How to Verify a Website on Bing Webmaster Tools- Detailed Guide

How to verify a website on Bing

For a very long time web search has been synonymous with Google. Anytime you want to look up something you either search Google or generally asked or advised to search Google.

And this is why some of the webmasters concentrate on getting traffic from Google and do not submit their website in other search engines.

In case you are only familiar with Google then below I have listed some of the popular search engines.

• Google
• Bing
• Yahoo
• Baidu
• Yandex
• Duckduckgo

Out of all of the above search engines, Google is the market leader with over 92% of the market share Worldwide followed by Bing and Yahoo at 2.61% and 1.79% respectively. [Source]

By seeing these numbers you may be thinking why verify your website with Bing when Google is the clear favorite.

The answer to this question is simple “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. It is always important to diversify and on top of that, traffic from any source is good. Back in the no Google days, Yahoo was the search engine and with time Google became the market leader.

Also, think about a scenario where your money making page is not doing well in Google, however through Bing you are getting some clicks as well as some conversions. And I’m sure you will like it.

Having said that,

In this article we will be covering the following topics

• What is Bing and Bing Webmaster tools
• Benefits of verifying a website in Bing Webmaster Tools
• How to set up Bing Webmaster tools
• How to verify a website in Bing Webmaster tools. (this includes WordPress, WordPress.org and Blogspot)
• Understanding Bing Webmaster tools and its features

So without further ado, lets start the tutorial

What is Bing

Just like Google, Bing is a search engine by Microsoft. This search engine was unveiled by Microsoft’s then CEO Steve Ballmer in May 2009 at All Things Digital Conference in California.

Bing was fully released in June 2009 and it replaced other search engine by Microsoft like Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN.

Having said that,

When it comes to features, Bing offers quiet a lot of services such as web search, image search, maps, videos, news and more.

On top of that Yahoo, also uses Bing for the majority of its searches. This means if you are verifying your website on Bing, you are also indexing your site to Yahoo search.

You don’t have to do anything extra to get your site indexed in Yahoo.

Now that you know What is Bing, the next thing you need to know is

What is Bing Webmaster Tools

I’m sure most you have already indexed your website in Google and are aware of Google search console.

If you haven’t indexed your website in Google then you can follow our tutorial on How to verify a website in Google.

If you know What is Google search console then you know in search console you can find all the reports and tools that you need to add, maintain and optimize your website for Google search. And the same is Bing Webmaster Tools for Bing.

It is a free service by Microsoft’s Bing search engine that allows webmasters to add their websites or individual pages to Bing’s search index.

On top of that, webmasters can see insights on how the site is performing on search and it also addresses potential SEO issues. Below I have listed a few features of the Bing Webmaster Tools

• Submit URL’s– Allows you to add individual links to Bing index.
• Backlink– Bing allows you to see inbound links to your website.
• Keyword Research– Using this feature you can find insights on keywords that you would like to rank for.
• SEO Analyzer– With the help of SEO Analyzer, you can check which of the pages are following Bing’s best SEO practices and which need improvement.
• Security– Bing constantly checks websites in its index for potential threats. If Bing detects any such activity on your site then you will receive a notification about this. Also, visitors will be shown a warning sign before navigating to your site.
• Mobile friendly test– Just like Google, you have a mobile friendly test in Bing as well that lets you know if Bingbot finds your page mobile friendly or not.

There are quite a lot of features in Bing Webmaster Tools and you can read about it on the Bing Webmaster Help.

Now that you are familiar with What Bing has to offer the next question is

Why should you index a website on Bing

As mentioned above, Bing is the second largest search engine and you do not want to miss out on this additional source of traffic.

And here are a few more reasons on why you shouldn’t ignore Bing?

Multiple sources of organic traffic

When it comes to generating traffic, having multiple sources of traffic is very important. Google is known for making changes to its algorithms and if a website is negatively hit then it does take some time to recover and claim old positions. However, in the mean time you will have a source of consistent organic traffic which is Bing.

Multiple search partners

When you index your site in Bing, you also get indexed in search engines partially powered by Bing and some of the popular ones are Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, MSN, Ecosia, search.com and more.

This means just by submitting your site in Bing, your website will be indexed in the above mentioned search engines.

