Bing has a modest share of classic web search, but its index feeds far more than bing.com. Microsoft Copilot grounds its answers in Bing results, Windows and Edge surface Bing data, and several AI assistants have relied on Bing as a search provider. If Bing cannot crawl or trust a page, that page is missing from every one of those answers. The good news is that Bing Webmaster Tools is free, quick to set up, and in some ways more generous with data than Google's equivalent.

1. Add your site, the fast way

Sign in at Bing Webmaster Tools with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. If your site is already verified in Google Search Console, choose the import option: Bing pulls in your verified properties and submitted sitemaps in one step, with no DNS record or file upload. If you do not use Search Console, verify with a DNS record at your domain registrar, which survives website rebuilds better than an HTML file or meta tag.

Add every version of the site you care about. If you run separate subdomains for a shop or a French site, verify each one so you see its data separately.

2. Submit a sitemap and confirm it was processed

In the Sitemaps section, submit the same XML sitemap you give Google. Come back a few days later and check the status and the number of URLs discovered. A sitemap that lists redirected, noindexed or broken URLs teaches Bing to trust it less, so clean it first. Our technical SEO audit guide explains how to find those URLs with a crawl.

3. Turn on IndexNow so new pages are found in hours

IndexNow is an open protocol that lets your site tell participating search engines the moment a URL is added, updated or deleted, instead of waiting for a crawler to notice. Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam and Yep support it, and a URL submitted to one is shared with the others. Google does not use IndexNow, so keep your sitemap for Google.

Setup depends on your platform:

  • WordPress: the official IndexNow plugin, or the IndexNow setting in popular SEO plugins, submits changed URLs automatically.
  • Shopify, Wix and other hosted builders: check the platform's SEO settings, since several submit to IndexNow on your behalf already.
  • Cloudflare: Crawler Hints can send IndexNow pings for sites behind its network.
  • Custom sites: generate a key, host it as a text file at your root, and send a simple request with the changed URLs whenever you publish. Bing's IndexNow page has the exact format.

IndexNow speeds up discovery. It does not force a page into the index or improve rankings, so a thin page submitted instantly is still a thin page.

4. Read Search Performance for the queries Google hides

The Search Performance report shows clicks, impressions, average position and click through rate by query and by page. Bing's audience skews toward desktop users and people on work computers with Windows defaults, so the queries often look more commercial and more B2B than your Google data. Sort by impressions, then look for pages ranking between positions five and fifteen. Those are the cheapest wins, exactly as they are in Google Search Console.

5. Check the AI Performance report for Copilot citations

In February 2026 Bing added an AI Performance report. It shows how often your pages were cited as sources in Copilot and Bing's AI generated answers, which pages were cited, and the grounding queries that led the system to retrieve them. It is the first report from a major search platform that shows citations directly rather than leaving you to infer them.

Use it in three ways:

  1. Find your citable pages. Pages with many citations share a pattern: usually a clear question, a direct answer and specific facts. Apply that pattern to similar pages.
  2. Read the grounding queries. They show what the assistant was trying to answer when it chose you. Gaps between those questions and your page content are rewrite opportunities.
  3. Keep expectations honest. Early published analyses found that citations produced very few clicks. Treat citations as visibility and brand exposure, and measure leads separately, as covered in our guide to measuring AI search traffic and leads.

6. Use URL Inspection and Site Scan before you guess

When a page is missing, URL Inspection tells you whether Bing knows about it, whether it is indexed, and what it saw on its last crawl. Site Scan crawls your site on demand and flags common problems: missing titles, duplicate descriptions, broken links, blocked resources and oversized pages. It is a reasonable free substitute for a paid crawler on a small site.

Check robots.txt as well. Bingbot follows its own user agent rules, and an old rule written for a staging site sometimes blocks it while Googlebot is allowed. The robots.txt tester in Bing Webmaster Tools shows exactly which rule matched.

7. Fix the things Bing weighs more heavily

Bing's ranking is similar to Google's in principle, but its public guidelines put more visible weight on a few signals:

  • Clear on page relevance. Bing still leans on titles, headings and the opening paragraph matching the query plainly. Clever, vague titles cost more on Bing than on Google.
  • Exact business details. Claim Bing Places for Business and match your name, address, phone and hours to Google, as described in our local citations guide.
  • Structured data. Bing reads schema.org markup for organizations, products, reviews and articles. Our schema markup guide covers the types worth adding.
  • Links from relevant sites. The Backlinks report shows who links to you and lets you compare against competitors at no cost.

8. Build a fifteen minute monthly routine

  1. Check the Sitemaps and IndexNow status for errors.
  2. Scan Search Performance for new queries and pages moving into positions five to fifteen.
  3. Open AI Performance, note the most cited pages and two or three new grounding queries.
  4. Review Recommendations and fix anything marked high severity.
  5. Write down one action for next month, such as rewriting a page that ranks but is never cited.

If you also want a plan for Google AI features and other assistants, start with how to prepare your website for AI search, or see how our LLM SEO service tracks visibility across engines.

Sources and further reading

See Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Guidelines, the IndexNow protocol site, and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?

Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is free for any site owner. You need a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account to sign in, and you can import verified sites directly from Google Search Console.

Does Bing affect ChatGPT and Copilot answers?

Microsoft Copilot grounds its answers in the Bing index, and Bing has served as a search provider for other assistants. If Bing cannot crawl or index a page, it cannot be cited in those answers, so Bing visibility is a prerequisite rather than a guarantee.

Does Google support IndexNow?

No. IndexNow is used by Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam and Yep. Keep submitting an XML sitemap through Google Search Console for Google.

What does the Bing AI Performance report show?

It shows how many times your pages were cited in Copilot and Bing AI answers, which pages were cited, and the grounding queries that triggered those citations. It does not show clicks or revenue from those citations.

How long does Bing take to index a new page?

With IndexNow, Bing often discovers new URLs within hours. Indexing still depends on quality and crawlability, so a discovered page is not always indexed. Without IndexNow, discovery can take days or weeks.