diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9606a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/venv
diff --git a/indexer.py b/indexer.py
index 74d143a..f604775 100644
--- a/indexer.py
+++ b/indexer.py
@@ -1,14 +1,24 @@
 from datetime import datetime
+import logging
 from os import getenv
+import sys
 
 from dateutil.parser import parse
 from google.cloud import datastore
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
+from elasticsearch.exceptions import NotFoundError
 
+
+# credentials_path is the path to the Google Cloud credentials JSON file
+# used for authentication.
 credentials_path = getenv('GCLOUD_DATASTORE_CREDENTIALS_PATH')
+
+# spider_results_kind is the name of the database/entity storing spider results
+# in the Google Cloud datastore.
+spider_results_kind = 'spider-results'
+
 datastore_client = datastore.Client.from_service_account_json(credentials_path)
 
-spider_results_kind = 'spider-results'
 es_index_name = spider_results_kind
 
 
@@ -27,16 +37,9 @@ def convert_datastore_datetime(field):
     return dt
 
 
-def get_spider_results(client, newer_than=None):
+def get_spider_results(client):
     query = client.query(kind=spider_results_kind,
                          order=['-created'])
-    
-
-    if newer_than is None:
-        print("Fetching all results from database")
-    else:
-        print("Fetching results from database newer than %s" % newer_than.isoformat())
-        query.add_filter('created', '>', newer_than)
 
     for entity in query.fetch(eventual=True):
         created = convert_datastore_datetime(entity.get('created'))
@@ -50,22 +53,22 @@ def get_spider_results(client, newer_than=None):
             'rating': entity.get('rating'),
         }
 
-
-def last_updated(es):
-        """
-        Returns the most recent created date from the
-        spider-results index
-        """
-        res = es.search(index=es_index_name,
-            _source_include=['created'],
-            body={"query": {"match_all": {}}},
-            sort='created:desc',
-            size=1)
-
-        return res['hits']['hits'][0]['_source']['created']
-
+def make_indexname(name_prefix):
+    """
+    creates a timestamped index name
+    """
+    return name_prefix + "-" + datetime.utcnow().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
 
 def main():
+    # Set up logging
+    root = logging.getLogger()
+    root.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+    ch = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
+    ch.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+    formatter = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')
+    ch.setFormatter(formatter)
+    root.addHandler(ch)
+
     print("Connecting to elasticsearch:9200...")
     es = Elasticsearch([{'host': 'elasticsearch', 'port': 9200}])
     es.cluster.health(wait_for_status='yellow', request_timeout=20)
@@ -112,25 +115,54 @@ def main():
     # Sometimes useful in development
     #es.indices.delete(index=es_index_name)
 
-    time_threshold = None
+    tempindex = make_indexname(es_index_name)
 
-    if not es.indices.exists(index=es_index_name):
-        es.indices.create(index=es_index_name, ignore=400)
-        es.indices.close(index=es_index_name)
-        es.indices.put_settings(index=es_index_name, body=settings)
-        es.indices.put_mapping(index=es_index_name, doc_type='result', body=mappings)
-        es.indices.open(index=es_index_name)
-    else:
-        time_threshold = last_updated(es)
-        time_threshold = parse(time_threshold)
+    # Create new index
+    es.indices.create(index=tempindex, ignore=400)
+    es.indices.close(index=tempindex)
+    es.indices.put_settings(index=tempindex, body=settings)
+    es.indices.put_mapping(index=tempindex, doc_type='result', body=mappings)
+    es.indices.open(index=tempindex)
 
     # Index database content
+    logging.info('Reading result documents from %s DB' % spider_results_kind)
     count = 0
-    for doc in get_spider_results(datastore_client, newer_than=time_threshold):
-        es.index(index=es_index_name, doc_type='result', id=doc['url'], body=doc)
+    for doc in get_spider_results(datastore_client):
+        es.index(index=tempindex, doc_type='result', id=doc['url'], body=doc)
         count += 1
 
-    print('Done indexing %s documents' % count)
+    logging.info('Indexed %s documents' % count)
+
+    # Set our index alias to the new index,
+    # remove old index if existed, re-create alias.
+    if es.indices.exists_alias(name=es_index_name):
+        old_index = es.indices.get_alias(name=es_index_name)
+        
+        # here we assume there is only one index behind this alias
+        old_indices = list(old_index.keys())
+
+        if len(old_indices) > 0:
+            logging.info("Old index on alias is: %s" % old_indices[0])
+
+            try:
+                es.indices.delete_alias(index=old_indices[0], name=es_index_name)
+            except NotFoundError:
+                logging.error("Could not delete index alias for %s" % old_indices[0])
+                pass
+
+            try:
+                es.indices.delete(index=old_indices[0])
+            except:
+                logging.error("Could not delete index %s" % old_indices[0])
+                pass
+
+    # Delete legacy index with same name as alias
+    if es.indices.exists(index=es_index_name):
+        logging.info("Deleting legacy index with name %s" % es_index_name)
+        es.indices.delete(index=es_index_name)
+
+    logging.info("Setting alias '%s' to index '%s" % (es_index_name, tempindex))
+    es.indices.put_alias(index=tempindex, name=es_index_name)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":