Voice Searches

I’m sure you are familiar with Amazon’s Alexa and Windows Cortana. Both of these are voice based search assistants that are powered by Bing.

Now, if your website is not on Bing then you are missing out on voice search traffic from devices using these assistants.

Microsoft Product

As mentioned before, Bing is owned by the tech giant Microsoft who also happens to be the company behind Windows.

As per Microsoft, there are over 1 billion devices powered by Windows 10. This means there are quite a lot of people using Microsoft’s service to search the internet. And all those searches are powered by Bing.

Internet Explorer and Edge

I’m sure most of us are familiar with both Internet Explorer and Edge. If not, these are default browsers that you will find on devices using Microsoft product’s.

Having said that,

Edge is the third most used browser on desktop and PC with the market share of 6.67% followed by Internet Explorer at 6.38%. This takes Microsoft’s share of the browser marketplace on desktop devices to 13.05% and the best part is most browsers have Bing as the default search engine until changed by the user and it rarely happens.

These are some strong positives that cannot be ignored and this also shows how important it is to index your website on Bing.

How to set up Bing Webmaster Tools

If you have verified your website on Google then let me tell you, setting up Bing Webmaster Tools and verifying your websites is pretty similar to that.

If you haven’t done it yet then you don’t have to worry, I will explain each and every step in detail here. Also, if you are thinking about verifying your website on Google after this, then link to the tutorial will be at the end of this post.

Once you are done adding your website on Bing, you can add it easily on Google as well.

How to create Bing Webmaster Tools account

To create an account on Bing Webmaster Tools, the first step is to visit Bing Webmaster Tools and click Sign Up that is just below the green Sign In button.

When you click Sign up, it will show you a popup that will have options for signing up.

• Microsoft
• Google
• Facebook

Unlike Google search console, you can sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools using any of the services listed above.

For demonstration, I will be using a Google account.

Creating Bing Webmaster Tools account using Google account

To sign up for Bing Webmaster Tools using Google account, the first step is to select Google in the popup.

On doing so, it will take you to Google accounts page where you will have to select an existing Google account to sign up.

On selecting a Google account, it will take you to Bing Webmaster Tools dashboard.

As you can see the dashboard is empty, so the next step is to add your website to Bing.

How to submit a website on Bing

When enter Bing’s dashboard, the first thing you see is “My Sites” section.

Also, you can see there are 2 options available

• Add a site
• Import a site

Add a site option is for you if you do not have a website verified on Google search console or you want to follow the traditional website submission method.

In case you already have a website verified on Google search console then you can skip the entire site verification process by simply importing your website’s search console data.

This is a quick and easy way to verify your website on Bing. However, as mentioned above, if you haven’t verified your website on Google then adding a site is the only option and let me tell you it can be done easily as well.

In this article I will be discussing both the methods starting with website import first.

How to import a website from Google search console to Bing Webmaster

If you are looking to import your site to Bing Webmaster Tools from Google search console, the first thing you have to do is click Import under the section “My Sites”.

When you click Import, a popup will appear letting you know

• What data will be imported from Google search console.
• How your data will be used

Before we move forward, it is important to know Bing will not import any analytical data from your search console.

If its not the analytical data then

What will Bing import from Google search console?

Bing will only import verified sites and their sitemaps. And only the websites you select will be included in the Bing Webmasters Tool or BWT.

Having said that,

To import verified sites to Bing you need to click Continue to Search console button. On clicking it, it will take you to Google’s account page wherein you need to select the account you have used to verify your website on search console.

When you select the account, it will ask for your permission to allow Bing to view search console data for website.

Click Allow, at the bottom of the screen and it will show you all the verified sites imported from Google search console. See the screenshot below for reference.

As you can see, I only had a single site verified and in case you have multiple sites then you will see the complete list here.

Select the ones that you want to import and once you are done selecting. Click Import button at the bottom and it will show you a success message just like the one below.

Click Done to finish the process and you will be able to see your website in Bing Webmaster instantly.

It is important to keep in mind, you can verify any website in Bing using this process regardless of its platform on. This means if you have a blog on WordPress.com or Blogspot, it can be submitted to Bing index using this.

