Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's free service for monitoring a site in Bing search. Like Google Search Console, it shows search performance, indexing status, crawl errors and backlinks, and lets you submit sitemaps and individual URLs. Because Bing's index also feeds Microsoft's Copilot and other services, it is worth setting up even if Bing is a small share of your traffic.
Getting started
You can add a site by verifying ownership with a meta tag, an XML file, a DNS record, or by importing sites directly from Google Search Console, which is usually the fastest route. Once verified, submit your XML sitemaps and enable IndexNow if your platform supports it.
Useful reports
The core reports cover the same ground as Search Console, with a few tools of its own.
- Search Performance: clicks, impressions and queries in Bing
- URL Inspection: how Bing sees a specific URL
- Site Explorer: a folder-based view of crawled URLs, status codes and links
- Backlinks: linking domains, including links to competitors
- Site Scan: an on-demand crawl audit
- Keyword Research: Bing query data
Example
Catching a crawl problem Google did not show
Hollowmere imports its properties from Search Console into Bing Webmaster Tools. Site Explorer shows Bingbot hitting a block of 403 errors on the docs subdomain, caused by a bot-protection rule that only challenged Bing's crawler. Allowlisting verified Bingbot IPs fixes it.
Common mistakes
Ignoring Bing because traffic is small
Bing data feeds more than bing.com. Basic setup takes minutes and can surface crawl problems other tools miss.
Blocking Bingbot with bot protection
Aggressive firewall settings often challenge Bingbot. Verify it by reverse DNS and allow it through.
Questions
Yes. It requires a Microsoft account and site verification, and there is no paid tier.
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