What Bing Webmaster Tools means
It works like Google Search Console: submit sitemaps, check indexing, find errors and see search queries. Bing also powers results in other services, so it is worth verifying your site.
Why it matters for your website
Bing powers search on several products, and its index also feeds some other search and AI tools, so it is more than a backup search engine. Setting up Bing Webmaster Tools takes minutes and gives you crawl reports, keyword data and alerts you might otherwise miss.
Example
A home inspector verifies her site in Bing Webmaster Tools by importing it from Google Search Console, submits her sitemap and finds a few pages Bing could not crawl.
Tips
- Import your site from Google Search Console to set it up quickly.
- Submit your XML sitemap and check for crawl errors.
- Look into IndexNow to tell Bing about new or updated pages faster.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring Bing entirely and missing problems that only show up there.
- Setting it up once and never checking its alerts or reports.
Questions about Bing Webmaster Tools
What is Bing Webmaster Tools?
Microsoft's free tool for monitoring how your site performs in Bing search.
Is Bing Webmaster Tools worth setting up?
Yes. It is free, quick to verify and offers reports that complement Google Search Console. Bing data also matters because its index supports other search experiences.
What is IndexNow?
IndexNow is a protocol that lets you notify participating search engines, including Bing, when pages are added, changed or deleted. Many CMS plugins can send these pings automatically.
