Bing Webmaster Tools Setup for a Small Business Site: Add, Verify, Submit a Sitemap, Use IndexNow and Read the AI Performance Report

Key takeaways

• It is free, and you can use an account you already have. Bing's checklist says you can sign up with an existing Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
• Importing from Google Search Console is the quickest route. If your site is already verified there, Bing can import it and verify it for you.
• Otherwise there are four ways to verify. An automatic DNS option where available, an XML file, a meta tag, or a CNAME record.
• Submit your sitemap. Bing accepts XML sitemaps and sitemap index files, Atom, RSS 2.0 and plain text lists of URLs.
• IndexNow tells search engines about changes. One submission is shared with the other participating search engines, according to the IndexNow site.
• AI Performance counts citations, not clicks. Bing's page says it does not measure rankings, authority or importance.
• Give it time. Bing says it usually takes 48 hours after adding a site to generate data.

The short answer

To set up Bing Webmaster Tools, sign in at Bing's webmaster site with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account, import your site from Google Search Console if you have it there (or add it by hand and verify it with a meta tag, an XML file or a DNS record), submit your sitemap, and then check the reports after a couple of days. It takes under an hour, costs nothing, and gives you a second search engine's view of your site, plus a report on when Microsoft's AI answers cite your pages.

Who is writing: Amariq builds websites and ships its own site's pages to IndexNow after each deploy. We haven't sat through a full account setup for this post and sign-ins stay with the site owner, so the steps below come from Bing's own help pages, quoted from what they say on 8 November 2026. Bing changes its screens often, so follow the on-screen labels.

What ranks for this search, and what it leaves out

On 8 November 2026 the first page of Google (US, English) for "bing webmaster tools setup" had Bing's own Getting Started Checklist and Add and Verify Site pages first, then a Kinsta guide (20 September 2024), a Bing Blogs post (17 June 2025), a Marketing Labs guide (29 April 2024), Synup (17 August 2026) and Ignite Digital (12 November 2025). The video results were WordPress plugin tutorials, from Rank Math and WPBeginner among others. A separate search for "bing webmaster tools ai performance report" returned Bing's AI Performance help page, a Bing Blogs announcement dated 10 February 2026, Search Engine Land, and Bing posts from 16 June 2026 and 13 October 2026.

Most of the setup pages are step lists that stop at verification. The newest part, the AI Performance report, is covered in separate announcements, and it is easy to misread. That is the gap here: one page that takes a small business from sign-up to the reports, with what each one can and cannot tell you.

Why a small business might bother

Bing is a second search engine, and its webmaster menu lists tools of its own: sitemaps, URL submission, IndexNow, a site scan, backlinks, keyword research and a robots.txt tester. We can't tell you how much traffic Bing will send you, because that varies by audience and country, so check your own analytics. What we can say is that the setup is free and quick, and that the AI Performance report comes from Bing itself and shows when Microsoft's AI experiences cite your pages.

Step 1: Open an account

Bing's checklist says to go to the Bing Webmaster Tools sign-in or sign-up page and open a free account. You can use an existing Microsoft, Google or Facebook account, or create a new Microsoft account. Use an email you will still control in a year, ideally a shared business address, not one person's inbox.

Step 2: Add and verify your site

Bing's "Add and Verify Site" page says you must prove you own the site, or the appropriate sections of it. You can create a property for a whole domain such as example.com, or for a single branch such as example.com/clothing/. There are two ways to add a site.

Option A: Import from Google Search Console

If you have a verified Google Search Console property, Bing says you can import the settings, including users and permission level, with the property. Bing needs permission to read your Search Console account, then shows your verified sites with their sitemaps and your role on each. You tick the ones you want and click Import, and the sites are added and verified automatically.

Some details from the same page:

• Bing checks the ownership status by accessing your Search Console account from time to time, and imports any new sitemap it finds there.
• You can disconnect that access from the Profile section.
• Up to 100 sites can be imported in one go, and an account can hold 1,000 sites.
• The number of sites shown can be lower than in Search Console, because some are already in Bing with equal or higher permission, or URLs have been grouped together.

Option B: Add the site by hand and verify

Enter the URL and click Add. Bing lists four verification methods:

Bing says a green tick means the site was verified. If you see a red cross, read the error message and fix it before trying again. If you choose the DNS route, our guide to DNS records in plain English explains what a CNAME record is and how to add one safely, and you should copy your existing records first.

Bing says that after you add a site, it usually takes 48 hours for the system to produce analytics and data. You can also manage who has access through its User Management feature.

