Bing · Webmaster Tools · 2026 guide
By Ben, IndexUrePoint
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Updated 17 October 2026
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11 min read
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft’s free counterpart to Google Search Console: it shows how Bing crawls, indexes and ranks your site — and, since February 2026, how often Microsoft Copilot cites your pages in AI answers.
Key takeaways
- Setup takes about 10 minutes: add the site (or import it from Search Console), verify, submit the sitemap, connect IndexNow.
- Bing’s own search share is small — 4.5% worldwide in August 2026 (StatCounter) — but its index reaches far beyond bing.com.
- In a 100-query study, 87% of ChatGPT search citations matched Bing’s top results (Seer Interactive, 2025).
- The AI Performance report (public preview since 10 February 2026) shows citations in Copilot and Bing’s AI summaries — data Google Search Console doesn’t break out.
- IndexNow pushes new URLs to Bing in seconds; Microsoft said it accounted for 17% of new URLs clicked in Bing results.
How this was checked. First-hand: on 24 September 2026 we added indexurepoint.com to Bing Webmaster Tools, verified it with the meta-tag method, submitted our sitemap index and connected IndexNow. Everything else is sourced to Microsoft’s own documentation or named studies, linked inline. Reddit threads are quoted only from their public titles and search snippets.
What is Bing Webmaster Tools?
Bing Webmaster Tools is a free dashboard from Microsoft for site owners. It tells you which of your pages Bing has found and indexed, which queries you appear for, which sites link to you, and what technical problems Bing ran into while crawling.
Microsoft’s own Webmaster Guidelines now describe how Bing surfaces content “across Bing search experiences, Copilot, and grounding API results” — in other words, the same index feeds classic search, Microsoft’s AI assistant and third parties that ground their answers on Bing.
Why does Bing matter in 2026 if Google has 91% share?
Because the Bing index is used far beyond bing.com. Google still holds about 91% of worldwide search and Bing about 4.5% (StatCounter, August 2026), but AI assistants change the maths.
4.5%Bing’s worldwide search share, Aug 2026 — StatCounter
87%of ChatGPT search citations matched Bing’s top results (100 queries, 500+ citations) — Seer Interactive
17%of new URLs clicked in Bing results came via IndexNow — Fabrice Canel, Microsoft, via Search Engine Land
18,100monthly US searches for “bing webmaster tools”, +124% year on year (DataForSEO, Sept 2026)
The Seer study compared ChatGPT’s citations with Google and Bing results for the same questions: Bing matched 87%, Google 56%. It isn’t the whole story — experiments reported by Semrush suggest paid ChatGPT also draws on Google — but the takeaway is simple: if Bing can’t index you, you’re missing from a large share of AI answers. That’s also why we treat Bing as a pillar of answer engine optimization, not an afterthought.
How do you set up Bing Webmaster Tools? (10 minutes)
Microsoft’s Getting Started Checklist lists the same core steps. Here’s how they played out on this site.
Step 1 — Sign in
Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. No separate registration is needed.
Step 2 — Add your site
You get two choices. Import from Google Search Console is fastest: your verified properties and their sitemaps come across without separate verification, but you grant Bing read access to your Search Console data. Add manually means entering your URL and verifying yourself. We chose manual, to keep the accounts separate. If you haven’t set up Search Console yet, start with how to submit your website to Google.
Step 3 — Verify ownership
Three methods: an XML file (BingSiteAuth.xml) in your site root, an msvalidate.01 meta tag on your homepage, or a CNAME record in DNS. On WordPress the meta tag is simplest — Yoast SEO has a field for it. We added the tag, clicked Verify, and the site appeared in the dashboard straight away.
Step 4 — Submit your sitemap
Open Sitemaps → Submit sitemap and enter your sitemap URL — with Yoast or Rank Math usually /sitemap_index.xml. Ours showed “Processing” within seconds. If Bing reports an error, the causes are the same as on Google: see sitemap could not be read.
Step 5 — Connect IndexNow
Install the official IndexNow plugin (or enable IndexNow in your SEO plugin) so every new or updated URL is pushed to Bing instantly. By the time of writing, this site had sent 100 IndexNow submissions with zero failures. Details in what is IndexNow.
