Users and permissions, click the three dots at the end of the row, and change the permission to Owner.

Users table where the indexing account has Full permission, with the menu open to change it to OwnerSearch ConsoleUsers and permissionsyoursite.comAdd userUSERPERMISSIONYYouyou@yoursite.comOwnerTturboindex-1@turboindex-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com!FullCHANGE PERMISSIONOwnerFullcurrentRemove access12Full is not enough: Google answers 403.1. Open the three dots menu. 2. Change permission to Owner.
Changing the permission of an existing user to Owner (schematic).

403 "Your project is not configured to access this API" (own key only)

The Web Search Indexing API is not enabled in the Google Cloud project your key belongs to, or it was enabled in another project. Open the API Library, check the project name in the top bar, and enable the API (step C2). It can take a minute to become active.

Set it up for me says to accept the Google Cloud terms

Your Google account has not used Google Cloud before. Open console.cloud.google.com with the same account, accept the terms of service it shows, come back and press Try again. Nothing was created on the first attempt.

Set it up for me says my account has too many Google Cloud projects

Google limits how many projects one Google account can make, usually about 12, and projects you shut down count for 30 days. Ask Google for more projects and press the button again once Google says yes, or shut down projects you no longer use.

Set it up for me says keys are not allowed, or Google Cloud is not available

Both come from a work or school account. Either the administrator has switched Google Cloud off, or the organization does not allow service account keys (Google turns that rule on by default for organizations created since May 2024). Only your administrator can change either. In the meantime, Option A or Option B connects the site with a TurboIndex indexing account.

Domain property or URL-prefix property?

Both work. A Domain property (sc-domain:yoursite.com) covers all subdomains, http and https, so Owner access there covers every URL of the site. A URL-prefix property covers only URLs that start with that exact prefix. If your sitemap lists https://www.yoursite.com/... URLs, a property for https://yoursite.com/ will not do.

The one-click option says I am not a verified owner

Google's owner list for a property contains only people who verified that exact property themselves. Delegated owners (added by someone else) and owners of a parent property are not on it, so Google does not let them change it through the API. Use Option B. It works for delegated owners too.

I do not see the Add user button

Only owners see it. Check Settings, Ownership verification in Search Console. If it does not say you are a verified owner, ask the person who owns the property to follow Option B with the email address from your wizard.

429 or "quota exceeded"

The daily quota of 200 publish requests is used up. Nothing is lost: the rest of the queue goes out after the reset at midnight Pacific Time.

Removing access

Open Users and permissions in Search Console, click the three dots next to the indexing account and choose Remove access. Submissions for that property stop at once. If you used your own key, you can also delete the key or the whole project in Google Cloud.

Is it safe? What Owner means and how to revoke it

Owner is the highest permission in Search Console, and you should know what you are handing over. An owner can see all data of the property, change its settings and manage its users. Google does not offer a smaller permission for the Indexing API. We would use one if it existed.

What the TurboIndex indexing account does with it:

  • It sends "URL updated" notifications to the Indexing API for URLs from your sitemaps or URLs you pasted.
  • It asks the Search Console API which properties it owns, to confirm the setup works.

What it does not do: change settings, add or remove users, remove URLs from Google, or touch your website. Owner access in Search Console is not access to your server, your CMS or your domain. A service account has no password and no inbox, so nobody can log in to Search Console with it in a browser.

How to take everything back:

  1. The indexing account: Search Console, Settings, Users and permissions, three dots, Remove access.
  2. Your Google sign-in: open myaccount.google.com/connections, choose TurboIndex and delete the connection. This also withdraws the optional one-click permission.
  3. Your data: delete your account in the dashboard, or write to [email protected]. The privacy policy lists what is stored and for how long.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the setup take?
About three minutes with the one-click option or the manual Search Console option. Your own Google Cloud key takes a minute or two when you let us create it for you, and closer to ten minutes when you create the project, the APIs and the key by hand.
Why does the indexing account need to be an Owner and not a Full user?
It is Google's rule, not ours. The Indexing API only accepts a notification when the account that sends it is an owner of a Search Console property that covers the URL. A Full or Restricted user gets a 403 error with the message "Permission denied. Failed to verify the URL ownership."
Do I have to install anything on my website?
No. There is no plugin, script or DNS record. Everything happens between TurboIndex, Google Search Console and, if you turn it on, IndexNow. IndexNow is the one feature that asks you to host a small key file.
Does it work with a Domain property?
Yes. A Domain property (shown as sc-domain:yoursite.com in the API) covers every subdomain and both http and https, so Owner access there is enough. With a URL-prefix property the page must sit under that exact prefix, including the protocol and the www or non-www host.
Can I use TurboIndex for a client's site?
Yes, if the client makes you an owner of the property or adds the indexing account as Owner for you. The manual option exists for exactly this case: send the client the five steps and the email address to paste.
How do I disconnect a site?
On the dashboard, open More on the site's row and choose Remove site. It deletes everything TurboIndex holds for that site. If you used One click, it also takes the indexing account off your property; otherwise it tells you to remove that account in Search Console, under Settings, Users and permissions. From that moment it cannot send anything for your property.
How do I delete a key that Set it up for me created?
Open Indexing keys and click Delete next to the key, then Delete key and Google Cloud project. Google asks once for the same access as during the setup. We then take that one account off the owners of your sites, shut down its Google Cloud project (Google keeps it for 30 days in case you change your mind) and delete the key. Your other keys and projects are not touched. Keys you uploaded yourself are only removed from TurboIndex.
Will connecting TurboIndex guarantee that my pages get indexed?
No, and nobody can promise that. We make sure Google knows about every page and we show you the real status of each one. Whether a page stays in the index depends on its quality, uniqueness and links.

Ready? The wizard walks you through the same steps.

Free for one site. If you get stuck, write to [email protected].

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