Bing Webmaster Tools
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Bing Webmaster Tools (BWT) is Microsoft’s equivalent of Google Search Console. It covers site verification, sitemap submission, crawl diagnostics, URL inspection, and search performance data for Bing. The case for setting it up extends beyond Bing’s own search share: the Bing index powers ChatGPT Search and Microsoft Copilot, and since February 2026, BWT includes the only first-party AI citation measurement available from any major search platform.1
Access BWT at bing.com/webmasters and sign in with a Microsoft account.
Verification
Three verification methods are available:
XML meta tag: add a <meta name="msvalidate.01"> tag to the <head> of your homepage.
DNS record: add a CNAME record to your domain’s DNS configuration. Suitable for sites where modifying page markup is difficult.
Google Search Console import: if your site is already verified in GSC, BWT can import the verification automatically. This is the fastest path for sites already set up in Search Console and requires no code changes.
Once verified, all subdomains under the root domain are covered.
Sitemaps
Submit your sitemap through the Sitemaps section in BWT. Bing supports standard XML sitemaps and sitemap index files. Once submitted, BWT reports how many URLs it has discovered and indexed from the sitemap, and flags any URLs it could not access.
IndexNow
BWT supports IndexNow, a protocol that lets you notify Bing immediately when a page is published or updated rather than waiting for the crawler to find it. A single API call sends the URL to Bing (and any other participating engine) for immediate recrawling. Plugins are available for WordPress and other common platforms; Cloudflare also supports IndexNow through its integration.
IndexNow is the most direct way to ensure new or updated content reaches the Bing index quickly, which matters for ChatGPT Search and Copilot citation as much as for Bing rankings.
URL Inspection
The URL Inspection tool shows the indexing status, HTTP response code, crawlability, and any blocked resources for a specific URL. It answers the core diagnostic question: does Bing see this page, and if not, why?
After updating a page and submitting it through URL Inspection, Bing typically recrawls it around 1.7 times faster than through organic discovery.2 For high-priority pages, including the homepage, key landing pages, and recently updated reference content, requesting inspection after significant changes is worth the small effort.
Search Performance report
The Search Performance report shows impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and average position for Bing organic queries. Up to 16 months of historical data are available, which is useful for identifying seasonal patterns or tracking the impact of site changes over time.
The report filters by query, page, country, and device. For Bing-specific diagnosis, such as identifying queries where Bing impressions are strong but rankings are lower than expected, this data is more useful than estimating from Google Search Console.
Crawl diagnostics
The Crawl Diagnostics section reports on pages Bing could not crawl or index, organised by error type. Common categories include DNS errors, connection timeouts, HTTP error codes, and robots.txt blocks. The report identifies which URLs are affected and the specific error preventing crawl.
BWT also includes a robots.txt tester, which confirms how your robots.txt configuration affects specific URLs. This is useful for verifying that important pages are not accidentally blocked before a change goes live.
Keyword research
BWT includes a built-in keyword research tool showing search volumes, related queries, and query trends specific to Bing. The data is Bing-native, reflecting Bing’s own query patterns rather than extrapolations from Google.
One practical use: Bing’s keyword data can surface query opportunities that are underserved on Google but have meaningful Bing-specific volume. Research has found that a substantial share of long-tail queries with low Google volume receive meaningful monthly searches on Bing.2
AI Performance report
Launched in February 2026, the AI Performance report tracks how your content is cited in AI-generated responses across Microsoft Copilot and Bing AI summaries.1
Total citations: the number of times your site was cited as a source in AI-generated answers during the selected period. This is the closest available equivalent to an AI visibility score.
Grounding queries: the internal queries that Copilot and Bing’s AI systems generated when retrieving your content. These are the reformulated search terms the AI used behind the scenes, not the user’s original question. They reveal which topics and framings your content is being used to answer.
Cited pages: which specific URLs are being cited and how citation activity changes over time.
The report shows citation volume and trends. Click-through data from AI citations is not yet included in the current release; Microsoft has signalled that additional metrics are in development.
Access the AI Performance report via the left navigation in BWT. Data covers the last 30 days by default, with the option to adjust the date range.
Copilot assistant
BWT includes a built-in Copilot assistant for troubleshooting. It can explain crawl errors, surface indexing issues, suggest fixes, and help navigate the platform. For diagnosing why a specific page is not indexed or why crawl errors are persisting, the assistant provides useful starting points without requiring manual cross-referencing of documentation.
Setup checklist
- Sign in at bing.com/webmasters with a Microsoft account
- Add your site and verify ownership (use GSC import if available)
- Submit your XML sitemap
- Enable IndexNow for fast indexing notifications
- Use URL Inspection to confirm priority pages are indexed
- Review the Crawl Diagnostics report for any blocked or erroring URLs
- Check the AI Performance report to establish a citation baseline