Having said that,

Once you have verified your website, the next step is to get an understanding of the Bing Webmaster dashboard and you can navigate to that section by using table of contents in the sidebar.

Moving forward,

If you do not have a website verified on Google search console, then the next verification method is for you.

How to verify a website on Bing

To add a website on Bing search, the first step is to enter the URL of your website in the box where it says Add a site and then click Add.

When you click Add, it will take you to a new page where you will be asked to Add your website’s sitemap.

In case you do not know where to find your sitemap then I will suggest visiting the sitemap settings in the SEO plugin you are using and you will find the URL listed there.

Also, you will be asked the time of the day when your site gets most traffic. By default it is set to All day and I wouldn’t recommend changing it in the beginning.

After adding your website and sitemap, click Add.

On clicking Add, it will take you to a new page where you need to verify the ownership of the property.

To verify ownership of your website on Bing, there are ways

• Add an XML file on website
• Using Meta tag
• Adding CNAME record to DNS

In case you are new to the online industry or are not comfortable with technical stuff then this may look a little confusing and intimidating.

However, in reality it is very easy to execute.

In this article, we will be discussing verification of your website on Bing using all the methods mentioned above and we will be starting with the easiest one first which is

How to verify a website on Bing using meta tag

To verify your website on Bing using meta tag, the first step is to locate the Bing webmaster verification code.

And you can find it just below where it says “Copy and paste a <meta> tag in your default web page”.

Once you have located the Bing website verification code, it is important to keep in mind that this code is required to be placed in the <head> section of your website.

As mentioned before, we will be discussing verification of website on Bing for 3 platforms

• WordPress.org or WordPress self hosted
• WordPress.com
• Blogspot

The first platform we are going to cover is WordPress self hosted and if you are a WordPress.com or Blogspot user then headover to the relevant sections using the table of contents in the sidebar

How to add a WordPress website on Bing

When it comes to verifying a WordPress website on Bing using HTML tag, there are 2 ways

• Using plugins
• Manually

If you are new to this industry and are not comfortable with editing the code of your website then I will recommend using a plugin for this.

But before we move forward, it is important to know, there are certain themes such as Genesis by StudioPress that have a built-in feature using which you can insert the code snippet in the theme header or <head> section without having to use any plugin.

If you are using Genesis by StudioPress then to verify your website, all you have to do is navigate to Appearance in your WordPress dashboard and click Customize.

It will take you to your site’s homepage and will show you all the theme customization settings

Once you reach here, the net step is to click Theme Settings and there you will find Header / Footer scripts option.

Now, click Header/ Footer scripts and it will show you the boxes where you can add code snippets to the header and footer of your theme.

Once you are done till here, the next step is to copy the complete Bing webmaster’s verification code and paste it in the header scripts. See the below screenshot for reference.

After adding the verification HTML tag, the last step is to click Publish, clear cache and go back to the Bing webmaster dashboard and click Verify.

In case you are looking for a cache plugin, we recommend using WP Rocket to boost your site speed.

Once the changes are propagated, the site wil appear verified on Bing webmaster.

In case your WordPress theme does not offer this feature then the next section is for you.

How to verify a WordPress website on Bing using plugins

Verifying a website on Bing using plugins is very simple and pretty similar to what we have done above.

This can be done using 3 plugins

• Insert headers and footers
• Rank Math
• Yoast SEO

To verify a website on Bing using plugin, the first step is to download and install the plugin of your choice.

If you are thinking which plugin you should go for then I will suggest using Insert headers and footers for this as this as this plugin can be later on used for

• Pinterest site verification
• Adding Google Analytics to your website
• Verifying your website on Google search console

However, if you want to use either Rank Math or Yoast for this purpose then that is fine as well.

For installing a plugin, you can follow our guide on How to install a WordPress plugin.

Using Insert Headers and Footers

To verify a WordPress website using Insert Headers and Footers plugin, the first step is to download and install the plugin.

Once you are done installing the plugin, the next step is to headover to Settings >> Insert Headers and Footers in your WordPress dashboard.

On doing so it will take you the plugin settings where you are required to add the Bing verification code to the Scripts in Header section as shown in the screenshot below.

After adding the code, the next step is to save the changes you have made and clear cache.

