IndexNow for a Featurebase custom domain

Why a subdomain needs its own setup

IndexNow treats every host separately: the IndexNow FAQ asks each subdomain to host its own key file. Your main site's key does not cover help.example.com, and in AutoIndexNow the subdomain is a site of its own (it counts toward your plan's sites).

Featurebase serves the portal for every path on your custom domain, so /<key>.txt returns Featurebase's not-found page. A Cloudflare Redirect Rule cannot help: it can only redirect, and redirecting to another host is not something IndexNow documents, so AutoIndexNow does not accept it. A Worker that answers the one path can.

Before you start

• A Featurebase workspace whose plan includes custom domains.
• Your domain's DNS on Cloudflare (the Free plan is enough).
• The subdomain you want, for example help.example.com for a Help Center or feedback.example.com for a feedback portal.

Set it up

1. Connect the domain in Featurebase. Go to Settings → Customer Portal → Custom domains, pick the tab (Feedback Portal, Ticket portal or Help Center), enter the hostname without https:// and save.
2. Add the CNAME in Cloudflare. DNS → Records → Add record: type CNAME, name help, target customdomains.featurebase.app, proxy status Proxied. The Worker in step 5 only runs on proxied hostnames.
3. Wait for Featurebase to activate it. Back in Custom domains, click Refresh until the SSL certificate status moves from CNAME required through pending validation to active, then open the address and confirm the portal loads.
4. Add the subdomain as a site in AutoIndexNow with the host help.example.com. From the panel Verify ownership with your IndexNow key file, copy the Key location (https://help.example.com/3f9a2c7e0b1d4e8fa6c5b4d3e2f1a0b9.txt) and the File content. Featurebase's own help center serves its articles at /sitemap.xml, which AutoIndexNow finds on its own; if the first check finds no sitemap for yours, set the sitemap URL in the site's settings.
5. Create the Worker and route the key path to it. Workers & Pages → Create → Hello World, deploy, replace the code with the snippet below using your key, deploy again. Then the Worker's Settings → Domains & Routes → Add → Route, zone example.com, pattern help.example.com/3f9a2c7e0b1d4e8fa6c5b4d3e2f1a0b9.txt, exactly that path.

   // Route: <your host>/3f9a2c7e0b1d4e8fa6c5b4d3e2f1a0b9.txt  (only this path)
   const KEY = "3f9a2c7e0b1d4e8fa6c5b4d3e2f1a0b9";
   
   export default {
     async fetch() {
       return new Response(KEY, {
         headers: {
           "content-type": "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
           "cache-control": "public, max-age=3600",
         },
       });
     },
   };

6. Verify. Open the key location: it must show only the key. Then click Check key file in AutoIndexNow. Verification turns monitoring on and records the existing articles as the baseline; new and changed articles are submitted from then on.

Troubleshooting

• Featurebase stays at "pending validation" with the proxy on. Switch the record to DNS only until the status is active, then switch it back to Proxied. Featurebase's own documentation does not mention Cloudflare's proxy.
• The key URL shows Featurebase's not-found page. The route did not match or the record is DNS only. Check the exact host, path and key.
• Check key file reports "redirect off host". A Redirect Rule still sends the key path elsewhere; delete it, because the Worker replaces it.
• "mismatch". The response is not exactly the key (another site's key, an HTML page, extra text).
• Private help center. Articles behind a login cannot be fetched, so they are not monitored or submitted.

What this does not do

The Worker answers only the key file; Featurebase keeps serving and caching the portal. Sources checked on 2026-10-19: Featurebase's custom domains article, the IndexNow FAQ, and Cloudflare's Workers routes and O2O compatibility documentation.

A 200 or 202 from an IndexNow endpoint means the request was accepted, not that the URL is indexed. Google does not participate in IndexNow.