---
title: "Set up Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow"
description: "Bing Webmaster Tools covers Bing and Copilot surfaces that Search Console reports do not. Verify the site, submit the sitemap and enable IndexNow so new URLs are pushed instead of waiting for a crawl. Keep the IndexNow key file at the site root, ping each changed URL after deploy and review crawl errors monthly."
url: "https://seo-mcp.io/t/set-up-bing-webmaster-tools-and-indexnow"
---

# Set up Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow

Bing Webmaster Tools covers Bing and Copilot surfaces that Search Console reports do not. Verify the site, submit the sitemap and enable IndexNow so new URLs are pushed instead of waiting for a crawl. Keep the IndexNow key file at the site root, ping each changed URL after deploy and review crawl errors monthly.

## Prerequisites

- Site access to place a key file at the web root
- A generated XML sitemap

## Steps

1. **Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools** — Add the site in Bing Webmaster Tools and verify with the Search Console import, a DNS record, an XML file or a meta tag. Use the host that serves canonical URLs.
   Check: The dashboard shows the site as verified.
2. **Submit the sitemap** — Open Sitemaps in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit the full HTTPS URL of the sitemap or sitemap index. Confirm the host matches the verified site.
   Check: The sitemap appears with a success status and a discovered URL count.
3. **Host the IndexNow key file** — Generate a key, save it as `<key>.txt` containing only the key, and upload it to the site root so it resolves at `https://host/<key>.txt`.
   Check: Fetching the key URL returns 200 with the exact key text.
4. **Ping changed URLs** — Send `https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow?url=<encoded-url>&key=<key>&keyLocation=<encoded-key-url>` for each new or updated canonical URL, or POST a JSON batch of up to 10,000 URLs.
   Check: The endpoint returns 200 or 202 and the IndexNow report lists the submitted URL.

## Source

@seo-mcp on 2026-10-19: https://www.indexnow.org/documentation

Canonical: https://seo-mcp.io/t/set-up-bing-webmaster-tools-and-indexnow