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GEO Beat · PLATFORM

Google deletes its Indexing API approval form, silent on approval itself — job sites should check their quota

2026-10-16Credibility: High 中文版 →

For years the Indexing API carried a condition in its own documentation: the default quota was for testing, and real use needed Google's approval. Since October 16, 2026, that condition is written on none of the three pages that used to state it. Google's Search Central changelog describes the edit as documenting the current quota limits and removing "an outdated form." It has not said whether the approval requirement left with the form. Search Engine Journal caught the deleted wording on October 17.

Credibility: HIGH. The lead sources are Google's own changelog entry and quota page, both dated October 16, 2026 and both checkable today. Search Engine Journal corroborates the removed wording against earlier versions of the pages. What the removal means for approval is undocumented, so this brief does not claim it either way.

  • The changelog entry "Updating the Indexing API quota page" is dated October 16, 2026 and states its purpose: "To document the current quota limits for the Indexing API and remove an outdated form."
  • The quota page ("Last updated 2026-10-16 UTC") now lists defaults per project: 200 publish requests per day (updates and deletions combined), 180 metadata requests per minute, and 380 requests per minute across all endpoints. The daily quota resets at midnight Pacific Time. The page no longer mentions approval or a request form and points to the Google API Console for current quota.
  • Per Search Engine Journal, earlier versions said the API "provides initial default quota for testing, and it requires additional approval for usage and resource provisioning"; that sentence, the quickstart step "Request approval and quota" and three notes on the usage page are removed.
  • The API remains limited to pages with JobPosting markup, or BroadcastEvent markup embedded in a VideoObject. Google's job posting guide, last updated September 8, 2026, still recommends the Indexing API for job posting URLs.

Sources:

Google Search Central: Updating the Indexing API quota page, changelog entry, October 16, 2026 — https://developers.google.com/search/updates

Google Search Central: Indexing API quota and pricing, last updated October 16, 2026 — https://developers.google.com/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/quota-pricing

Search Engine Journal: Google's Indexing API Docs No Longer Explain How To Get Approval, Matt G. Southern, October 17, 2026 — https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-indexing-api-docs-approval-form-removed/593292/

OPERATOR TAKE

For teams that run job boards, career pages or livestream publishing: a deleted sentence is not a policy until Google says it is. The docs now list limits and no route to approval, and Google has not said whether a project that was never approved can lean on the default quota for live job postings. Two readings are tempting. One says approval is gone; the other says nothing changed. Both are guesses. The number that describes your project is the one in your own Google API Console, so treat it as the fact and the documentation as background. Sites without job or livestream markup can skip this one, because the API was never open to them.

  • Ask your web team to open the Indexing API quota page in the Google API Console and write down today's daily publish limit, with the date.
  • Set that limit against the job or livestream URLs you publish and take down on a busy day. Updates and deletions draw on the same daily count, so a board that adds 100 postings and expires 100 has spent all 200 of the default. If your busy-day volume runs above the limit, flag it to whoever owns the integration.
  • Keep a sitemap listing every JobPosting URL as a second way for Google to find them, as its job posting guide recommends, and note in the client file why you kept it.
Sources

Google Search Central: Updating the Indexing API quota page, changelog entry, October 16, 2026 — https://developers.google.com/search/updates

Google Search Central: Indexing API quota and pricing, last updated October 16, 2026 — https://developers.google.com/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/quota-pricing

Search Engine Journal: Google's Indexing API Docs No Longer Explain How To Get Approval, Matt G. Southern, October 17, 2026 — https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-indexing-api-docs-approval-form-removed/593292/