Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft’s free console for site owners: you verify your site, submit sitemaps, push new URLs to Bing, see the queries that bring you clicks, and now see how often Copilot cites your pages. Most people set it up once and never log in again. Setup takes about 15 minutes, and the reports worth your time are the ones Google doesn’t give you: AI citation data from Microsoft’s own surfaces, a free site crawler, and a direct line into Bing’s index through IndexNow.
What It Is, and Why It Is Worth 15 Minutes
Bing is smaller than Google, but three things make skipping it a mistake.
- Bing’s index travels further than Bing. DuckDuckGo’s help pages say its traditional links and images are “largely” sourced from Bing. If Bing hasn’t indexed a page, those results can’t show it either.
- It shows you Copilot citations. Microsoft’s AI Performance report covers citations in Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations. That is first-party data from the engine doing the citing.
- It is a second opinion on indexing. A page indexed in Google but missing from Bing is a useful early warning about duplication, blocks or weak internal links.
What it is not: a guarantee. Submitting a URL, getting it indexed and getting it cited are three separate outcomes, so check each separately.
How to Set Up Bing Webmaster Tools Step by Step
Microsoft’s June 2025 setup guide on the Bing Webmaster blog lays it out in five stages.
- Sign in at bing.com/webmasters with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
- Add and verify your site. If the site is already verified in Google Search Console, use the import option. It is the fastest route and brings your verified ownership across.
- Turn on IndexNow through your CMS, a plugin or your own code. Microsoft labels this step “Optional but Highly Recommended.”
- Submit your XML sitemap under Sitemaps, or reference it in robots.txt so Bing discovers it automatically.
- Explore the dashboard once the green verification checkmark appears.
If you can’t import from Search Console, pick a verification method you won’t break later. Here is how the options compare.
| Method | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Import from Google Search Console | Sites already verified in GSC | Check your sitemaps are listed after import |
| Domain Connect | Sites on supported DNS providers (Microsoft names GoDaddy, Bluehost and Wix) | Only works if your provider supports it |
| DNS TXT record | Anyone with DNS access; survives redesigns | DNS changes can take time to propagate |
| XML file in the site root | Static sites, quick one-off checks | Gets deleted in migrations and rebuilds |
| Meta tag in the homepage head | CMS users without DNS access | Disappears when a theme or header template changes |
The quiet failure is verification that vanishes in a redesign. If you use the file or meta tag, put it on your launch checklist; DNS survives everything.
Sitemaps: The Bing Rules Most Guides Skip
Bing says it processes sitemaps at least once every 24 hours, so don’t resubmit after every post. What’s inside the file matters more. A July 2025 Bing Webmaster blog post made three points most sitemap generators get wrong:
- Bing ignores
changefreqandpriority.lastmodis the tag that carries signal. - Use full ISO 8601 dates with a timestamp in
lastmod. - Don’t stamp every URL with the time the sitemap was generated. If
lastmodchanges on pages that didn’t change, Bing learns to ignore it.
The third is the one I see most on WordPress and headless builds: the plugin writes “now” on every URL, and the one signal Bing trusts becomes noise. Run your file through the XML Sitemap Validator, and if you’re rebuilding it, our XML sitemap guide covers the structure. A “Success” status in the Sitemaps report means Bing read the file. It does not mean every URL in it is indexed.
URL Submission and IndexNow: What to Use When
Manual URL submission (the Submit URLs tool and its API) still exists. The quota is set per site, so check what the tool shows for yours rather than trusting an old figure from a blog post.
For anything ongoing, IndexNow is the better tool. A November 2025 update on the Bing Webmaster blog states that Microsoft now recommends IndexNow as the primary method for real-time URL submission. Your site pings participating engines whenever a URL is added, updated or deleted. Per indexnow.org, one submission is shared with every participating engine, and the current list includes Bing, Yandex, Seznam.cz, Naver, Yep and Amazon.
Two caveats people miss:
- Google does not support IndexNow. It isn’t on indexnow.org’s list of participating engines. For Google you still rely on sitemaps, internal links and Search Console.
- A ping is not an index. indexnow.org says submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing, and re-pinging unchanged URLs only wastes the signal.
My rule: sitemaps for coverage, IndexNow for changes, manual submission for the odd urgent fix. We run IndexNow on seorocket.ai itself. For the full mechanics see what is IndexNow, and for the cross-engine picture see how to submit your website to search engines.
Search Performance, Keyword Research and Backlinks
The Search Performance report shows clicks, impressions, CTR and average position by page and query, with up to 16 months of data, according to Microsoft. Use it like Search Console, but look for the differences:
- Queries and pages that rank very differently on the two engines. Treat the gap as a lead to investigate, not a rule.
- Pages with impressions but almost no clicks. The fix is usually the title and description. Preview yours in the SERP Snippet Preview before rewriting.
The Keyword Research tool shows Bing query data, including related and long-tail terms. It reflects Bing’s audience, so don’t size a Google content plan from it. The Backlinks report shows referring domains and anchor text for your site and, per Microsoft, competitors: a free second opinion next to a paid link index.
URL Inspection and Site Explorer: Diagnosing a Missing Page
When a page isn’t showing in Bing, start with URL Inspection: indexing status, crawlability, HTTP response code and blocked resources for one URL. Then open Site Explorer, which shows your site’s structure as Bing sees it, including indexed pages, crawl blocks and error responses.
