Notify IndexNow about deployed changes to public research pages

[floatingCatty]

IndexNow for the current GitHub Pages / Jekyll site

Adds a minimal, source-controlled IndexNow integration so Bing and participating search engines can be notified after content changes have been deployed. No paid service or crawler-ranking shortcuts.

Implementation

• Host a 32-hex IndexNow verification key as a public root text file; exclude it from sitemap and test its exact rendered value in Jekyll CI.
• Add a standard-library Python notifier which infers actual added/updated/deleted public permalinks via git diff HEAD^ HEAD; common-layout changes legitimately submit current sitemap URLs, but ordinary content edits send only changed page URLs.
• Validate that every submitted URL is HTTPS on floatingcatty.github.io; use the central https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow JSON batch endpoint and verify the live key file before submission.
• Workflow listens for successful github-pages deployment statuses and includes workflow_dispatch for a manual fallback if Pages branch deployment does not emit that event for GitHub Actions.
• Unit tests validate permalink, domain and key rules without network or API submissions; update site-audit workflow with the offline tests.
• README documents how to verify the key, trigger a manual submission, and interpret HTTP 200/202.

Boundaries

• No submission on a draft PR, and there has not yet been a live IndexNow API call.
• This does not submit to Google or guarantee an AI citation. Do not repeatedly send all URLs, especially pages that have not changed.
• If deployment status events are not emitted by the currently selected Pages deployment mode, use the documented Run workflow input; only claim full automation after observing a real successful post-deployment event.
• No existing website page URL or content changes. No ORCID or other unverified researcher identifiers are added.

Manual verification after merge

1. Open https://floatingcatty.github.io/aa524f0e6a15332a02207f2fc2b621a9.txt and confirm the displayed content equals the filename stem.
2. In Actions, inspect whether successful github-pages deployment status starts IndexNow; otherwise run the workflow manually with /cv/ as the changed-URL input after a meaningful CV update.
3. Inspect logs for 200/202; validate receipt and indexing separately via Bing Webmaster Tools.

Source: https://www.indexnow.org/documentation

Verified build

GitHub Actions run 38193594279 passed: Pages-compatible Jekyll build and 422 rendered-site checks succeeded, including the root ownership key and sitemap exclusion. All five offline IndexNow URL/key tests passed. The PR did not issue any IndexNow request; the public key location can only be verified after the PR is merged and deployed.