diff --git a/xsnippet_api/database.py b/xsnippet_api/database.py
index 27f9e56..9639cd8 100644
--- a/xsnippet_api/database.py
+++ b/xsnippet_api/database.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 from motor.motor_asyncio import AsyncIOMotorClient
 from pymongo.son_manipulator import SONManipulator
+import pymongo
 
 
 def create_connection(conf, loop=None):
@@ -36,6 +37,16 @@ def create_connection(conf, loop=None):
     # is doing this implicitly for us on application level.
     db.add_son_manipulator(_AutoincrementId())
 
+    # ensure necessary indexes exist
+    db.snippets.create_index("author_id",
+                             background=True)
+    db.snippets.create_index("tags",
+                             background=True)
+    db.snippets.create_index([("created_at", pymongo.DESCENDING)],
+                             background=True)
+    db.snippets.create_index([("updated_at", pymongo.DESCENDING)],
+                             background=True)
+
     return db