Head-to-head: a third-party indexer vs doing nothing (500-URL test)

Head-to-head: a third-party indexer vs doing nothing (500-URL test)

Setup: I split 1,000 brand-new programmatic pages: 500 submitted to a popular paid indexer (~$0.02/URL, ~$10 for the batch), 500 left to organic discovery via sitemap only.

What it did well:
— Indexer batch hit 71% indexed at day 14 vs 58% for the control
— Faster initial crawl — bots hit submitted URLs within 48h

Where it fell short:
— By day 45 the gap closed to 79% vs 74% — Google re-evaluated and dropped some 'wins'
— No transparency on method; some of these services just spam crawl-bait links

Verdict: 2.5/5. A short-term nudge that mostly evaporates. Your money buys days, not permanent indexing.

Best for: time-sensitive launches you can afford to lose. Not for: anyone who thinks it fixes thin content.