Set up Bing Webmaster Tools

Not everyone searches on Google. Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's free tool for website owners. It shows how your site is doing in Bing search, flags problems Bing finds, and lets you tell Bing about new and changed pages.

If you've already set up Google Search Console, the hard part is done: Bing can import your site from it and verify it for you.

1. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in.
2. You can use an existing Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. If you don't have one of those, you can create a free Microsoft account.

Then choose one of the two ways to add your site below.

This is the fastest way, and you don't have to verify anything by hand.

1. Choose the option to import your sites from Google Search Console.
2. Sign in with the Google Account you use for Search Console, and give Bing permission to read it.
3. Bing lists the verified sites in your Search Console account. Tick your website and select Import.

That's it. Bing says imported sites are added and verified automatically, and the sitemaps from your Search Console account come across too.

1. Type your website's address into the box and select Add.
2. Choose a way to prove the site is yours. Bing offers these:
   • Automatic DNS check (Domain Connect): if your domain provider supports it, you just log in to your provider when asked, and Bing adds the record for you. You'll only see this option if your provider supports it.
   • XML file: download a small file called BingSiteAuth.xml and upload it to the main (root) folder of your website.
   • Meta tag: paste a short line of code into the head section of your home page, then publish.
   • CNAME record: add a DNS record, using the code Bing gives you, at the company you bought your domain from.
3. Follow the on-screen steps and verify.

A green check mark means you're in. A red cross comes with an error message: fix what it says, then try again later.

A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your site. If you imported from Search Console, check first: your sitemap may already be there.

1. Open Sitemaps from the menu on the left.
2. Select Submit sitemaps at the top right.
3. Paste your sitemap's address (many sites keep it at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) and submit it.

The Sitemaps page then shows when Bing last read each sitemap, whether it worked, and how many pages it found. If you make big changes to your site later, you can resubmit a sitemap in one click.

IndexNow is a free way for your website to tell search engines the moment a page is added, changed or deleted, instead of waiting for them to notice. According to IndexNow.org, it's supported by Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep. Google isn't on that list, so for Google, keep using Search Console.

How you turn it on depends on how your site is built:

• Wix, Duda or GoDaddy's website builder: Bing's IndexNow page lists these among the builders that have it built in, so there's nothing to set up.
• WordPress, Shopify and other systems: Bing's page lists plugins and apps that add it.
• Sites that run through Cloudflare: Bing's page says you can turn on Crawler Hints in your Cloudflare account.
• A custom-built site: your developer creates a key, puts it on your site as a small text file, and sends the addresses of new or changed pages.

To see whether it's working, open IndexNow in Bing Webmaster Tools. It lists the pages that were submitted and where the submissions came from.

Bing Webmaster Tools has three roles:

• Read only: can see all the features and reports, but can't change settings or add other people.
• Read/Write: can use almost everything, but can't add other people.
• Administrator: full control, including adding people.

Bing warns that Administrators and Read/Write users can block Bing from crawling and indexing your site. So for someone who only needs to look, Read only is the safe choice.

1. Ask them to sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools first, with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. Bing can't add them until they have.
2. Open User management from the menu on the left and start adding a user.
3. Enter their sign-in email in the Email field.
4. In Select role, choose Read only.
5. Check the Access scope field: it's the part of your site they'll be able to see. Your main web address covers the whole site.
6. Select Add.

• The import shows fewer sites than Search Console. Bing says some may already be in your Bing account, or grouped together under one address.
• A red cross when verifying. Read the error, fix it, and try again later. DNS changes in particular can take a while to show up.
• No data yet. Give it about 48 hours after adding your site.
• You can't add your web person. They need to sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools first.

Your website is now in Bing's tools. Next, put your business on Bing Maps with our guide to setting up Bing Places, which can copy your Google Business Profile across.

This guide is free for everyone. It's also one of the step-by-step setup guides included with our SEO and AI-search audit, so every fix in your report comes with instructions you can follow.