How does Bing Webmaster Tools compare to Google Search Console?
They overlap on the basics and differ on the extras. Bing is more generous with free research data; Google has the bigger audience.
| Feature |
Bing Webmaster Tools |
Google Search Console |
| Search performance (clicks, impressions, queries) |
Yes |
Yes |
| URL inspection |
Yes |
Yes |
| AI citation reporting |
Yes — AI Performance (public preview) |
No separate report; AI features are part of Performance |
| Backlink data |
Yes — referring domains and anchors |
Basic Links report |
| Keyword research |
Yes, from Bing data |
No |
| On-demand site audit |
Yes — Site Scan |
No |
| Instant URL push |
IndexNow (automatic) |
Request indexing (manual, daily limit) |
| Verification |
XML file, meta tag, CNAME, or import from Google |
DNS, HTML file, meta tag, Analytics, Tag Manager |
Practitioners notice the extras too: one r/bigseo thread titled “Anyone here actively using Bing Webmaster Tools?” includes a reply calling the backlink data “surprisingly good”.
What does the AI Performance report show?
Microsoft introduced AI Performance on 10 February 2026 as a public preview. It covers Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations, with five views: total citations, average cited pages, grounding queries, page-level citation activity and trends over time. On 13 October 2026 Microsoft added Topics Portfolio (beta), which groups those grounding queries into broader themes.
Its limits matter. As Search Engine Land noted, the metrics reflect citation frequency only — no clicks, no traffic, and no indication of how prominently you were used. Treat it as a visibility signal, then check real visits in your analytics. To raise your citation count, apply the playbook in how to get cited in AI search, and make sure you aren’t blocking Microsoft’s crawler — see AI crawlers and robots.txt.
How does IndexNow fit in?
Bing Webmaster Tools shows what Bing knows about your site; IndexNow is how you tell Bing about changes the moment they happen. Instead of waiting for Bingbot to recrawl, your site pings Bing with each new, updated or deleted URL, and the IndexNow section of the dashboard lists what was received.
Manual URL submission still exists — Bing raised the daily quota from 10 to up to 10,000 URLs, depending on how long a site has been verified (Search Engine Journal) — but IndexNow does the same job automatically. Google doesn’t participate in IndexNow; for Google you still rely on sitemaps and internal links.
Can you connect Bing Webmaster Tools to ChatGPT, Claude or BigQuery?
Not with an official one-click connector: Microsoft publishes none for ChatGPT, Claude, BigQuery, Google Sheets, Looker Studio or Power BI (checked 17 October 2026). What Microsoft does offer is the Bing Webmaster API, and every working connection runs through it.
You get access in two ways: OAuth 2.0, which Microsoft recommends for apps, or an API key. For the key, open Bing Webmaster Tools, click Settings (top right) → API Access → Generate API Key. Only one key can be generated per user. The key belongs to your user account, not to one site, so treat it like a password. If the key leaks, delete it in Bing Webmaster Tools and generate a new one; every app that still uses the old key stops working until you give it the new key.
The API covers the same data as the main reports. Useful methods in the official reference include GetQueryStats and GetPageStats (traffic for top queries and pages), GetPageQueryStats, GetRankAndTrafficStats, GetCrawlStats, GetCrawlIssues, GetUrlInfo, GetKeywordStats, SubmitUrl and SubmitUrlBatch. The AI Performance report is not in the API reference, so citation data stays in the dashboard for now.
| Connect to |
Official connector? |
Route that works |
| ChatGPT |
No |
A custom GPT action or your own script that calls the API with your key |
| Claude / Claude Code |
No |
An MCP server that wraps the API (community-built, see below) or a script Claude Code runs for you |
| BigQuery |
No |
A scheduled script (for example a Cloud Run job) that pulls GetQueryStats and GetPageStats and loads them into a table |
| Google Sheets |
No |
Apps Script with UrlFetchApp calling the API, or import the CSV from the Download button in Search Performance |
| Looker Studio |
No |
Third-party connectors (some paid), or Looker Studio on top of your BigQuery table |
| Power BI |
No |
Power Query “From Web” against the API, or a dataset you fill with a script |
About “Bing Webmaster Tools MCP servers”
The MCP servers you find on GitHub for Claude and other assistants are built by individual developers, not by Microsoft. They use your API key, usually through an environment variable such as BING_WEBMASTER_API_KEY. Read the code before you install one, and keep the key out of shared configs and code repositories.
