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To add your site to Bing, sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools and import the property from Google Search Console. You can also verify ownership by hand. Then submit the sitemap and turn on IndexNow in WordPress, on Cloudflare or with your own key. As a result, Bing gets a ping for every new, changed or removed page.
In short
- Bing Webmaster Tools is free, and Search Console users can import verified sites without a new verification.
- The sitemap gives Bing the list of pages, while IndexNow reports each change as soon as it happens.
- In WordPress, IndexNow comes in plugins such as the Bing team’s own, free Rank Math, Yoast Premium and AIOSEO Pro.
- Finally, URL Inspection shows whether each page made it into the Bing index and, if not, which error to fix.
How do you add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools?
To add a site to Bing, follow five steps: create the account, add the site, prove ownership, submit the sitemap and turn on IndexNow. According to the Bing Webmaster Tools help, you can import the site from Search Console or type it in by hand. The property can be the whole domain or just one folder.
For a manual setup, the path is this:
- Open Bing Webmaster Tools and create the account that will manage the site. If you already have an account, add the site from the dropdown in the left navigation panel.
- Type the URL in the input box and click Add.
- Pick a verification method and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Wait for the data. According to Microsoft, the system usually takes 48 hours to generate the first reports.
The button names in this guide come from Microsoft’s English documentation. So if your interface runs in another language, the labels may be translated. Each Bing Webmaster Tools account takes up to 1,000 sites. Therefore, an agency can add each client site to Bing from a single account.
Which verification method should you choose?
There are four methods, but Bing only shows automatic DNS verification when the provider has adopted the Domain Connect standard. Otherwise, you see the other three options. For this reason, pick the method your team can maintain: a file on the server, a code on the page or DNS.
| Method | What to do |
|---|---|
| Automatic DNS | Sign in to your DNS provider when Bing asks |
| XML file | Download BingSiteAuth.xml and upload it to the site root |
| Meta tag | Paste the tag at the end of the head on the home page |
| CNAME in DNS | Create the record with the code Bing gives you |
With automatic DNS, Bing inserts the CNAME record for you, and the site is usually verified in seconds. The meta tag, however, must sit at the end of the head, right before the body.
Can you import your site from Google Search Console into Bing?
Yes. If your site is verified in Google Search Console, you can import the property, users and sitemaps into Bing Webmaster Tools. In that case, Bing verifies the site on its own, with no file, meta tag or DNS record. So it’s the fastest way to add a site to Bing when Google is already set up.
According to the same Bing help page, the flow has four steps:
- Choose the Search Console import on the add site screen.
- Grant access. Bing needs permission to read data from your Search Console account.
- Select the sites from the list, which shows your verified sites, their sitemaps and your role in each one.
- Click Import. The selected sites arrive already verified.
Each import brings in up to 100 sites, so repeat the process to bring in more. Also, the list may show fewer sites than Search Console. That’s because Bing leaves out the sites it already has with an equal or higher access level.
After the import, Bing checks ownership in Search Console from time to time. During that check, it also imports any new sitemaps it finds there. To cut access, use the Disconnect option in the Profile section. However, the import doesn’t index your pages, because Bing still needs to crawl and assess each one first.
How do you submit your sitemap to Bing?
After you add your site to Bing, open the Sitemaps area in Bing Webmaster Tools. Then click Submit sitemaps, at the top right, and enter the sitemap address. If the site came from Search Console, the sitemaps are already imported. Bing accepts sitemaps in XML, RSS 2.0, Atom 0.3 and 1.0, or plain text with one URL per line.
According to the Bing Sitemaps help, the table shows submission and processing dates, the status and the number of URLs discovered. Click a sitemap to see the exact error or warning you need to fix. To resubmit, use the button on each sitemap, because Bing doesn’t let you resubmit several at once.
You can also point to the sitemap in robots.txt, with a line like Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml. According to Microsoft, Bing processes sitemaps at least once every 24 hours. In other words, the sitemap covers the site inventory, but it doesn’t report each change right away. That’s what IndexNow is for.
What is IndexNow and how do you turn it on?
IndexNow is an open protocol that lets a site ping search engines whenever it creates, changes or removes a URL. One ping is enough, because participating search engines share the URLs they receive. You turn on IndexNow with a plugin, through your CDN or with your own key sent via the API.
Bing recommends IndexNow and warns that manual URL submission may be deprecated in the future. Even so, a ping doesn’t guarantee indexing. Also, to see your submission history, you need to add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools. As the IndexNow page on Bing explains, the protocol makes sure the search engine knows about the change, but crawling and indexing can take time.
Each submitted URL also counts toward the site’s crawl quota. For this reason, the same page recommends sending only URLs that changed since you started using IndexNow, not your whole history.
How do you turn on IndexNow in WordPress?
In WordPress, a plugin generates the key, publishes the file and pings IndexNow for each post you publish or update. The Bing page lists five options: the IndexNow plugin, Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO and SEOPress. Pick just one, so you don’t send duplicate pings.
- IndexNow plugin: the Bing Webmaster team built it, according to its WordPress directory page. Install it under Plugins > Add New, activate it and click Let’s Get Started! on the IndexNow page. The plugin generates the key, skips noindex pages and shows the last 20 successful and 20 failed submissions.
