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Term

Bing Webmaster Tools

Microsoft's free tool for monitoring Bing visibility — index status, crawl errors, keyword reports, and URL submission. The Bing-index counterpart to Google Search Console.

Bing Webmaster Tools — explained in more detail

Bing Webmaster Tools (BWT) is Microsoft’s counterpart to Google Search Console. Feature set: sitemap submission, URL inspection, crawl-error reports, keyword performance, backlink overview, IndexNow integration for instant indexing. BWT is free and a prerequisite for Bing to reliably discover a site.

Practical bonus: BWT offers a GSC import function — if the Search Console property is already verified, it can be ported to BWT with one click, no additional DNS or file verification needed. Via the API, URLs can be pushed for immediate indexing using IndexNow — faster than the sitemap pull model.

Example / In practice

On a new B2B site, Bing is often ignored — result: after three months the site barely appears in Bing results, even though Google is crawling cleanly. Registering in BWT, submitting the sitemap, and working through crawl errors brings Bing visibility to a level comparable to Google within 4–6 weeks.

Distinction from similar terms

Google Search Console covers only the Google index. IndexNow is an open protocol that BWT uses — also supported by Yandex and Naver. Yahoo Site Explorer no longer exists; Yahoo runs entirely off the Bing index.

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