Let Live Search know when you update your website

UPDATE: Google also has a ping service that works in the exact same way. You can find it at http://www.google.com/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap URL]

Microsoft’s Live Search along with Yahoo and Ask decided some time ago to support Google’s XML sitemap format. So if you already have added support for a Google sitemap on your website, it now also works on the other major search engines.

The new thing is that Live Search have added a ping service that let’s you notify it when your sitemap has been updated. Then Live Search will index the changes and make them appear faster in the search results (or at least so I think, otherwise it wouldn’t make much sense to have a ping service).

It’s very simple to ping Live Search. Simply make a request to http://webmaster.live.com/ping.aspx?siteMap=[your sitemap URL] in any way that suits you best. Do it in a browser manually or let your CMS or blogging engine do it for you.

For BlogEngine.NET users

If you use BlogEngine.NET then you already have a compatible sitemap. It’s located at example.com/sitemap.axd. See my sitemap here. I’ve written an extension that sends the ping automatically whenever a post or page is created or edited and when a comment is added.

Download the extension below, unzip it and place the LiveSearchPinger.cs file in the App_Code/Extensions folder of your BlogEngine.NET website.

LiveSearchPinger.zip (727 bytes)