The final step in the process is to go back to the Bing dashboard and click Verify. And after the changes are propagated your website will be verified on Bing.

Using Yoast SEO

If you want to use Yoast SEO to help you with the verification then the first step is the same as above which is downloading and installing Yoast.

Once the plugin is installed, the next step is to locate the Yoast icon in your WordPress dashboard sidebar. When you click it, it will take you to General settings.

In General settings, you will find 3 tabs

• Dashboard
• Features
• Webmaster Tools

Here you need to select Webmaster tools and it will show you the option where you will have to add the code.

In the next step, you need to go back to the Bing dashboard, copy the verification tag and paste it in the box where it says Bing verification code. See the screenshot for referrence.

Once you are done adding the code, click Save Changes to save the changes you have made, clear cache and go back to Bing dashboard and click Verify.

After the changes are reflected you site will be verified on Bing.

Using Rank Math

If you are looking to use Rank Math for verifying your website on Bing, then the first thing you have to do is download and install the plugin.

In the next step you need to click Rank Math tab in your WordPress dashboard sidebar and navigate to General Settings.

When you click General Settings, it will take you to SEO settings where you will see the Webmasters Tool tab

Clicking it will show you the option to add the Bing site verification code.

Now, in the next step you need to headover to the Bing dashboard, copy the HTML verification tag and paste it in the Bing Webmaster Tools box. See the below screenshot.

After adding the code, scroll down to the bottom of the page, click Save Changes and clear cache.

Now in the next step you need to go back to the Bing dashbard and click Verify. Soon the changes will be reflected and your site will be verified on Bing.

Once you are done verifying your website on Bing, make sure to learn how to add individual URLs to Bing and for that you can use the table of contents in the sidebar to navigate.

How to verify a WordPress website on Bing manually

As mentioned before, you can verify your website on Bing using 3 methods

• Placing an XML file on your web server
• Adding Bing meta tag to your web page
• Adding CNAME record

In this section, we will be discussing how can you verify your website on Bing using all the above listed methods without using plugins.

Again, I would like to let you know if you are not comfortable with technical side of running a website then I will recommend using plugins for this.

Having said that, lets learn

How to verify a website on Bing without using plugins

Before you start using these methods make sure you take a backup of your website and for that you can use UpdraftPlus

To manually verify a website on Bing the first method we will be discussing is

Using XML file

For adding your website to Bing by uploading XML file, the first step is to download the XML file.

To download the file click BingSiteAuth.xml. The next step is to upload the file in the root directory of the website.

It is important to know you can upload a file in the root directory in 2 ways.

Through Cpanel

To upload a file through cpanel, the first thing you need to do is login to your hosting account, locate the cpanel and find the file manager.

If you are a Bluehost user then you will find the file manager in Advanced settings

And in case you are a Siteground user then you can find the file manager under site settings.

Similarly, you will find File Manager in other web hosting companies as well.

Once you have found the file manager, the next step is to click it. And on clicking it will show you all the files associated with your website.

Now, you need to locate the public_html folder which is the root folder/ directory of your website.

In the next step you need to open the public_html folder and upload the XML file in it.

Keep in mind, this file has to be uploaded in the root directory and no other folder inside or outside of root.

After you are done uploading the Bing verification XML file, it will create a URL which is https://yourdomain.com/BingSiteAuth.xml. Here “yourdomain” is the domain name of your website.

Once this URL is created, all you have to do is visit Bing Webmaster Tools dashboard and click Verify.

And you will notice your website will be listed and verified in the dashboard.

The second way to upload a file in the root directory of a website is

Using FTP

Uploading a file using this method is pretty straight forward and involves the use of a FTP client such as Filezilla. Filezills is a third party software and is available for free.

To login to your web servers you will require the credentials listed below

• Username
• Password
• Port

Once you have entered this information in Filezilla, you will get access to all the files and folders on your web server.

In the next step you need to find the public_html folder and upload the Bing XML verification file. And it will create a URL like https://yourdomain.com/BingSiteAuth.xml where “yourdomain” is the your domain name.

The last step is to click Verify in Bing Webmaster and your site will be verified.

Having said that,

The next method to verify your website on Bing without using plugins is

Using <meta> tag

Previously we have discussed this method of verification using plugins, but here we will be doing it without.