Step 3: Submit your sitemap

Bing's checklist says sitemaps tell Bing about URLs on your site. It accepts XML sitemaps and sitemap index files as defined at sitemaps.org, Atom 0.3 and 1.0, RSS 2.0, and text files with one URL per line. The sitemap usually sits at the root of the domain, such as https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml. Upload it, then tell Bing about it in the Sitemaps section of the left menu. If you imported from Search Console, Bing says it picks up new sitemaps from there too.

Step 4: Switch on IndexNow

IndexNow is a protocol that lets you tell search engines when a page is added, updated or deleted. The IndexNow documentation says:

• You send the URL (or up to 10,000 URLs in one post) with a key of 8 to 128 characters.
• You prove ownership by hosting a text file named after the key at the root of your site, which contains the key.
• A 200 response only means the search engine received your URLs.
• Search engines that adopt the protocol agree to share submitted URLs with the other participating search engines.

Many site platforms and plugins can do this for you, so check yours before building anything. A static site like ours can call the endpoint after each deploy. The call tells search engines something changed, but it does not promise they will index it, so keep your sitemap submitted too.

Step 5: Read the reports

Bing's checklist adds that SEO reports run automatically on every verified domain every other week, so you get fresh reports roughly twice a month on average, and that new domains may need a few days to see the first one. Under the SEO tools in the left menu are backlinks, keyword research and SEO error analysis. In the help menu you will also see URL Inspection, Site Explorer, Site Scan, Crawl Control, Block URLs, a robots.txt tester and a Verify Bingbot tool.

For a small site, start with three things: whether your sitemap was read without errors, whether your key pages are indexed (use URL Inspection), and what the site scan flags.

The AI Performance report

Bing's AI Performance page says the report shows how your content is used in AI-generated answers across Microsoft Copilot and partner experiences, by showing which pages are cited, how visibility changes over time and the grounding queries linked to your content. Supported surfaces include Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and selected partner integrations.

Time ranges are 7 days, 30 days, 3 months or a custom range within the available history. Bing's page also says trends are observational and can't be tied to a single cause, and that AI Performance does not measure rankings, authority, performance or importance.

Two reading tips. First, a citation is not a visit: the report counts references, not clicks, so don't expect it to match your analytics. Second, use it to spot which pages are being used as sources and which phrases lead to them, then check those pages are accurate and up to date. The report was announced in public preview on 10 February 2026, according to the Bing Blogs result, and a Topics view was announced on 13 October 2026, so features may keep changing. Our guide to why your website is not showing on Google covers the Google side of the same questions.

A setup checklist

1. Choose a business email for the account.
2. Import from Google Search Console, or add the site and verify it by one of the four methods.
3. Wait for the green tick, then give it about 48 hours for data.
4. Submit your sitemap, in a format Bing accepts.
5. Set up IndexNow, through your platform if it offers it.
6. Use URL Inspection on your top pages.
7. Review the site scan and SEO reports.
8. Open AI Performance and note your most-cited pages.
9. Add a second person under User Management so access isn't tied to one login.
10. Put a reminder in your calendar to check monthly.

How Amariq can help

If you would like the technical side of search set up with a new site, we can prepare the sitemap, the verification tag or record and the IndexNow key as part of the build, and give you the exact values to enter. Sign-ins and account ownership stay with you. We build on Webflow, Framer, WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace or a custom stack. Each project is priced from its scope, never by the hour, with 40% to start, 30% at design approval and 30% before launch. Once the final payment is made, the design, copy and code belong to you, and your domain, hosting and analytics accounts sit in your name. See our web design service or the website optimization service.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?

Yes. Bing's checklist describes it as a free account.

How do I verify my site in Bing Webmaster Tools?

Import it from Google Search Console, or use one of the four methods Bing lists: DNS auto verification where your provider supports it, an XML file, a meta tag, or a CNAME record.

How long until I see data?

Bing says it usually takes 48 hours after a site is added for analytics and data to be generated.

What is IndexNow?

A protocol for telling search engines that a URL was added, updated or deleted. According to the IndexNow site, search engines that adopt it share submitted URLs with the other participants.

What is the AI Performance report?

A report in Bing Webmaster Tools that shows when your pages are cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft Copilot and partner experiences, with cited pages and grounding queries. Bing says it does not measure rankings or importance.

Do I need Bing Webmaster Tools if I have Google Search Console?

They are separate tools for separate search engines, and Bing's import feature makes adding your site quick. Whether it is worth the time depends on how much search traffic you get from Bing, which your own analytics will show.

Can I add more than one site?

Yes. Bing's page says an account can hold up to 1,000 sites, and up to 100 can be imported from Search Console in one go.