Bing Webmaster Tools: A Reputation Guide to Bing’s Search Console

Bing’s search console is called Bing Webmaster Tools. It’s a free Microsoft tool that shows how your own website appears in Bing: which searches it shows up for, how often people click, which pages Bing has indexed, and whether there are problems. For reputation work it lets you watch searches for your name on Bing, temporarily hide pages on your own site, and ask Bing to recrawl pages you’ve updated. Like Google’s version, it only covers sites you own and verify, so it can’t remove pages on other websites.

If you already use Google Search Console, most of this will feel familiar. Our guide to Google Search Console for reputation covers the Google side.

Why Bing matters for your reputation

Many business owners only ever check Google, which makes sense given Google’s size. But Bing’s reach is wider than its own homepage:

• It’s the default on many Windows computers and in Microsoft Edge, so plenty of people search you on Bing without choosing it.
• Other services draw on Bing’s index. Yahoo’s web results are powered by Bing, and several other search tools use Bing as one of their sources.
• Microsoft’s AI assistant, Copilot, uses Bing search to find current web pages. What Bing has indexed about you can shape what Copilot says. Our guide to managing your reputation in AI search covers this in more depth.

Bing and Google also rank pages differently. A negative page that sits on Google’s page two can appear on Bing’s page one, and the reverse. Removing or fixing something on Google does nothing for Bing, so it’s worth checking both.

What Bing Webmaster Tools can and can’t do

It can	It can’t
Show searches on Bing where your own site appeared	Show data for sites you don’t own
Show your site’s clicks, impressions and average position	Tell you exactly how every person sees the results page
Temporarily block your own URLs from Bing results	Remove pages on other people’s websites
Let you submit new or updated URLs for crawling	Force Bing to rank or keep a page
Show sites that link to you	Remove links or content on those sites

For pages you don’t own, Bing has separate tools, covered below.

How to set it up

1. Sign in. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in. A Microsoft account works; Bing has also accepted some other account types for sign-in.
2. Add your site. If you already have verified sites in Google Search Console, Bing offers an import option that brings them over without verifying again. This is usually the quickest route.
3. Or verify manually. The usual options are uploading a small verification file to your site, adding a meta tag to your homepage, or adding a DNS record with your domain host. Your web developer or host can do any of these in a few minutes.
4. Submit a sitemap. Most website platforms create one automatically. Adding it helps Bing find your important pages.
5. Keep ownership in the business. Add your developer or agency as a user rather than letting them be the only person with access.

New accounts can take a little while to fill with data, so don’t worry if reports look empty at first.

Watch branded searches on Bing

The Search Performance report shows the searches that led to your site appearing on Bing, with clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position. For reputation purposes, look at it through your name.

1. Filter or search the keyword list for your brand or personal name. Include common misspellings and abbreviations.
2. Look for negative variations. Words like “reviews,” “complaints,” “scam,” “lawsuit” or “fired” attached to your name tell you what people want to know.
3. Compare periods. A variation that’s appeared recently, or is growing, deserves a look even if the numbers are small.
4. Watch your average position for your plain name. If it slips, something else is now ranking above your site. Search your name on Bing in a private window to see what.
5. Check the page report. See which of your pages get branded clicks, and whether they’re the right ones.

The same caveat as Google applies: you only see searches where your site appeared. For your own name that’s usually enough to spot trends, but it’s not a complete record of every search about you.

Bing’s numbers are often smaller than Google’s. Don’t dismiss them for that reason. The people searching you on Bing are still customers, employers or partners, and a problem that shows on Bing often shows in AI answers too.

Other reports worth knowing

• URL Inspection: shows whether Bing has indexed a page and what it found. Useful when you’ve updated a page and want to confirm Bing has the new version.
• URL submission and IndexNow: you can submit new or changed URLs so Bing knows to crawl them. IndexNow is a protocol many site platforms and plugins support that notifies participating search engines automatically when pages change.
• Backlinks: shows sites Bing knows link to you. It can reveal a blog, forum or scraper site discussing you that you didn’t know about.
• Site scan and recommendations: flag technical issues such as missing titles or broken pages, which affect how clearly your site represents you.
• Keyword research: gives a rough picture of what people search on Bing, including variations of your brand name.