To verify a website on Bing manually using <meta> tag, the first step is to login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Appearance >> Theme Editor

When you enter the theme editor, you will find all the theme files on the right.

In the net step you need to locate the header.php file or theme header.

Before we move forward, it is always suggested that you should add any verification code or tracking code to Child theme and not Parent theme.

The reason behind this is simple, WordPress themes are updated on a regular basis and on updation all such code snippets are automatically removed from Parent themes.

Also, if you are using using a child theme then some of you will notice that the header.php file is missing or not showing in the list.

In this scenario, you need to copy this file from parent theme to child theme.

Having said that,

Once you have located the file, the next step is to open the header.php file and find the <head> tag.

In the next step you need to copy the verification code from Bing webmaster tools dashboard and place it just below <head> tag. See the below screenshot for reference.

Once you are done adding the Bing verification code, click Update file, clear cache and go back to the Bing Webmaster dasboard and click Verify.

In a few minutes changes will be propagated and your site will be verified on Bing.

The last method on the list for verification is

Using CNAME Record

If you are looking to verify your website using CNAME records then you need to consider the 3 scenarios listed below

• Domain name and hosting are from same provider
• Domain name and hosting are from different companies
• You are using CDN

If you have a domain name and hosting from same company. For example, you have bought hosting from Namecheap and are using the free domain name that is included in the plan.

In this situation, you will have to login to your hosting’s dashboard and locate the DNS Manager or DNS Zone Manager. On exploring the setting, you will see the option to add CNAME record.

Now, while adding the CNAME record you will notice there are 3 fields

• Name/ Host record- Paste the verification code here
• Points to/ Resolves to- Add verify.bing.com here
• TTL- Unchanged

Once you are done adding these values, save the changes you have made and click Verify in the Bing dashboard. On doing so your website will be verified on Bing.

Now, in case you have a domain name and web hosting from different companies. For example, you have claimed GoDaddy 99 cent domain name deal and have bought hosting from Cloudways.

In this scenario, to verify your website on Bing using CNAME record you need to login to your web hosting dashboard and find DNS Manager where you will find the option to add CNAME record.

Just like above, you will get 3 fields

• Name/ Host record- Add the Bing verification code here.
• Points to / Resolves to- Enter verify.bing.com
• TTL- Unchanged

After you are done adding these values, Save the changes and click Verify button in Bing dashboard.

Once the changes are reflected, your website will be verified on Bing.

The last scenario is for you if you are using a CDN or a content delivery network. I personally use Cloudflare.

And if you are using Cloudflare or any other CDN then you need to locate DNS management settings where you will find the option to add CNAME record.

If you are using Cloudflare, in DNS you will see an option that lets you add records. On clicking it, it will show you 4 settings

• Type- Change to CNAME
• Name- Add the Bing verification code
• Target- Add verify.bing.com
• TTL- No change

And the last step is to click Save and your site will be verified once the changes are propagated.

This concludes verification of a website on Bing manually.

Once you are done adding your website to Bing, the next step is to learn how to add single URL’s in Bing and you can navigate to that section by using table of contents in the sidebar.

The next topic we are going to discuss is

How to verify a WordPress.com blog on Bing

To verify a WordPress.com blog on Bing you cannot follow the normal approach with is either using a plugin or editing the code because WordPress.com does not allow you to do that.

For using these features you will have to upgrade and I will not recommend doing it as it is quite expensive.

You may like to read- WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Also, if you are looking to do pursue blogging as a career then I will suggest starting a blog using WordPress.org. And for that you can follow our guide on How to start a WordPress blog

Having said that,

It is very easy to add a WordPress.com website to Bing as this platform offers essential Jetpack features that give you the option to verify your blog on Bing.

And here is how you do it.

I’m assuming that you have already created an account on Bing Webmaster Tools and also have the Bing verification meta tag that we have discussed in the beginning of this tutorial.

In case you have landed here directly and are unable to find the code then I will suggest navigating to “How to set up Bing Webmaster tools” using the table of content in the sidebar and then start following the tuturial from here.

