Bing Webmaster Tools for a small site: what it gives that Google does not

Bing’s index does not only answer bing.com. It powers Microsoft Copilot answers, Yahoo Search, and part of DuckDuckGo. If you do nothing, you leave that surface to rivals.

For a small product site, one extra mention in a Copilot answer or a Yahoo result is a lead you would miss. Bing Webmaster Tools is free and fast to set up. The import from Google Search Console takes minutes.

Bing also gives you a few views Google does not. The Backlinks tool compares your link profile against a rival. Keyword Research shows volume estimates inside the tool. Site Scan crawls your site on demand.

1. 1

   Open Bing Webmaster Tools

   Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. Use a work account you can keep if you change laptops.

2. 2

   Use the one click import

   Choose Import from Google Search Console. Authorise access. Pick your property. Bing copies your verified site and its sitemaps.

3. 3

   Or verify manually

   If you skip the import, add your site and verify with an XML file in the root, a meta tag, a DNS CNAME, or by using the Search Console import later.

4. 4

   Submit your sitemap

   If your sitemap is not copied, paste https://yourproduct.com/sitemap.xml in Sitemaps. Keep one sitemap index for multiple sitemaps.

Once verified, you will see data after Bing crawls. Give it a few days. If you added IndexNow, new or changed URLs can be discovered the same day, see below.

• Search Performance: trends by query and page
• Site Explorer: folder by folder status
• Sitemaps: last fetched and URL counts
• Backlinks: new links and lost links
• Keyword Research: themes to target next

Search Performance shows clicks, impressions and average position on Bing. Filter by country and device. Compare the last 28 days against the previous period to see if your changes helped.

Site Explorer gives a live map of folders and URLs. Drill into /blog/, /docs/ or /pricing. It flags 404s, redirects and blocked pages. Fix stray 404s and thin stubs you forgot to finish.

Sitemaps show the last read date and how many URLs Bing discovered. If a section does not update when you ship, check that lastmod moves and that new URLs are in the file.

Open Backlinks. You see referring domains, anchor text and target pages. The compare view lets you enter another domain and see link gaps.

1. 1

   Pick a real rival

   Enter a peer you compete with on the same topics. For a dev tool, try a project with a similar footprint, not a giant platform.

2. 2

   Sort by referring domains

   Scan domains linking to them but not to you. Note any lists, resource pages or blog posts where your product fits.

3. 3

   Plan one outreach a week

   Target the most relevant pages. Offer your guide or docs page that matches their topic. Track results in a simple sheet.

A fixed page looks like this: /guides/getting-started earns a link from a frameworks list that already links to your rival. Your anchor is the page title, not your brand name.

Counts will differ from third party tools. Each crawler finds a different sample. Use Bing’s compare to decide your next five asks, not to audit your whole backlog.

Bing’s Keyword Research gives ideas with volume estimates. You can filter by country and language. It is quick for a first pass when you plan a page.

1. 1

   Seed with your core topic

   Enter “status page” or “OKR software”. Set the country you sell in. Note head terms and long tails with clear intent.

2. 2

   Map terms to pages

   Decide which belong on /features/status-page, which are for /blog/status-page-examples and which deserve a comparison page.

3. 3

   Write to search intent

   Check the actual Bing results. If they show how to guides, your sales pitch will not land. Match the page to the query type.

A fixed page looks like this: you rename “/blog/okr-tips” to “/blog/how-to-set-okrs” and update the h1. Impressions on “how to set OKRs” start to appear within a week.

Site Scan is a crawler inside Bing Webmaster Tools. It finds broken links, missing titles and common technical issues without installing software.

1. 1

   Run a scan on your main host

   Start with https://yourproduct.com and a depth that will finish in under an hour. Exclude staging and heavy admin areas.

2. 2

   Sort by error type

   Fix 404s first, then duplicate titles, then meta robots that block pages you need indexed. Re run to confirm the crawl is clean.

3. 3

   Schedule a monthly scan

   Set a reminder to run it after each release cycle. Keep a short log of what you fixed, so you can see regressions.

A fixed site looks like this: /changelog/2024-11 now returns 200, the canonical points to itself, and internal links use the new URL, not the old slug.

IndexNow lets you push URLs to Bing when you publish or update a page. Bing, Yandex, Naver and Seznam honour the protocol. It works with an API and a simple key file on your site.

1. 1

   Create an IndexNow key

   Generate a random key and host it at https://yourproduct.com/yourkey.txt, as the IndexNow docs require. Keep the exact file name and contents.

2. 2

   Send a POST on publish

   On deploy, call the IndexNow API with your key and the list of new or updated URLs. If you cannot code it now, start with a manual test.

3. 3

   Send only what changed

   Push new pages, major content updates and large batch renames. Do not spam unchanged URLs. Your sitemap still helps discovery.

A fixed workflow looks like this: shipping /guides/billing on Monday triggers an IndexNow ping. The URL appears in Bing’s Crawl info shortly after and starts to collect impressions the same week.

Use URL Inspection to see if Bing knows your page, the last crawl, and any blocking rule. If a good page is missing, check robots, canonicals and your sitemap entry, then submit the URL.

• Keep one sitemap index at /sitemap.xml
• Include new pages on deploy
• Update lastmod only when content changes
• Submit the sitemap in Bing and keep it in robots.txt

Prefer IndexNow or sitemaps over manual URL submission. Manual forms do not scale. Automatic pings on deploy do. This is the first setup to automate on a small site.

Skip manual URL submissions as a routine. Use them for a one off fix, not daily work. Wire IndexNow and keep your sitemap healthy instead.

Treat generic SEO tips in automated reports as a queue, not a law. Fix what you can in a sprint and move on. Focus effort on content and links that shift queries where you already show.

Keep both tools. They see different crawls and queries. You will spot wins earlier if you watch both sets of data side by side.

Search Console gives a Crawl stats report for root properties. It shows total crawl requests, total download size and average response time over 90 days, with breakdowns by response code, file type, purpose and Googlebot type. Use it to judge the impact of page speed work and deploys.

Use Bing when you want rival link comparison, quick keyword ideas in the same UI, and IndexNow pushes. Use Google for long lookback performance data and its API exports. Together they cover more of your surface, including Copilot answers.