bing-webmaster

Bing Webmaster Tools & GEO

Workflow

1. Setup & Verification

Verification methods (pick one):

• XML file upload (BingSiteAuth.xml to root)
• Meta tag (<meta name="msvalidate.01" content="XXXX" />)
• CNAME DNS record
• Auto-verify if already in Google Search Console (import)

Import from GSC: Bing offers one-click import of all your GSC properties — fastest path.

2. IndexNow

IndexNow tells search engines about URL changes instantly. Bing explicitly recommends it for AI freshness: "IndexNow helps ensure that AI systems reference the most current version of a page when generating answers."

Key file (one-time setup): generate a key (8–128 hex chars), serve it as a static text file whose body is exactly the key.

KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 16)          # e.g. a1b2c3...; treat as a public token, not a secret
echo -n "$KEY" > "public/$KEY.txt"   # served verbatim at https://example.com/$KEY.txt

On Next.js/Vercel anything in public/ is served at the domain root automatically; on other hosts drop the file in the web root. Verify with curl https://example.com/$KEY.txt before submitting.

Single URL — always URL-encode the submitted URL so query strings/anchors don't break the request:

curl -G "https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://example.com/updated-page?ref=launch" \
  --data-urlencode "key=$KEY"

Batch (up to 10,000 URLs per request): all URLs must share the same host as host/keyLocation.

curl -X POST "https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "host": "example.com",
    "key": "'"$KEY"'",
    "keyLocation": "https://example.com/'"$KEY"'.txt",
    "urlList": [
      "https://example.com/page1",
      "https://example.com/page2"
    ]
  }'

Response codes to handle: 200 accepted · 202 accepted, key validation pending · 400 invalid format · 403 key not found/invalid at keyLocation · 422 URL doesn't match host or key mismatch · 429 too many requests (back off and retry with exponential delay). Submitting to any one participating engine (Bing, Yandex, etc.) propagates to the others, so one POST to api.indexnow.org is enough. Log the URLs submitted plus the returned status so you can audit coverage; only re-submit a URL when its content actually changes — repeated pings of unchanged URLs add no value.