Having said that,

Once you have the Bing verification code, the first step in the process is to login to WordPress.com dashboard and navigate to Tools >> Marketing

On clicking Marketing, it will take you to Marketing and Integration dashboard where you will see 4 settings

• Marketing tools
• Traffic
• Connections
• Sharing buttons

Select Traffic and scroll down to the bottom where you will find Site verification services.

Now you need to copy the complete Bing verification meta tag from Bing BWT dashboard and paste it the box that says Bing.

In the next step you need to save the settings and go back to Bing Webmaster Tools and click Verify. Once the changes are reflected your site will be verified on Bing.

After verifying your WordPress.com blog make sure to learn how to add URLs to Bing and you can go to that section by using the Table on contents in the sidebar.

How to add Blogspot blog on Bing

Blogger or Blogspot is another popular free blogging platform by Google. Being a free platform Blogspot still gives you access to more features and control as compared to WordPress.com.

For example, Blogspot allows you to use a custom domain and also if required you can edit the code where as in WordPress.com you will have to pay for these features.

If you are new to blogging, let then let me tell you building a brand and authority takes time and effort. And if you are using a free sub domain as your blog’s URL then I will recommend investing in a domain name as later on if you want to move to self hosted WordPress then you will not have to work on building the foundation of your blog again.

Also, having a domain name gives your blog a professional look and feel and if you are using a sub domain it looks more like a hobby.

In case you are looking to purchase one then I will suggest checking GoDaddy 99 cent domain name deal. Using this offer you can buy .com domain in under $1.

Having said that,

To verify a Blogger blog on Bing, the first step is to create an account on Bing Webmaster Tools and get the verification code.

In case you have landed directly on this section then let me tell you we have explained the complete account creation process in the beginning and you can visit “How to set up Bing Webmaster tools” using the table of content in the sidebar and then start following the tutorial from here.

Moving forward,

Once you have the Bing verification code, the next step is to login to your Blogspot dashboard and navigate to Theme settings.

It will take you to theme settings and will show you current theme you are using.The next step is to click the 3 dots right next to the theme and click Edit HTML.

And it will show you the theme’s code.

In case you are using the first generation theme layouts then the option to edit HTML will be just below the active theme.

And on clicking edit HTML it will show you the theme’s code. Below is a screennshot for reference.

Once you are done till here, the next step is to locate the <head> tagand add the Bing verification tag just below that. See the below screenshot for reference.

After adding the code, click Save to save the changes you have made and click Verify in the Bing Webmaster Tools dashboard.

In a few minutes you will notice that your site will be verified on Bing.

Once you are done verifying your site, the next topic we are gong to discuss is

How to submit multiple URLs to Bing

Just lik Google search console, Bing webmaster also allows you to submit URLs to Bing index manually.

For this, thie first thing you have to do is select from the list for which you want to submit the URL to Bing.

As you can see currently I have a single site verified on this account. However you can have multiple properties verified properties in one account.

When you select the website from the list, it will take you to Bing Webmaster Tool dashboard where the first thing you will see is your site’s activity.

On the left you will findvarious tools and features offered by Bing Webmaster.

To submit URLs to Bing index, you need to click Configure My Site and then Submit URLs

Clicking Submit URLs will take you to submit URL dashboard.

Before we move forward, it is important to know Bing is currenlt moving all of its to the new and refreshed Bing Webmaster Tools and due to this you can add URLs in 2 ways

Using old Bing webmaster dashboard

If you want to add URLs in Bing using the old dashboard then all you have to do is add URLs in the box one per line if you submitting multiple links. See the below screenshot for reference.

And click Submit. On doing this, it will show you the list of URLs right below the submission box.

Ad thats how you submit URLs in Bing using the old webmaster dashboard.

Using new Bing webmaster tool

In case you want to submit URLs in Bing using new webmaster tool then the first thing you have to do is click Go to Submit URLs and it will take you to new Bing webmaster dashboard.

Alternatively you can click New BingWebmaster Tools directly visit the new dashboard. And on the left towards the bottom you will find the URL submission tool.

Once you reach the URL submission tool, you will see Submit URL button on top right. When you click it, a box will appear wherein you need to add the URLs one per line. See the below screenshot.

Once you are done adding the links, click Submit and that’s it your URL has been submitted to Bing index.

It is also important to keep in mind that whenever you create or update a post, make sure you submit the link in Bing. Also, you can add upto a total of 10000 URLs per day which is huge.

