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Getting your website listed on major search engines is a foundational step, and knowing how to submit your site to Bing is key to making sure you don't miss out on a huge chunk of the market. The process is pretty simple—you can either do it manually through Bing Webmaster Tools or set up an automated system for constant, real-time updates.
It’s easy to get tunnel vision and focus only on Google, but dismissing Bing is a big mistake. When you ignore this search engine, you’re basically leaving a massive audience and a ton of potential traffic on the table. Think of it this way: a presence on Bing isn't just a backup plan; it’s your chance to connect with millions of users in a less crowded, less cutthroat space.
The benefits of getting indexed by Bing go far beyond just its own search results page. Bing's index is the backbone of the entire Microsoft ecosystem, powering results for:
Sure, Bing’s global market share isn't as big as Google's, but its influence is incredibly concentrated in key regions. In the United States, for instance, Bing captures nearly 28% of all search traffic, making it an absolutely essential channel if you're targeting American consumers.
With over 5.28 billion visits per month worldwide, it's clear that a massive and active user base depends on it.
Here's the inside scoop: Bing often presents a lower barrier to entry for ranking. With fewer competitors fighting for the top spots, smaller or newer websites can often gain visibility for valuable keywords much faster than they ever could on Google.
If you want to get a better handle on search engine visibility, it's worth brushing up on general blog Search Engine Optimization strategies. These core principles apply everywhere and help you build a stronger foundation. Our guide on free website submission also provides some great context on getting noticed across the board.
To get your site indexed by Bing, your first port of call is Bing Webmaster Tools (BWT). Think of it as your command center for everything related to your site's health and performance on Bing. Getting set up is quick and painless.
First, head over to the Bing Webmaster Tools website to sign in. You can use an existing Microsoft, Google, or Facebook account, which is a nice touch that saves you from creating yet another login.
Once you’re in, Bing gives you two ways to add your website. You can either add the URL manually or, my personal favorite, import your site directly from Google Search Console (GSC). If you’ve already done the legwork with GSC, the import option is a huge time-saver. It automatically verifies your site and can even pull in your sitemaps.
If you decide to go the manual route, you'll need to prove you actually own the website you're adding. BWT offers a few different methods to get this done.
<head> section of your site’s homepage. Most modern content management systems have a spot for header scripts, making this a breeze.Honestly, for most people, importing from Google Search Console is the path of least resistance. It completely sidesteps the manual verification process, getting you into the dashboard and on your way in minutes.
After you're verified, it can take up to 48 hours for Bing to start populating your performance data. Don't just sit around and wait! This is the perfect time to broaden your strategy and learn how to submit your website to various search engines for maximum visibility.
Sometimes, you just can't wait for Bing's crawler to find your new content. Think about it: a flash sale, a breaking news story, or a critical update to a high-traffic page. In these moments, you need that URL indexed now.
This is where manually submitting your URL through Bing Webmaster Tools becomes your best friend.
Just head over to the 'URL Submission' section in your dashboard, paste in the URL, and you're essentially telling Bing, "Hey, look at this right now." This direct request pushes your page straight to the front of the crawling queue, often getting it indexed within hours instead of days.
This simple action is your ticket to reaching Bing's 100 million daily active users who power over 13.9 billion monthly searches. Because the competition on Bing is often lighter, a quick manual submission can help new sites rank faster, tapping into a growing ad market that hit $12.21 billion in 2023. You can dig into more stats about Bing's growing user base at Magecomp.com.
Bing gives you a pretty generous daily quota for manual submissions, but that doesn't mean you should burn through it. You have to be strategic. Wasting submissions on minor tweaks or low-priority pages is a missed opportunity.
Instead, focus your efforts where they'll make a real difference.
Pro Tip: Save your manual submissions for the high-stakes content. Think new product launches, cornerstone blog posts, or pages targeting a trending topic. These are perfect candidates for a manual push.
Here’s a quick guide on how I prioritize:
By using this feature wisely, you can directly influence how fast your most important content shows up when users submit site to Bing search queries.
Submitting a few URLs by hand is fine for quick fixes, but if you want to stay on top of your game without the manual grind, automation is the only way forward. It’s how you make sure Bing always has the latest and greatest version of your site. The two heavy hitters here are XML sitemaps and the IndexNow protocol.
Think of an XML sitemap as a detailed blueprint of your website. It's a file that lists out every single important URL you want search engines to find and index. When you submit this sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools, you're essentially handing Bing a complete map of your site's structure.
