Google removed the Indexing API approval form and all instructions for requesting approval from its documentation on Oct. 16. The changelog entry says Google updated the quota page "to reflect the current quota limits and process" and "to remove an outdated form." It does not say whether the approval requirement itself survives.

The removal follows a September report by Search Engine Journal that job board operators had waited months for responses to approval requests. Google's documentation never listed review timelines for those requests.

What exactly did Google remove?

Before Oct. 16, the quota page stated the API "provides initial default quota for testing, and it requires additional approval for usage and resource provisioning." That sentence is gone.

A section titled "Request quota and approval" linked to a form and noted "the quota may increase or decrease based on the document quality." Both the section and the form are gone.

Additional cuts across the docs:

• The quickstart no longer lists "Request approval and quota" as a set-up step.
• The usage page dropped three identical notes about the default testing quota.
• The usage page also dropped its instructions for requesting approval and additional quota.
• The quickstart removed a paragraph comparing the API to sitemaps.

The changelog covers only the quota page. Google dated the usage-page changes Oct. 16 as well but did not mention them.

Which quotas and rules remain in place?

The quota page still lists the default limits. Each project receives 200 publish requests per day, counting both updates and removals. Per minute, a project gets 180 metadata requests and 380 requests across all endpoints. The daily limit resets at midnight Pacific Time.

The eligibility rules are unchanged. The API still serves only pages with JobPosting markup or BroadcastEvent embedded in a VideoObject.

The usage page still warns that Google's spam policies apply to submissions. Developers must not evade submission limits, "such as by using multiple accounts."

Google's job posting guide, last updated Sept. 8, still recommends the Indexing API over sitemaps for job posting URLs, paired with a sitemap for full-site coverage.

Google clarified its testing language once before, in September 2024. That changelog entry said the edit aimed "to better explain that the default quota is for initial setup and testing."

What happens to pending approval requests?

Google's answer is silence. The updated documentation no longer explains how to apply for approval at all.

The docs also leave three questions unanswered: what happens to previously submitted applications, whether pending projects will ever hear back, and whether a project that never received approval can now run live job postings or livestreams on its default quota.

For job board owners, the ambiguity is operational. A site waiting months for approval now has no documented path to request it, no stated review timeline, and no confirmation that the default 200 daily publish requests carry production rights.

Job boards and livestream publishers — the two verticals the API formally supports — carry the most exposure here. General content sites remain ineligible either way.

What should site owners monitor now?

Check your project's current quota in the Google API Console, where the quota page still directs developers. Watch the Indexing API changelog for any new mechanism to request higher quota, and test whether unapproved projects now function at the default limits before committing production traffic to the API.