Once you are done adding the URLs, the next topic we are going to discuss is

How to add a sitemap in Bing

If you remember, when adding a website on Bing, you are required to provide a link to sitemap of your website in the beginning.

And Bingbot does a great job of auto fectching all the sitemaps from your website. However, if your website has separate sitemap for images and videos or for custom post types then there are chances those sitemaps might not get picked.

In this scenario, you are required to submit sitemaps manually.

To submit sitemaps manually in Bing Webmaster Tools, the first step is to click Sitemaps under Configure my Site

As mentioned before, Bing is currently revamping its webmaster tools and moving to new webmaster tools. And sitemap is one feature that has been moved to the new portal.

To visit the new webmaster tools portal you need to click Go to Sitemap and it will open it in a new tab.

On clicking, it will show you the new dashboard and you will see a Submit sitemap button on top right.

When you click this button, a popup will appear where you can enter the sitemap link and then click Submit.

On clicking Submit, it will list the sitemap and will display the status as processing.

Once the processing is complete and the sitemap is valid, it will change the status to success. Also, it will display the number of URL’s discovered and when the sitemap was last crawled.

And that is how you submit a sitemap manually in Bing.

Next topic we are going to discuss is

Bing Webmaster Tools feature

As you can see Bing webmaster offers quite a lot of features and functionality and in we will be discussing some of those features.

The first feature we are going to discuss is

Search Performance

If you are currently using the old dashboard then you can find this under Reports and Data in Search Keywords. However, before moving to search performance, let us see what Bing has to offer in Reports and Data.

When you click Reports and Data, you will see Bing webmaster provides you with all the search related reports such as.

• Site activity
• Page traffic
• Search keywords
• SEO Reports
• Crawl Information

If you want to view detailed data then you can view each of these reports separately as well.

Now, when you go to search reports, you will notice that the section has been moved to the new dashboard and you can click go to Search Performance to the see the reports in new dashboard.

In case you are already in the new Bing Webmaster dashboard then in search performance you will find 3 reports

• Overview of your sites performance on search
• Keyword performance report
• Page performance report

Using these reports, you can understand how your pages are performing on search? Which keywords is your website ranking for?

Also, you will come across keywords that you can target to fill the gap.

And using these insights you can make changes to your website or blog to increase its visibility on Bing search.

You may like to read- Difference between blog and website

Backlinks

As the name suggests, in this report Bing will show you all the sites linking to your website, pages and more.

If you are in the old dashboard then earlier you could find this report under Inbound links

Bing has now moved this feature to new dashboard and renamed it as Backlinks. To see this report, you need to click SEO then head over to Backlinks in the new portal. And if you in the old dashboard then just click Go to Backlinks and it will take you directly to the reports

In this report, Bing lets you know

• Number of referring domains
• Total referring pages
• Anchor text

Also, just below that you can find all the referring domains, pages and anchor text listed.

Using this information you can know which sites are linking to you and the anchor text used to link.

Also, by analyzing the backlinks report you can find if any spam sites are linking to your website. In case you find any such links then you can disavow them using the Disavow Links tool.

And this tool is available in the backlinks report and you don’t have to navigate to any other section or page.

Bing webmaster also provides you with an interesting feature where you can compare your website with other similar sites. And it will show you the domains that are linking to your competitor’s website with the anchor text used.

It is important to know you can add multiple sites for comparison and it is an amazing tool if you want to spy on your competitors.

The next feature we are going to discuss is

Keyword research

When it comes to SEO or search engine optimization, keyword research is the foundation to any strategy.

Until and unless you know which keywords to target, what is keyword difficulty and traffic volume, it is fairly difficult to craft a correct SEO strategy.

Keeping this in mind, Bing Webmaster has a free keyword research tool that can help you with all the insights that you need to know before targeting a particular keyword.

And the best part is unlike Google keyword planner, this tool is available in the Bing webmaster dashboard and you don’t have to navigate to any other website.

If you are in the old Bing dashboard then you can find the free keyword research tool under Diagnostics and tools.

Once you click Keyword Research in Diagnostic and tools, it will take you its dashboard. Also, there will be an option to use the new keyword research tool.

