How can I troubleshoot website indexing issues using Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools?

Start in Bing Webmaster Tools → Sitemaps, open the submitted sitemap, and use Sitemap Index Coverage to identify indexed and excluded URLs and the reason assigned to each exclusion.^1^

1. Review sitemap coverage

1. Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools and select the verified site.
2. Open Sitemaps.
3. Confirm that the sitemap:
   • Uses the preferred canonical URLs.
   • Contains only public pages intended for search.
   • Has been processed rather than reporting a retrieval or parsing error.
4. Select the sitemap to open Sitemap Index Coverage.
5. Compare indexed and non-indexed/excluded URLs.
6. Review reasons such as:
   • Not yet crawled
   • Blocked by robots.txt
   • Redirected
   • Content quality
7. Use Export to download the affected URLs for systematic investigation.^1^

Submitting a sitemap helps Bing discover URLs and provides processing statistics, but submission alone does not guarantee crawling or indexing.^2^ Bing supports XML sitemaps, RSS 2.0, Atom 0.3/1.0 feeds, and plain-text URL lists.^3^

2. Inspect representative URLs

Select several URLs from each exclusion category, then open URL Inspection in the left navigation:

1. Enter the exact canonical URL and select Inspect.
2. Record its indexing and crawl status.
3. Check whether Bing reports a crawl restriction or serving error.
4. On the live page, verify that:
   • It returns a successful HTTP response.
   • It does not contain a noindex robots directive.
   • Its canonical tag points to the intended URL.
   • It is not redirected to another page.
   • robots.txt does not disallow its path.
   • It is reachable through normal internal links rather than appearing only in the sitemap.

After correcting a page, submit that URL once and inspect it again later. Repeated manual submissions do not accelerate indexing; Bing recommends IndexNow for notifying it about added, updated, or removed URLs.^4^

3. Correlate the result with crawl information

Open Site Explorer and review the site by status:

• Indexed — Bing has included the URL in its index.
• Error — investigate the reported crawl or serving failure.
• Warning — inspect the URL-level details.
• Excluded — review why Bing omitted it.

For an affected URL, check its last crawl date and HTTP response information. This distinguishes pages Bing has not reached from pages it crawled but did not select for indexing.^5^

Interpret common patterns as follows:

Bing’s guidelines recommend crawl-efficient site structures, canonical URLs in sitemaps, accurate freshness signals such as lastmod, and IndexNow for content changes.^6^

4. Run a site-wide scan

In Bing Webmaster Tools, open Site Scan → Start new scan. Scan the entire site or an affected directory, then address relevant SEO and crawl findings. Reinspect a sample of corrected URLs before requesting submission.

5. Escalate unexplained persistent exclusions

If the sitemap is processed, URLs are crawlable, Site Explorer shows no serving errors, and URL Inspection still provides no actionable reason after a reasonable recrawl period:

1. Open Bing Webmaster Support.
2. Select the affected verified site.
3. Describe one site only.
4. Include:
   • Representative affected URLs
   • Sitemap status
   • URL Inspection results
   • Last crawl dates and HTTP statuses
   • When the issue began
   • Whether all pages or only a section are affected

Support is the appropriate next step when webmaster-controlled diagnostics do not explain a persistent indexing problem.^7^

References

1. How do I check which of my site’s pages aren’t indexed in Bing Webmaster Tools? - Microsoft Q&A
2. Why is My Site Not in the Index? - Bing Webmaster Tools
3. Sitemaps - Bing Webmaster Tools
4. URL Submission - Bing Webmaster Tools
5. Site Explorer - Bing Webmaster Tools
6. Webmaster Guidelines - Bing Webmaster Tools
7. Webmaster Support - Bing Webmaster Tools