Most Singapore businesses set up Google Search Console and stop there. That made sense when almost every search happened on Google. It makes less sense now that people also ask Microsoft Copilot, use the search box built into Windows and Edge, or read AI-written summaries before they ever see a list of links. Several of these experiences draw on Microsoft’s Bing index, and the free tool that shows you how Bing sees your site is Bing Webmaster Tools.
If Bing has not crawled a page, has indexed an outdated version, or cannot read it properly, that page is less likely to appear in Bing results or be cited in the AI answers that rely on them. The fix often takes less than an hour, yet many SMEs have never checked.
This guide explains what Bing Webmaster Tools does, which AI search products are known to use Bing (and where the picture is less clear), how to set it up in about 30 minutes, how to use sitemaps and IndexNow, which reports matter, and a simple monthly routine for a small team.
What Bing Webmaster Tools is
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft’s free service for website owners. It plays a similar role to Google Search Console: you verify that you own a site, and Bing then shows you how it crawls, indexes and displays your pages, along with problems it has found.
Core features include:
- Search Performance: clicks, impressions, average position and the queries people used to find you on Bing.
- URL Inspection: whether a specific page is indexed and any issues Bing found with it.
- Sitemaps and URL Submission: ways to tell Bing which pages exist and which have changed.
- IndexNow: a protocol for notifying Bing (and other participating engines) instantly when content is added, updated or deleted.
- Site Scan and Recommendations: on-demand technical audits that flag issues such as missing titles, broken links and blocked resources.
- Backlinks and Keyword Research: data on sites linking to you and query trends in Bing.
- AI Performance: a newer report on how often your pages are cited in Microsoft’s AI-generated answers (covered below).
Bing also publishes its own Webmaster Guidelines. They overlap heavily with Google’s advice, so work you do for one engine rarely conflicts with the other.
Why Bing matters for AI search visibility
Bing’s share of traditional search in Singapore is much smaller than Google’s, and nobody should pretend otherwise. The case for Bing Webmaster Tools rests less on classic Bing traffic and more on where Bing’s index now feeds.
Microsoft Copilot and Bing’s AI answers
Microsoft Copilot and the AI-generated summaries in Bing search are grounded in Bing’s web index. Microsoft’s own announcement of the AI Performance report describes it as showing when your site is cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and select partner integrations. If you sell to corporate buyers who work inside Windows and Microsoft 365, this is a channel where your content may already be appearing, or missing.
Other search engines that use Bing results
Some independent search engines license Bing results. Yahoo Search is powered by Bing, and DuckDuckGo states in its help pages on result sources that it largely sources traditional links from Bing, alongside its own crawler and other sources. Being well indexed in Bing therefore helps beyond Bing.com itself.
Where the picture is less clear
Be cautious about claims that a particular AI assistant “uses Bing”. AI providers combine their own crawlers, licensed indexes and partner data, and they rarely publish the full mix. Arrangements also change: Microsoft retired its public Bing Search APIs in 2025 and now offers grounding through its Azure AI services instead. The honest position is this: Bing powers Microsoft’s own AI experiences and some partner products, and being indexed accurately in Bing is a sensible, low-cost step. It is not a switch that puts you into every AI answer.
For a fuller comparison of how different engines and assistants pick sources, see our guide to answer engine optimisation across Google, Bing, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Bing Webmaster Tools vs Google Search Console
You need both. They show different engines’ views of the same site, and each has features the other lacks.
| Feature | Bing Webmaster Tools | Google Search Console |
|---|---|---|
| Engines covered | Bing, plus Microsoft Copilot and Bing AI summaries in the AI Performance report | Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic within the Web search type |
| Site verification | Import from Search Console, XML file, meta tag, DNS record or Domain Connect | DNS record, HTML file, meta tag, Google Analytics or Tag Manager |
| Instant change notification | IndexNow supported | Not supported; uses sitemaps and URL Inspection requests |
| AI citation data | AI Performance report (citations and grounding queries; preview features) | No separate AI citation report |
| Built-in technical audit | Site Scan | No full crawler; reports on indexing, Core Web Vitals and enhancements |
| Backlink and keyword data | Backlinks report and Keyword Research tool | Links report; no keyword research tool |
Features and names change, so check each tool’s help pages for the current list.
How to set up Bing Webmaster Tools in about 30 minutes
The steps below suit a typical SME website on WordPress, Shopify, Wix or a custom build.
- Sign in. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. Use a company-controlled account rather than a staff member’s personal login, so access survives staff changes.
- Import from Google Search Console (fastest). Microsoft’s import feature lets you sign in to Google, select verified properties and add them to Bing with verification handled automatically. Microsoft notes that traffic data can take up to 48 hours to appear.
- Or verify manually. If you do not use Search Console, add a meta tag to your home page, upload an XML file or add a DNS record. Many WordPress SEO plugins have a field for the Bing verification code.
- Submit your XML sitemap. Under Sitemaps, add your sitemap URL (often /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml). Our guide on why sitemaps matter for SEO explains what a good sitemap includes.
- Set up IndexNow. Enable it through your CMS, SEO plugin or CDN if supported, or follow the instructions on the IndexNow site to host a key file and send pings.
- Inspect your key pages. Use URL Inspection on your home page and top service pages to confirm they are indexed.
- Run a Site Scan. Start a scan, then fix the highest-severity issues first.
- Add a second owner. Give a colleague or trusted partner access through user management, so you are not locked out if one account is lost.