Now, if you want to perform keyword research using the old tool then all you have to do is enter keyword or key phrase one per line and then select

• Country or Region- If you are targeting local traffic
• Language- If your site is in a local language
• Date range

And the last step is to click Search.

When you click Search, it will show you number of impressions and current trend for the keyword(s)

Following this, Bing will provide you with suggestions or related keywords. These suggestions are very important as it gives you an insight into what people are searching for on Bing.

And you can include these terms or phrases in your pages so that you don’t miss out on any opportunity of getting traffic.

For example, as you can see in the screenshot above I searched for search engine optimization and while scrolling through the suggestions I found 3 related phrases which are

• What is SEO
• SEO Definition
• What is search engine optimization

I can use these terms strategically on my page to target the audience searching for these terms on Bing.

Also, just for information such terms are known as LSI keywords and search engines love them.

It is important to keep in mind, it is not necessary to include each and every one of these terms on your page. It has to look natural so stay away from stuffing and over optimizations.

Having said that,

If you are using the new keyword research tool from Bing then all you have to do is enter your keyword in the box, select a country if you are targeting local traffic, pick a language, select devices and time period the click Get details

When you click Get Details, it will show a detailed report. First of which is impressions over a period of time that you selected, followed by a country wise breakdown.

After this, you will see a Related keyword, Question keywords and New discovered keyword reports.

Now, if you want to see which questions are people searching for related to your target keyword, you can just click Questions keyword and see the complete report.

Following this, Bing will show you top 10 ranking pages for this particular keyword. It is important to know, there is a lot of data available in Bing’s new keyword research tool. However, there is a drawback and that is you can do keyword research for only a single term in one go.

The next feature we are going to discuss is

Crawl Control

Crawl control is an amazing feature by Bing that allows you to tell Bingbot at what time and rate to crawl your website. You adjust crawl rate for any hour of the day using this feature.

This means you can define the time or hours of the day when your website receives most traffic and based on this information Bingbot will crawl your website when the traffic is less so that maximum bandwidth is available for users during peak hours.

In case you are in the old dashboard and want to change the crawl settings then you need to visit Configure my Site and navigate to Crawl Control and it will show the setting.

When your site receives most traffic

Using this setting you can let the Bingbot know the busiest hours of your site. There are 5 predefined options and the last one is custom.

To know when your site is the busiest, you can use Google Analytics. And in case you haven’t configured it yet then I will suggest following or detailed guide on How to add Google Analytics to WordPress.

If you select custom then you can set the hourly crawl rate by either increasing or decreasing the size of the blocks in the graph which is just below the above setting.

Once you are done making the changes, click Save.

Now, if you are using the new dashboard, the setting is exactly the same. However, the layout is a little different.

Also, there is an additional setting offered in Bing’s new webmaster dashboard using which you can select the Time zone and format.

Once you are done making the changes, Click Save Changes in the bottom.

The next feature of the Bing Webmaster tools we are going to discuss is

Adding a User

As we know, not all websites or blogs are managed by a single owner and if you are managing a website with the help of a team then this feature is for you.

Using this feature you can easily add users and grant them access to your website in Bing Webmasters tool.

To add new users to your website in Bing Webmaster Tools, you need to navigate to Configure My Site and then click Users.

In the next step you are required to provide an email of the user and assign a role. There are roles that you can assign a user.

• Read Only- User with this role can only access the reports but cannot modify settings.
• Read / Write- Users with this level of permission have access and control on almost every feature and functionality. However, these users cannot add other users.
• Adminstrator- These users have the highest level of permissions and can control and access every feature in Bing Webmaster Tools.

Once you are done assigning roles, all you have to do is click Add. And that’s it you have successfully invited a new user.

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Having said that,

These are some important features that you should be familiar with after adding your website to Bing Webmaster Tools.

In the upcoming articles, I will discuss more about the features offered by the Bing Webmaster Tools. Until then if you have any queries regarding this then feel free to reach out via comments or social media.

Also, if you have found the article helpful then don’t forget to share it with your friends on social media.

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If you are new to the blogging world then I will suggest going through our Blogging and WordPress Glossary and if you are looking for tools related to blogging then feel free to check out our Recommended Blogging Tool.