Baidu URL Submission API: How to Get Pages Indexed Faster Than XML Sitemaps
For sites with more than 10,000 URLs, Baidu's API submission method gets new pages indexed significantly faster than sitemap.xml — here's exactly how to implement it
For websites targeting Baidu, XML sitemap submission alone is often too slow. Unlike Bing, which uses the IndexNow API, Baidu uses its own proprietary equivalent: the Baidu URL Submission API (data.zz.baidu.com), accessed through Baidu Webmaster Tools (Ziyuan). If you're familiar with IndexNow, the concept is similar — push URLs directly to search the moment they're published — but Baidu's authentication, endpoint, and quota rules are different.
The API returns real-time status codes, supports cURL, HTTP POST, PHP, and Ruby, and has daily quotas that Baidu adjusts upward for quality submissions. Repeatedly submitting already-indexed URLs wastes quota and can reduce your site's limit. Jademond Digital recommends triggering API submission automatically when new URLs are generated, not in scheduled batches.
What benefits will you get after using the API submission?
Speedup new URLs crawling and indexation: shorten the time for Baidu crawlers to discover new links on your site and new pages can be indexed by Baidu for the first time.
Protecting content originality: API Submission can quickly notify Baidu that the website has produced the latest original content, so that Baidu can index content before it is got plagiarized.
How to use API submission?
Go to your Baidu Webmaster Tools and select Ordinary Collection on the sidebar. After clicking the API submission button, you will see the token of the interface calling address. The token is a string composed of 16 English numbers. Here is an example:
Options of API submission:
1) Curl submission
Write the URL data to be submitted into a local file, such as urls.txt. Each URL occupies a line, and then call the curl command:
curl -H ‘Content-Type:text/plain’ –data-binary @urls.txt
“http://data.zz.baidu.com/urls?site=www.example.com&token=1234567890”
If you are using PHP, Python, Java, etc., you may refer to this process to submission structured data.2）Post submission
POST /urls?site=www.example.com&token=12354567890 HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.12.1
Host: data.zz.baidu.com
Content-Length: 83
http://www.example.com/1.html
http://www.example.com/2.html3) PHP submission
$urls = array(
‘http://www.example.com/1.html’,
‘http://www.example.com/2.html’,
);
$api = ‘http://data.zz.baidu.com/urls
site=www.example.com&token=1234567890’;
$ch = curl_init();
$options = array(
CURLOPT_URL => $api,
CURLOPT_POST => true,
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => implode(“\n”, $urls),
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(‘Content-Type: text/plain’),
);
curl_setopt_array($ch, $options);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;4) Ruby submission
require ‘net/http’
urls = [‘http://www.example.com/1.html’, ‘http://www.example.com/2.html’]
uri = URI.parse(‘http://data.zz.baidu.com/urls
site=www.xxx.com&token=1234567890’)
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri.request_uri)
req.body = urls.join(“\n”)
req.content_type = ‘text/plain’
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port) { |http| http.request(req) }
puts res.bodyHow to check the feedback of API submission?
You can judge whether the data is submitted successfully by the status code and fields returned after submission
1. The status code is 200, indicating that the submission is successful. The following fields may be returned:
| Field | Required or Not | Parameter Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| success | Required | int | The number of URLs successfully submitted |
| remain | Required | int | The number of unsuitable URLs remaining in the day |
| not_same_site | Not | array | List of unprocessed urls because they are not urls of this site |
| not_valid | Not | array | list of invalid urls |
The example of a successful return:
{
“remain”:4999998,
“success”:2,
“not_same_site”:[],
“not_valid”:[]
}| Field | Required or Not | Parameter Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| error | Required | int | Error code, same as status code |
| message | Required | string | Error description |
3. Meanings of common failed submission returns:
| error | message | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | site error | The site is not verified on the webmaster platform. |
| 400 | empty content | Post content is empty. |
| 400 | only 2000 urls are allowed once | You can only submit up to 2000 links once a time. |
| 400 | over quota | The submission exceeds daily quota, which is invalid. |
| 401 | token is not valid | Token error |
| 404 | not found | The interface address is incorrectly filled in. |
| 500 | internal error, please try later | The server is occasionally abnorma. Usually a retry will succeed. |
FAQ of Baidu API submission
1. What is the difference between API submission and the sitemap submission interface?
A: The status feedback is more timely. Previously, after submitting the sitemap.xml, you need to log in to the search resource platform to check whether the submission is successful. Now, status feedback can be told by status codes and returns after submission.
2. What needs to be modified in the existing program for submitting sitemap.xml data?
Answer: There are two modifications. The first is to modify the submitted interface; the second is to process the information returned by the interface. If the submission failed, you need to modify correspondent settings according to the error message. The link that reports the error cannot be submitted successfully.
3. Why couldn’t I see the data change after the successful API submission?
A: The feedback is the number of newly submitted links. If the link has been submitted before (i.e. repeated submission), it will not be counted.
4. When is the best time to use API submission submission?
A: Submit the link immediately when the new link is generated or published.
5. What is the difference between submitting one piece of data at a time and multiple pieces at a time?
A: No difference.
6. What are negative effects of repeatedly submitting posted links?
A: There will be two negative effects. First, your submitted quota will be wasted. There is a limit to the number of submissions for each site per day. Repeatedly submitting old links wastes quota, so new links may not be submitted successfully. Second, if you frequently resubmit old links, Baidu will lower the site’s quota and you may lose access to the API submission function.
7.How many links can I submit to the API submission at most once a time?
Answer: The upper limit depends on the number of new valuable links that you submitted. Baidu will adjust the upper limit from time to time according to the number of links that you submitted. The higher the new valuable links you submit, the higher the limit.