Sitemaps and IndexNow: getting new content seen quickly
Sitemaps tell search engines which URLs exist. IndexNow goes further: when you publish, update or delete a page, your site sends a ping so participating search engines know to recrawl it. Submissions are shared among participating engines, which include Bing and several others. Google does not currently participate, so keep your Google sitemap and Search Console workflow in place.
IndexNow is a notification, not an instruction. It does not promise crawling or indexing, and pages still need to be useful and accessible. It is most valuable for sites whose content changes often, such as e-commerce stock, property listings, event pages or price updates. Our article on getting pages indexed faster covers the Google side of the same problem.
A practical tip: if you change prices or opening hours, that is exactly when you want search engines and AI systems to see the update quickly. An outdated price quoted in an AI answer can generate the wrong enquiries.
The reports worth checking each month
Search Performance
Look at the queries and pages that bring Bing impressions. Compare them with Google. Big differences often reveal pages that Bing has not indexed or that rank for unexpected terms.
AI Performance
This report, launched in public preview in early 2026, shows how many times your pages were cited in Microsoft’s AI answers, which pages were cited and the grounding queries that led to them. Treat it as directional. Citation counts are not rankings, the report does not show clicks, and it covers Microsoft’s ecosystem only, not every AI assistant. It is still one of the few first-party sources of AI citation data available to site owners. Our guide to measuring GEO performance explains how to combine it with other signals.
Site Scan and Recommendations
Common SME issues include duplicate titles, missing meta descriptions, pages blocked by robots.txt and redirect chains. Many of these also affect Google, so one fix helps both. Pair the scan with a periodic full SEO audit.
URL Inspection
Check your most important pages after major changes such as a redesign or a move to a new platform, to confirm Bing sees the current version.
How AI can help you use Bing Webmaster Tools
AI tools are useful for the routine parts: summarising exported Search Performance data, comparing Bing and Google query lists to find gaps, grouping grounding queries from the AI Performance report into themes, and drafting fixes for missing titles or descriptions. They can also turn a long Site Scan export into a prioritised task list.
The limits are the same as anywhere else. AI summaries can misread data, invent explanations for changes and overstate what citation counts mean. A person should check the source numbers and decide which fixes are worth the effort.
Marketing2u’s AI SEO Agent connects to Bing Webmaster Tools alongside Search Console and GA4, monitors indexing and technical health, and applies approved low-risk fixes such as meta descriptions with before-and-after history. For AI answer visibility specifically, the AI GEO Agent tracks mentions and citations across assistants where configured. Neither can promise placement in AI answers, and both treat AI-search data as directional.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Never verifying the site. It costs nothing and you cannot fix what you cannot see.
- Blocking Bingbot by accident. Check robots.txt and any firewall or bot-protection settings that may block Microsoft’s crawler.
- Submitting a stale sitemap. Sitemaps listing redirected or deleted URLs waste crawl effort and send mixed signals.
- Expecting IndexNow to rank pages. It speeds up discovery; it does not improve quality or relevance.
- Over-reading AI citation counts. A rise or fall in a preview report is a prompt to investigate, not proof of success or failure.
- Using one person’s login. Keep access tied to company accounts and add at least two owners.
A simple monthly routine for SMEs
- Week 1 (15 minutes): check Search Performance and AI Performance for unusual changes.
- Week 2 (20 minutes): review Site Scan or Recommendations and fix one or two high-impact items.
- Week 3 (10 minutes): confirm the sitemap processed without errors and IndexNow pings are working.
- Week 4 (15 minutes): compare top Bing and Google queries and note any content gaps for the next content plan.
An hour a month is enough for most small sites. Larger e-commerce or listing sites may need weekly checks.
Conclusion: a small step with growing value
Bing Webmaster Tools will not transform your traffic overnight, and Bing remains a smaller search engine in Singapore. But its index feeds Microsoft Copilot, Bing’s AI summaries and some other search products, and the AI Performance report gives you rare first-party data on AI citations. Setting it up takes about half an hour, especially if you import from Search Console. Verify your site, submit your sitemap, enable IndexNow, and add a short monthly check to your routine.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is free for any website owner who can verify their site. You can sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account and import verified sites from Google Search Console.
Does ChatGPT use Bing?
It is not something you should assume. AI providers combine their own crawlers, licensed data and partner indexes, and they do not always publish the details, which can change over time. What Microsoft does confirm is that Copilot and Bing’s AI summaries draw on Bing, which is why being well indexed there is worthwhile.
Do I still need Google Search Console if I use Bing Webmaster Tools?
Yes. Google remains the dominant search engine in Singapore, and Search Console is the only first-party view of how Google crawls and ranks your site. Use both; the import feature makes Bing setup quick once Search Console is in place.
Does IndexNow work with Google?
Google does not currently participate in IndexNow. Submissions are shared among participating engines such as Bing. Keep submitting your sitemap to Google and use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console for important updates.
Sources and further reading
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Bing Webmaster Guidelines
- Bing Webmaster Blog: Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools (public preview)
- Bing Webmaster Blog: Import sites from Search Console to Bing Webmaster Tools
- IndexNow protocol
- DuckDuckGo Help: Where do DuckDuckGo search results come from?
Related guides
- How AEO Differs Across Google, Bing, ChatGPT and Perplexity
- Measuring GEO Performance: Tools and Metrics That Actually Matter
- How to Get Your Pages Indexed Faster by Google
- AI Answer Engines vs Google: Different Scoring & Citations
- How Important Is Sitemap For SEO? Key To Better Rankings
Browse every article in our AI Search (GEO & AEO) guides.