For most sites the simplest useful setup is a weekly script that pulls query and page stats into a sheet or a BigQuery table next to your Search Console data. That gives you a side-by-side view of which pages Google and Bing actually index and which queries each engine sends.
What goes wrong — and how do you fix it?
- “Is it even worth it?” — a common doubt, e.g. this r/growmybusiness thread. Ten minutes of setup buys you Bing, Copilot and part of ChatGPT’s source pool. Yes, it’s worth it.
- Indexed in the dashboard, missing in search. One r/bing user reported their site was deindexed while the portal still showed it as indexed. Use URL Inspection’s live check, and confirm with a site: search on Bing — the same method as in how to check if a page is indexed.
- Bingbot blocked. A firewall or robots.txt rule that lets Googlebot in but not Bingbot silently keeps you out. Check both — see blocked by robots.txt.
- Verification disappears. Bing re-checks verification. Remove the meta tag during a redesign and you lose access.
- Pages found but not indexed. Bing, like Google, skips thin or duplicate pages. The fixes in crawled vs. discovered and orphan pages apply here too.
- Duplicate IndexNow pings. Several plugins submitting the same URLs wastes quota. Use one method.
Our take
Bing Webmaster Tools is the cheapest visibility win in SEO right now: ten minutes of setup, free research data, and a direct line into the index behind Copilot and much of ChatGPT search. Set it up the same day as Search Console, and let IndexNow keep it current.
FAQ
Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
Yes. Every feature, including Site Scan, backlink data, keyword research and the AI Performance report, is free with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook sign-in.
Should I connect my site to Bing Webmaster Tools if I already use Google Search Console?
Yes. The two tools cover different indexes. Bing’s feeds Bing search, Microsoft Copilot and partners, and it’s the only one that reports AI citations separately.
Can I import my site from Google Search Console?
Yes. The import adds your verified Search Console sites and their sitemaps without separate verification, after you grant Bing read access to your Search Console data.
Does anyone still use Bing?
Directly, about 4.5% of searches worldwide in August 2026 according to StatCounter. Indirectly, far more: Bing’s index feeds Microsoft Copilot and is a major source for ChatGPT search citations.
How many URLs can I submit to Bing per day?
Manual submission allows up to 10,000 URLs per day, depending on how long your site has been verified and other signals. IndexNow submissions are separate and automatic.
How long does Bing take to index a new site?
With a sitemap and IndexNow, Bing usually discovers new URLs quickly. Whether it indexes them depends on quality and trust; new sites can take days to weeks.
Does the AI Performance report show clicks from Copilot?
No. It shows citation frequency, cited pages and grounding queries, but not clicks or traffic. Check referral traffic from Copilot in your analytics.
Why is my site indexed in Google but not in Bing?
Common causes are a Bingbot block in robots.txt or a firewall, no submitted sitemap, or content Bing judges thin. Check URL Inspection in Bing Webmaster Tools for the specific reason.
Can I connect Bing Webmaster Tools to ChatGPT?
Not through an official connector. Generate an API key under Settings → API Access and call the Bing Webmaster API from a custom GPT action or your own script.
Is there an official Bing Webmaster Tools MCP server for Claude or Claude Code?
No. The MCP servers on GitHub are community projects that wrap the official Bing Webmaster API with your API key. Review the code before installing one.
Can I export Bing Webmaster Tools data to BigQuery or Google Sheets?
Not natively. A scheduled script that calls GetQueryStats and GetPageStats can load the data into BigQuery or a sheet; the AI Performance report is not available through the API.
B
Ben runs IndexUrePoint and manages several websites in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, including this one. He tests every setup described here on a live site before writing about it.
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