Hide or update pages on your own site

If a page on your own site is causing problems, such as an old team page, a retracted announcement or a page that was never meant to be public, you have two parts to the fix.

1. Make the permanent change. Delete the page so it returns a “not found” status, add a noindex tag, or put it behind a login. This is what keeps it out of Bing long term.
2. Use Block URLs for speed. Bing Webmaster Tools’ Block URLs feature temporarily hides a URL from Bing results while the permanent change is picked up. It’s temporary, so it only works properly alongside step one.

If you’ve corrected a page rather than removed it, submit the URL for recrawling so Bing picks up the new version sooner. Bing decides when to recrawl, but submitting helps it notice.

What about pages you don’t own?

This is the question most people arrive with, and the honest answer is that Bing Webmaster Tools can’t help. It only works for sites you verify. Bing has other routes:

• Bing’s Content Removal tool handles pages that have already been deleted or changed on another site but still appear in Bing in their old form. Anyone with a Microsoft account can use it, but the page itself has to be gone or changed first.
• Microsoft’s “Report a concern” forms cover specific harms, such as sensitive personal information, intimate images shared without consent, copyright and legal issues.
• European privacy requests are available to eligible people in Europe under data protection law.

Our guide to removing results from Bing walks through each of these routes step by step. For accurate content on a live page, removal usually isn’t possible. The realistic options are a correction request to the publisher, a public reply, or building stronger results so the page is less prominent, which is the work our search result suppression service does.

Local businesses should also claim their Bing Places for Business listing, which controls the map and local panel on Bing. That’s separate from Webmaster Tools and just as important for branded searches.

A worked example: an independent consultant

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client. A management consultant with a personal website has Google Search Console set up but has never looked at Bing. A client mentions that Copilot described her as “formerly with” a firm she left under difficult circumstances.

1. She imports her site into Bing Webmaster Tools from Google Search Console.
2. She searches her name on Bing in a private window. An old conference page listing her with her former employer ranks on page one, above her own site.
3. Search Performance shows that her site’s average position for her name is lower on Bing than on Google, and her About page gets most of the clicks.
4. She updates her About page with a clear current bio and submits it for recrawling. She also emails the conference organizer asking them to update her speaker listing.
5. When the organizer updates the page, she uses Bing’s Content Removal tool to refresh the outdated result. She checks her name on Bing monthly afterwards.

None of this was dramatic. It simply made sure Bing, and the AI tools that draw on it, had current, accurate information.

Common mistakes

• Ignoring Bing entirely. A problem you’ve fixed on Google can still be live on Bing.
• Relying on Block URLs alone. It’s temporary. Without deleting or noindexing the page, it can return.
• Filing Content Removal requests for live pages. They’re rejected if the page hasn’t changed. Get the source fixed first.
• Losing access. If the only verified user is a former contractor, re-verify and take ownership back.
• Checking once and forgetting. Set a monthly reminder, the same as for Google. Our brand monitoring service can watch both engines for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Bing version of Google Search Console?

Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is Bing’s equivalent, and it’s free. It shows search performance, indexing and technical issues for sites you own and verify, and you can import sites you’ve already verified in Google Search Console.

Can Bing Webmaster Tools remove negative results about me?

Only for your own verified site, using Block URLs as a temporary measure alongside deleting or noindexing the page. For pages on other sites, use Bing’s Content Removal tool for outdated pages or Microsoft’s reporting forms for specific harms such as personal information.

Do I need Bing Webmaster Tools if I already use Google Search Console?

It’s worth having. Bing ranks pages differently, its index feeds Yahoo and Microsoft’s Copilot, and the setup takes minutes if you import your sites from Google Search Console.

Why does Bing show different results for my name than Google?

Each engine crawls and ranks the web with its own systems, so they often weigh pages differently. That’s why a result can be on page one of Bing and page two of Google, and why each needs checking separately.