How to use Bing Webmaster to index pages?

Question

How to use Bing Webmaster to index pages?

Claire Gorman 0

Hi,

I have created a website recently (seoguildford(.)com) but I'm struggling with getting it indexed on Bing Search. I have tried importing from GSC, but I can't seem to get it to index fully as neither my sitemap nor any specific pages are listed.

Could anyone with experience on Bing Webmaster share some useful advice?

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hi Claire Gorman,

It can be frustrating when a newly launched website remains absent from Bing even after it has been imported from Google Search Console. The import helps verify the site and transfer some information, but it does not guarantee that the sitemap or individual pages will be crawled and indexed.

Since the existing guidance already covers sitemap submission, I would suggest focusing on the result shown for one affected page in Bing Webmaster Tools > URL Inspection. Check whether Bing reports that the page is unknown, blocked, redirected, duplicated, or excluded because of an indexing directive. Also confirm that the page:

returns an HTTP 200 response;
is accessible without signing in;
is not blocked by robots.txt or a noindex directive;
uses a self-referencing HTTPS canonical URL;
can be reached through internal links from the homepage or another indexed page.

For a new website, discovery and indexing may take a couple of weeks even when the technical setup is correct. Submitting the same URLs repeatedly will not speed this up. If the site is updated regularly, you may also consider implementing https://www.bing.com/indexnow so Bing can be notified automatically when pages are added, changed, or removed.

You can review the official Bing Webmaster Guidelines and Bing Webmaster Support guidance for additional checks. Thank you so much for your understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Vikki-T 13,480 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-07T11:17:38.9133333+00:00

Hi Claire Gorman,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.

Answer 2

Manually submit the sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools rather than repeating the Google Search Console import, then inspect its coverage and submit the most important URLs individually.

1. Submit the sitemap directly

Importing from Google Search Console verifies the site and can transfer associated sitemaps, but the absence of a sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools indicates that it should be added manually ^1^.

Confirm that the sitemap opens publicly in a browser and contains the preferred HTTPS URLs for the site.
Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools and select the site.
Open Sitemaps.
Select Submit sitemap, enter the complete sitemap URL, and submit it.
Wait for its status to change from pending to processed.

Also reference the sitemap in the root robots.txt file so crawlers can discover it independently:

User-agent: *
Disallow:

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Sitemaps identify the URLs available for crawling; Microsoft recommends both placing the sitemap location in robots.txt and submitting it through webmaster tools for status information ^2^.

2. Check what Bing did with the submitted URLs

After the sitemap is processed:

Go to Sitemaps and open the submitted sitemap.
Open Sitemap Index Coverage.
Review the counts for indexed and excluded URLs.
Check the exclusion reason for affected URLs, such as:
- Not yet crawled
- Blocked by robots.txt
- Redirected
- Content quality
Use Export if you need the complete affected-URL list.

This report distinguishes “Bing knows about the URL” from “Bing has indexed the URL” ^3^.

3. Inspect and submit priority pages

For the homepage and several important service or content pages:

Select URL Inspection from the left navigation.
Enter the exact canonical HTTPS URL and select Inspect.
Review:
- Index status
- Whether crawling and indexing are allowed
- HTTP response and fetch status
- Canonical URL
- Any recommended action

The inspection tool is intended to expose crawl and indexing issues for individual URLs ^4^.

For important pages that are not indexed, open URL Submission, select Submit URLs, enter one URL per line, and submit. Microsoft documents a limit of up to 100 submitted URLs per day ^5^. Submission requests discovery or recrawling; it does not guarantee inclusion or ranking.

4. If the sitemap remains absent or nothing is crawled

Run Site Scan → Start new scan and address reported crawl or SEO issues. In particular, ensure each intended page:

Returns a successful response without a login requirement.
Is not disallowed by robots.txt.
Does not contain an indexing prohibition.
Uses a canonical URL consistent with the sitemap.
Is internally linked rather than existing only in the sitemap.
Contains substantial, distinct content.

Because this is a recently created site, allow time after successful processing. If the sitemap is processed and URL Inspection shows crawling is allowed but pages remain uncrawled or excluded without an actionable reason, use Bing Webmaster Support → Raise support request. Support can investigate indexing information that is not exposed in Webmaster Tools ^6^.

References