This makes it incredibly easy for Bing's crawlers to discover all your content—not just the pages you’ve linked to from your homepage or main navigation. It's about comprehensive, sitewide coverage.
As you can see, sitemaps are built for scale. They let you tell Bing about thousands of pages at once with almost no effort on your part.
While sitemaps are fantastic for that broad-stroke coverage, IndexNow is all about speed. It’s a beautifully simple protocol that sends a direct ping to search engines like Bing the instant you publish, update, or even delete a page.
Instead of waiting around for Bing to get back to your sitemap and re-crawl everything, IndexNow sends an immediate alert. This direct line of communication drastically cuts down the time it takes for your new content or changes to show up in search results. For a time-sensitive product launch, a news article, or a critical update, that speed is a massive advantage.
Of course, to learn more about the mechanics, check out our complete guide on how IndexNow works. It really breaks down why this is such a game-changer.
Choosing the right tool for the job depends on your goals. This table breaks down the main ways to get your content into Bing and where each one shines.
So, which one should you use? The answer is simple: both.
A rock-solid indexing strategy uses an XML sitemap for broad, consistent coverage and IndexNow for immediate alerts on new or changed content. This one-two punch ensures Bing has a complete and up-to-the-minute view of your website.
By using both methods together, you're not just telling Bing what's on your site; you're telling it what's important right now. This creates a powerful, robust system that keeps your content visible, fresh, and ready to compete in the search results.
So, you've done everything right, but you're still hitting a wall trying to get your site indexed on Bing. It’s a classic, frustrating scenario: you see your pages marked as "Discovered," yet they stubbornly refuse to get indexed. This isn't just a waiting game; it usually signals something deeper is wrong that needs a closer look.
Nine times out of ten, the first place I check is the robots.txt file. A single, innocent-looking "Disallow" directive can slam the door shut on Bing's crawlers, preventing them from ever seeing your most important content. Always give that file a once-over to make sure you haven't accidentally put up a digital "keep out" sign.
Another common gremlin is a simple verification failure. Bing won’t touch your submissions if it can’t confirm you actually own the site. This happens more often than you'd think, especially if the verification code—that little HTML meta tag—gets wiped out during a theme update or after installing a new plugin.
If your site is accessible and verified but still isn't getting indexed, it's time to become a detective. Your best tool for the job is the crawl reports section in Bing Webmaster Tools. This is where Bing tells you exactly what went wrong when it tried to visit your pages.
Don't just glance at the numbers; dig into the specifics. You’re typically looking for a few common error types:
By methodically working through these reports, you can stop guessing and start fixing. Pinpointing the exact reason for an indexing failure is the only way to get your content seen on Bing.
If you want to go even deeper down the rabbit hole, you can learn more about common website indexing issues and how to squash them for good. Taking care of these technical hiccups ensures all your hard work to submit your site to Bing search actually pays off.
Even when you know the steps, a few questions always seem to pop up when you're getting started with Bing. Let's walk through the most common ones I hear so you can move forward without any guesswork.
The first thing people usually ask is, "how long does it take?" After you verify your site, you’ll want to give Bing up to 48 hours to start processing everything and showing performance data in Webmaster Tools. Actually getting a specific page crawled and indexed can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The speed really depends on your submission method and how much authority your site has.
So, should you submit a sitemap or individual URLs? The two serve very different purposes, and it’s not an either/or situation.
Think of your sitemap as a complete blueprint of your website. Submitting it gives Bing a map to discover all your content over time, which is perfect for ongoing, site-wide coverage. A single URL submission, on the other hand, is like a direct order to index one specific page right now. This is your go-to for new blog posts, product launches, or any other time-sensitive content.
The most effective strategy is to use both. Rely on your sitemap for broad, continuous discovery, and use manual URL submissions for your highest-priority updates. This gives you the best of both worlds: comprehensive coverage and immediate attention when it counts.
Yes, you absolutely do. While Google is obviously the giant in the room, Bing still powers a huge chunk of searches, especially in the U.S. and through the entire Microsoft ecosystem. If you ignore it, you’re just leaving free traffic on the table.
I like to think of them as two separate highways leading to your website—you want your business to be visible on both. Once your content is indexed, you can easily monitor how it’s doing with a reliable Bing rank checker to measure your SEO progress. By showing up on both search engines, you’re maximizing your visibility and making sure you reach the widest possible audience.
Ready to stop wrestling with manual submissions and start dominating the SERPs? IndexPilot automates the entire process, from content creation to instant indexing, ensuring your site gets seen faster. Get started and claim your rankings at https://www.indexpilot.ai.