Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft’s free console for site owners. Setup is quick: sign in, add your site (or import it from Google Search Console), verify ownership, submit your sitemap and turn on IndexNow. Once that’s done, you get Bing search data, URL inspection, an SEO audit and the AI Performance report, which shows when Microsoft Copilot and Bing’s AI summaries cite your pages.
This guide covers each setup step in order, using Microsoft’s own documentation. It sticks to the tool itself. It doesn’t cover Bing ranking strategy. Last checked: October 28, 2026.
What Bing Webmaster Tools Does (and Why It Matters for AI Search)
Bing Webmaster Tools does for Bing what Google Search Console does for Google. You can see the queries and pages that get Bing clicks, check whether a URL is indexed, submit sitemaps and fix crawl errors.
Two things make it worth setting up even if Bing sends you little traffic:
- It’s the only first-party view of Copilot citations. The AI Performance report, launched in public preview in February 2026, shows how often your pages are cited as sources in Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations (source: Bing Webmaster Blog).
- Bing’s index feeds more than Bing. OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes sends rewritten queries to third-party search providers, and its help page points to Microsoft’s privacy statement for how those queries are handled (source: OpenAI Help Center).
Data collection only starts on the day you add your site, and you can’t see earlier data (source: Bing Search Performance help). So set it up now, even if you won’t look at the reports for a while.
Step 1: Sign In to Bing Webmaster Tools
Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in. Microsoft says you can use an existing Microsoft, Google or Facebook account, or create a new Microsoft account (source: Getting started checklist).
Use a shared company account rather than a personal one if possible. You can add teammates and agencies later through User Management, so nobody needs your password.
Step 2: Add Your Site (Import From Search Console or Add Manually)
You have two ways to add a site.
| Method | How it works | Verification | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Import from Google Search Console | Give Bing permission to read your Search Console account, pick the sites and click Import | Automatic for the imported sites | Sites already verified in Search Console |
| Add manually | Enter your site URL and click Add | You choose a method in Step 3 | Sites not in Search Console, or when you’d rather not connect Google |
The import also brings in the sitemaps listed in Search Console. Bing periodically re-checks ownership through the connection, and any new sitemap it finds there is imported automatically. You can disconnect the Google account in your Bing profile at any time. You can import up to 100 sites at once, with a limit of 1,000 sites per account (source: Add and verify site).
A property can cover a whole domain (example.com) or a single folder (example.com/clothing/). Most sites should add the whole domain.
Step 3: Verify Ownership
If you added the site manually, Bing asks you to prove you own it. There are four methods (source: Add and verify site):
| Method | What you do | Good fit if… |
|---|---|---|
| DNS auto verification (Domain Connect) | Sign in to your DNS provider when prompted, and the CNAME record is added for you | Your DNS provider supports Domain Connect. The option only appears for providers that do |
| XML file | Download BingSiteAuth.xml and upload it to your site’s root folder | You have FTP or file-manager access |
| Meta tag | Paste the msvalidate.01 meta tag into the <head> of your homepage | You use WordPress, Shopify or another CMS with a header field |
| CNAME record | Add the CNAME record Bing gives you at your domain host | You manage DNS but your provider doesn’t support Domain Connect |
On WordPress, the meta tag is usually the easiest. Most SEO plugins, including Yoast, have a field for the Bing verification code, so you only paste the code, not the whole tag.
When it works, you’ll see a green checkmark. A red cross comes with an error message. Fix the issue it describes and try again. Leave the file, tag or record in place after verifying, because Bing re-checks ownership.
Step 4: Submit Your Sitemap
Open Sitemaps in the left menu, click Submit sitemaps and paste your sitemap URL. Bing accepts XML sitemaps and sitemap index files, RSS 2.0, Atom 0.3 and 1.0, and plain text files with one URL per line (source: Sitemaps help).
Where to find your sitemap on common platforms:
- WordPress with Yoast:
/sitemap_index.xml - WordPress core (no SEO plugin):
/wp-sitemap.xml - Shopify:
/sitemap.xml
The Sitemaps page lists every sitemap Bing knows about, whether you submitted it, imported it from Search Console or Bing found it on its own. Each one shows its processing status and the number of URLs discovered. Click a sitemap to see the exact errors or warnings.
Also add a Sitemap: line to your robots.txt file so every crawler can find it:
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap_index.xmlStep 5: Turn On IndexNow
IndexNow is a protocol that lets your site notify participating search engines as soon as a URL is added, updated or deleted, instead of waiting for a crawl. Bing explains it in its IndexNow setup guide.
You may already have it. Bing lists IndexNow as built into the IndexNow plugin, Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO and SEOPress on WordPress, and offers Shopify options such as the InstaIndex app. If you don’t use one of those, the manual setup has four steps:
- Generate an API key.
- Host the key in a UTF-8 text file at your site root (or another location on the same host, passed as
keyLocation). - Send changed URLs to the IndexNow endpoint, one at a time or as a JSON list.
- Check in Bing Webmaster Tools that the URLs were received.
Two caveats from Bing: IndexNow doesn’t guarantee a page gets crawled or indexed, and you should only submit URLs that changed after you started using it, not your whole back catalog. Bing also ties IndexNow to AI answers: it says faster discovery of changes helps AI systems cite the current version of a page.