- Rank Math: IndexNow in WordPress comes with the free version of Rank Math. According to the Rank Math knowledge base, turn on the Instant Indexing module and choose content types under Rank Math SEO > Instant Indexing > Settings. The history shows the response code for each submission.
- Yoast SEO: if you use Yoast in WordPress, IndexNow is part of Yoast SEO Premium. According to the Yoast help center, the feature sits under Site features. It pings participating search engines whenever you publish, update or delete a post.
- All in One SEO: according to the AIOSEO documentation, IndexNow requires the Basic plan or above of the Pro version. Turn on the IndexNow addon in the Feature Manager.
At NotHuman, our blog runs on WordPress, and Yoast pings IndexNow. To check the key, the AIOSEO documentation suggests opening your site address followed by the key and .txt. Then, if the key shows up in the browser, the file is live. To compare what else each plugin does, see our guide to the WordPress GEO plugin options.
How do you turn on IndexNow on Cloudflare or with your own key?
On Cloudflare, IndexNow comes through Crawler Hints, which is available on every plan, including Free. According to the Cloudflare documentation, you just open the Configuration page in the dashboard and turn the feature on. From then on, Cloudflare uses cache signals to detect pages that changed and pings IndexNow.
Crawler Hints applies to the whole site. So, to keep a page out of the index, use noindex on the page or in the X-Robots-Tag header. Also make sure Cloudflare doesn’t block Bingbot, as the guide on how to check and allow AI crawlers on Cloudflare shows.
With no plugin or CDN, the IndexNow documentation describes direct submission:
- Generate a key of 8 to 128 characters, using letters, numbers and dashes. The IndexNow page on Bing has a generator.
- Publish the key in a UTF-8 text file at the site root, named after the key with a .txt extension.
- Submit the URLs in a GET request, one at a time, or in a JSON POST with up to 10,000 URLs.
- Check receipt in the IndexNow tab in Bing Webmaster Tools.
https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow?url=https://www.example.com/page&key=YOUR-KEYA 200 code only confirms receipt. A 202, on the other hand, means the key is still being validated. A 403 points to an invalid key, such as a missing file or a file without the key. Finally, a 422 flags a URL from another host or a key that doesn’t match the protocol. A 429 means too many requests.
How can you tell if a page from your site is in the Bing index?
Search Bing with the url: operator followed by the page address. If the page shows up in the results, it’s indexed. For diagnosis, though, use URL Inspection in Bing Webmaster Tools. It shows when the page was discovered, crawled and indexed, and which error keeps it out.
According to the URL Inspection help, the index card shows the page status. If the page is out, the card suggests actions, such as requesting indexing or editing robots.txt. The Live URL tab shows what Bingbot gets when it downloads the page. After you fix the issue, you can request indexing on the same screen, within the site’s daily submission quota.
For the whole site, use Site Explorer, which lists indexed pages, crawl blocks and error responses. The IndexNow tab, in turn, shows whether pings from your plugin or CDN reached Bing. If the page is still out, the most common causes are in the guide on how to index your site on Bing.
Does being on Bing help your site show up in ChatGPT?
It helps your site become eligible in Copilot and, according to Microsoft, in ChatGPT, but it doesn’t guarantee a citation. Bing’s guidelines say Copilot relies on the same crawling, indexing and ranking foundation as search. OpenAI, however, doesn’t list Bing among the requirements for a site to appear in ChatGPT search.
On the Bing Webmaster blog, Microsoft says Bing powers AI tools like ChatGPT. On the other hand, the OpenAI Help Center says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers. When it covers them, the page points to the Microsoft privacy statement. To be eligible, however, a site must allow OAI-SearchBot, OpenAI’s search crawler.
Therefore, to add your site to Bing costs little and opens one of the doors, but it doesn’t solve the rest. What matters most in how sources get chosen is in the guide on how to show up in ChatGPT. After setup, the Bing AI report shows your citations in Copilot, as the guide to the Bing AI Performance report explains. After all, indexing is the foundation of the SEO that supports brand visibility in AI.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. According to Microsoft, Bing Webmaster Tools is free. Each account takes up to 1,000 sites, and Google Search Console users can import verified sites without repeating verification.
Yes, because Bing keeps its own index. The import, however, cuts the work: the property and sitemaps come from Search Console already verified. Even so, Bing still needs to crawl and assess each page before indexing it.
No. Google isn’t on the list of IndexNow participating search engines, which includes Amazon, Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep. For Google, the path is still the sitemap submitted through Search Console and URL Inspection.
The IndexNow page on Bing points Shopify stores to InstaIndex, a third-party app, plus two alternative methods, one of which requires coding. Once it’s on, check the submissions in the IndexNow tab in Bing Webmaster Tools.
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Main sources
- Bing Webmaster Tools help, Add and verify site (2026).
- Bing Webmaster Tools help, Sitemaps (2026).
- Bing Webmaster Tools help, URL Inspection (2026).
- Bing, How to add IndexNow to your website (2026).
- IndexNow.org, protocol documentation (2026).
- WordPress.org, IndexNow Plugin, by the Bing Webmaster team (2026).
- Cloudflare, Crawler Hints (2026).
- Bing Webmaster Blog, Start Using Bing Webmaster Tools to Improve Your Site Visibility (2025).