A quick decision path:
- Not discovered? Check that it’s in the sitemap and linked internally, then send it through IndexNow.
- Discovered but blocked? Test the path in Bing’s robots.txt tester, or our Robots.txt Tester. Look for rules aimed only at bingbot.
- Crawled but not indexed? Usually a quality or duplication problem, not a technical one. Compare it with the page that is indexed for the same topic.
- Error response? Fix the status code first. Our guide to 404 errors and SEO covers when a 404 is fine and when it’s a leak.
Site Scan: Bing’s Free Technical Audit
Site Scan is an on-demand crawler inside Bing Webmaster Tools. Microsoft describes it as a technical SEO audit for broken links, duplicate tags and missing metadata, with “no third-party tools required.” You start a scan on your site and get back a list of errors and warnings.
It’s good for a quick health check and for confirming a fix on a section you just changed. It lists issues rather than ranking them by impact, though. For a full audit I run a real crawler. SEO Rocket’s site audit is backed by Screaming Frog with JavaScript rendering, so it catches the 404s, soft-404 candidates, redirect chains and broken links on pages that only exist after scripts run, then ranks what to fix first. Site Scan is the sanity check; a full crawl is the diagnosis. The technical SEO audit guide walks through the full process.
Copilot Reports: AI Performance and the Copilot Assistant
This is the part most guides still skip. Microsoft launched AI Performance in public preview in February 2026. According to Microsoft’s announcement, it reports:
- Total Citations: how many times your content was shown as a source in AI answers during the period.
- Average Cited Pages: the average number of your unique pages cited per day.
- Grounding queries: the phrases the AI used when it retrieved your content. Microsoft notes this is a sample.
- Page-level citations and trends: which URLs get cited and how that changes over time.
In October 2026, Microsoft added Topics Portfolio (beta). It groups your grounding queries into topics and lists “opportunity queries,” where other sites are cited and yours isn’t. It only appears when your site has enough data, and Microsoft’s advice is to “treat the numbers as directional signals for planning, not as a precise ledger.”
Two rules for reading these Copilot reports honestly. First, a citation isn’t a visit. Microsoft says the counts don’t reflect placement, ranking or importance, and the announcement describes citations, not clicks, so look for Copilot referrals in your analytics as well. Second, the report only covers Microsoft’s surfaces. It tells you nothing about ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI Overviews.
A worked example of how to use it. Say a setup guide of yours is cited for a grounding query about verifying a site, while an opportunity query on the same topic about fixing errors goes to other sites. Don’t write a new page. Add the missing answer to the cited page as a clearly headed section, then recheck in a month. That’s the same play we cover in Bing Copilot SEO. For AI engines Microsoft can’t see, SEO Rocket’s AI Visibility tracking fills the gap.
The other “Copilot” in the tool is an assistant. Copilot in Bing Webmaster Tools has been available to all users since March 2025. It answers questions about your site’s own data and, per Microsoft, works in English only for now. Useful for quick questions, but check its answer against the underlying report before you act.
A 20-Minute Monthly Routine (and the Mistakes It Catches)
The real failure isn’t setup. It’s never coming back. This routine takes about 20 minutes a month:
| Check | Where | What you’re looking for |
|---|---|---|
| Recommendations | Recommendations | New high-severity items since last month |
| Sitemaps | Sitemaps | Last read date is recent; no processing errors |
| IndexNow | Your CMS or plugin log | Submissions are still firing (plugins can break silently after updates) |
| Search Performance | Search Performance | Pages and queries with the biggest change, compared with Google Search Console |
| AI Performance | AI Performance | Pages losing citations; new opportunity queries |
| Site Scan | Site Scan | Rerun on any section you changed this month |
The comparison step is where the insight is. When a page climbs in Google and slips in Bing, or the reverse, the cause is usually specific: a crawl block, a canonical, or a page Bing treats as a duplicate. Pull the Google side from Search Console, or from SEO Rocket’s GSC and GA4 integrations, so both engines sit side by side. The usual culprits this catches: a forgotten bingbot disallow left over from an old migration (which removes a section from Copilot too), a fake lastmod, and AI citations reported upward as if they were traffic.
FAQ
Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
Yes. Every feature here, including Site Scan and AI Performance, is free with a verified site.
Does IndexNow help with Google?
No. Google isn’t an IndexNow participant. Use sitemaps and Search Console for Google, and IndexNow for Bing and the other participating engines.
Can I import my site from Google Search Console?
Yes. If the site is verified in Search Console, the import option brings the verified ownership across, so you can skip manual verification. Our Search Console setup guide covers the Google side.
How long until data appears?
Microsoft says the dashboard starts collecting data once verification succeeds. Topics Portfolio only appears when your site has enough citation activity, so small sites may see little there at first.
Where Bing Webmaster Tools Fits in Your Stack
Think of it as three things in one login: the fastest way into Bing’s index (through IndexNow), a free second crawler and link index, and the only first-party view of how Copilot cites you. Set it up properly once, with DNS verification, an honest sitemap and IndexNow on. Then give it 20 minutes a month. That’s the playbook proven across 1,000,000+ ranking pages: get the plumbing right on every engine, then spend your time on reports that tell you something new.
