What you can do with it
- See clicks, impressions and positions for your pages in the Search Performance report.
- Submit XML sitemaps and URLs, and use IndexNow for instant updates.
- Find crawl errors, blocked pages and SEO issues with Site Scan and the SEO reports.
- Check your backlinks and research keywords.
- Test robots.txt and verify whether a visitor is really Bingbot.
Why use it
Bing’s index is also used by Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and Microsoft Copilot. You can set it up in a few minutes by importing your sites from Google Search Console.
Bing Webmaster Tools example
A local bakery’s owner imports the site from Google Search Console, verifies it in a minute and submits the XML sitemap. A week later the Search Performance report shows which queries bring Bing visitors. Site Scan flags images without alt text and two pages blocked by robots.txt by mistake. The owner fixes both and sends the pages to Bing again.
Setup checklist
- Sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account and add your site, or import it from Google Search Console.
- Verify ownership with a DNS record, an XML file or a meta tag.
- Submit your XML sitemap.
- Turn on IndexNow so Bing hears about new and changed pages straight away.
- Check the reports monthly: crawl errors, indexed pages and search performance.
Bing Webmaster Tools mistakes
- Ignoring Bing because Google sends more traffic. Bing’s index also feeds other search services.
- Not verifying the right version of the site (www, non-www, HTTP or HTTPS).
- Leaving crawl errors unchecked for months.
Bing Webmaster Tools FAQs
Is it free?
Yes. Like Google Search Console, it costs nothing for site owners.
Do I need it if I already use Google Search Console?
It is worth the few minutes it takes, because it gives a second view of how your site is crawled. See also Bingbot and Bing advertising.