PART 1: Creating Your Bing Webmaster Tools Account
Introduction
Now that you’ve got Google Search Console (You have got GSC, haven’t you? If you haven’t, please go to Google Search Console the Easy Way and install it. Note that you will need Google Analytics as described in How to Set up and Use Google Analytics).- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Bing Webmaster Tools
This is because each installation is made much easier by utilizing information from the previous one.
The main usage I make of GSC is to submit new and edited website pages and posts in order to get them indexed more quickly on the Google search engine.
Bing Webmaster Tools provides the same service for the Bing search engine. Bing has just under 3% of the global search market but around 30% of the US market. This is significant and means that it’s really worthwhile to get indexed and ranked on Bing.
Especially as it’s typically easier to get a high rank on Bing than on Google.
Where to Start
Go to Bing Webmaster Tools to get started. You’ll see the introductory screen:
Click the Get Started button.
You will then need to sign in using your Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
Click on your preferred sign-in method.
You may be required to perform an additional verification step.
For example, Google has sent a verification code to my smartphone, which I then have to enter.
Perform the verification step as requested (if applicable).
Now you can see why I got you to register your site on GSC first.
You are given two alternatives:
- Add your site manually (work involved) or
- Import your sites from GSC (no work involved)
Click the Import button.
Bing Webmaster Tools then displays a screen that tells you what information it is going to import from GSC.
Read the statement and click the Continue button.
You will then need to sign in to your Google account to allow Bing to access it.
Select your Google account to bring up a screen for you to authorize Bing to access your Google account.
Read what you’re authorizing and then, if you’re happy with that, click the Allow button.
This will find any sites you have on Google Search Console that have not already been imported into Bing Webmaster Tools.
Select the Site(s) to Import and click the Import button.
After a few seconds, you should see a congratulations message telling you that the site has been imported successfully.
Click the Done button.
That’s it! Your site is now registered on Bing Webmaster Tools.
PART 2: Using Your Bing Webmaster Tools Account
Using Bing Webmaster Tools
As before, go to Bing Webmaster Tools but this time, sign in to your new account.
Click the Sign in button.
Depending on whether you’ve saved your credentials for automatic sign-in (browser-dependent) you may be taken directly to your interface or you may have to go through the same sign-in as before, such as via Google.
Click the Next button.
This may require an additional verification step.
Click the Next button.
If you have multiple sites registered on Bing Webmaster Tools, you can select the one you want to work on. If you have just one, Bing Webmaster Tools will default to it.
Once you have selected the site you want (or it has been defaulted to) you can select URL Submission from the menu on the left.
Click URL Submission.
The next screen shows you how many URLs you have submitted today and how many more you can submit. The quota starts at a low number (such as 10) and increases with time.
Click the Submit URLs button.
Now you can enter a list of the URLs that you want Bing to index.
Allow this is doing the same job for Bing that GSC does for Google, there are two main differences in how they go about it.
First, Google makes you enter the URLs you want indexed one at a time, whereas Bing allows you to enter a list, up to your remaining quota.
Second, Google give you feedback on the current status of your URL, particularly as to whether or not it is already indexed.
Clearly, there are advantages and disadvantages to both of these approaches.
Unless you are a big corporation with 100s of URLs to submit every day, you will find Google’s approach more useful.
Enter your list of URLs and click the Submit button.
You will then see a list confirming that the URLs have been submitted.
And that’s it. Job done!
You can click on your profile image to sign out of Bing Webmaster Tools.
Click the Sign Out option.