Step 6: Check Your Robots.txt for Bingbot
Bing’s AI Performance documentation says it respects robots.txt and other content owner controls, and that the report only reflects content eligible for indexing. If Bingbot is blocked, your pages can’t be indexed or cited.
Open your robots.txt and make sure there’s no Disallow: / group that applies to Bingbot, either under User-agent: bingbot or under User-agent: * with no separate Bingbot group. Our robots.txt examples show safe patterns, and the AI crawler list covers the AI-specific bots.
Step 7: Inspect Your Key URLs
Go to URL Inspection and enter your homepage, then your top product or service pages. For each URL, Bing shows three cards (source: URL Inspection help):
- Index card: whether the URL is indexed, when it was discovered and crawled, and the HTTP response. If it isn’t indexed, the card shows the error and the action to take.
- SEO card: errors, warnings and notices, ranked red (high), yellow (medium) and blue (low), each with “How to fix” steps.
- Markup card: the structured data Bing can read, covering JSON-LD, HTML Microdata, Microformats and Open Graph.
The Live URL tab fetches the page as Bingbot sees it right now. Live URL doesn’t follow redirects. It reports the redirect and lets you inspect the destination separately.
After fixing a page, use Request indexing. Requests count against a daily URL submission quota, which the tool shows you.
Step 8: Run a Site Scan and Check SEO Reports
Site Scan is an on-demand crawl that audits your site for technical SEO issues. You set a maximum page limit for each scan, and the pages you can scan each month are capped by a quota that Bing sets (source: Site Scan help).
SEO Reports run on their own every other week for verified sites, so you get fresh suggestions about twice a month. A newly verified site may wait a few days for its first report (source: Getting started checklist).
Step 9: Find the AI Performance Report (Copilot Citations)
This is the “Bing Webmaster Tools AI” part most people are searching for. The AI Performance report shows citation activity across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner AI integrations (source: AI Performance help).
| Metric | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Total citations | How many times your content was shown as a source in AI answers in the date range |
| Average cited pages | The average number of unique pages from your site cited per day |
| Grounding queries | Grouped phrases the AI used when retrieving content it cited. This is a sample, not individual user prompts |
| Page-level citations | Citation counts for each URL |
| Citation Share (preview) | Your share of all citations shown for a specific grounding query. It doesn’t name competitors |
You can filter by date range (7 days, 30 days, 3 months or custom), click a grounding query to see the pages cited for it (or a page to see its queries), compare two periods and export to CSV or Excel. Preview features also label grounding queries by intent and group them into topics.
Keep three limits in mind. Citations aren’t clicks or traffic. The data is sampled and aggregated, so totals can differ between views. A small site with few citations may see no grounding queries at all, which Bing says doesn’t mean a penalty.
Step 10: Use Copilot in Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools also has its own Copilot, a chat assistant inside the console. It became available to all users in March 2025, in English only at launch. It answers questions about your specific site, surfaces performance data and walks you through tools (source: Bing Webmaster Blog).
Don’t confuse it with the AI Performance report. Copilot in Bing Webmaster Tools is an assistant that helps you use the console. AI Performance measures how Microsoft’s AI experiences cite your site.
Bing Webmaster Tools Setup Checklist
| Task | Where in the tool | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Add and verify site | Add site → verification method | Green checkmark |
| Submit sitemap | Sitemaps → Submit sitemaps | Status shows processed, URLs discovered |
| Turn on IndexNow | Your SEO plugin, CDN or API | Submitted URLs appear in the tool |
| Check robots.txt | Your site’s /robots.txt | Bingbot isn’t blocked |
| Inspect key URLs | URL Inspection | Homepage and top pages indexed |
| Run Site Scan | Site Scan | Red (high-priority) issues fixed |
| Add teammates | User Management | No shared passwords |
| Review AI citations | AI Performance | Baseline noted for later comparison |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is free. You sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account, or create a new Microsoft account.
How long does Bing Webmaster Tools take to show data?
Bing says it usually takes about 48 hours after adding a site to generate data. Search data only starts from the day you add the site, so earlier history isn’t available.
Can I import my site from Google Search Console?
Yes. Connect your Search Console account and pick the sites to import. They’re verified automatically, and their sitemaps come with them. You can import up to 100 sites at a time.
What is the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools?
It’s a report, in public preview since February 2026, that shows how often your pages are cited as sources in Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and select partner AI experiences. It includes total citations, cited pages, grounding queries and page-level counts.
Do I need IndexNow if I submit a sitemap?
They do different jobs. A sitemap lists all the URLs you want crawled. IndexNow sends an instant notice when a specific URL is added, updated or deleted. Using both is the safest setup.
Does ChatGPT use Bing?
OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with third-party search providers and links to Microsoft’s privacy statement for how they handle queries. It also says sites need to allow OAI-SearchBot to be eligible for ChatGPT search. So being indexed in Bing helps, but it isn’t the only requirement.
Why isn’t my page indexed in Bing?
Run URL Inspection on the page. The Index card shows whether Bing found and crawled it and lists the error if it failed. Common causes are a robots.txt block, a noindex tag, a redirect or a page Bing hasn’t discovered yet. Fix the issue, then request indexing.
Can AI engines read your site?
Check any page for free: crawler access for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, plus the fixes that matter most.
