Connect Bing Webmaster Tools

Before you start

How do you set up Bing Webmaster Tools first?

Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools and import your site from Google Search Console. It skips the manual verification, and your sitemap comes along.

“Bing Webmaster Tools now allows webmaster to skip the manual site addition and verification process through the ability to import their verified sites from Google Search Console.”

1. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
2. Choose to import your sites from Google Search Console, and allow the access.
3. Select your site and confirm the import. It is now verified in Bing.
4. If you cannot import, add your site manually and verify it with one of the methods Bing offers.

Sign-in options and API access are described by Microsoft in Microsoft Learn, Bing Webmaster API: getting access.

Step by step

How do you connect Bing to Howseen?

From Settings, open Integrations, find the Bing line in the Search engine indexing card, and click Connect Bing Account. Sign in and allow access.

1. In Howseen, open Settings → Integrations.
2. Scroll to the Search engine indexing card, then the Bing line.
3. Click Connect Bing Account, sign in to your Bing Webmaster account and allow access.
4. Back in Howseen, the Bing line shows Connected, your Sites: and Connected via your Bing account.

Tip. Only the account owner can connect Bing. If the button is missing, greyed out or does nothing, use the API key method below: it gives the same result.

Plan B

How do you connect with an API key instead?

Create an API key in Bing Webmaster Tools, under Settings then API Access, and paste it in Howseen. Howseen checks the key and your verified site before saving.

1. In Bing Webmaster Tools, click Settings at the top right, then API Access.
2. The first time, read and accept the terms, then click API Key and Generate API Key. Copy the key.
3. In Howseen, on the Bing line, open Have an API key instead? Paste it here. If the key field is already visible, skip this step.
4. Paste it in Bing Webmaster API key and click Save key. The line shows Connected via API key.

Microsoft notes that only one API key can be generated per user (Microsoft Learn, Bing Webmaster API: getting access). If Howseen says isn't a verified site in this Bing Webmaster account, verify the site in Bing first, then save the key again.

What you get

What does the Bing connection do?

Each new article URL is submitted to Bing as soon as it is published, then Howseen shows its status. Pages hosted by Howseen go out through IndexNow, with no key.

Bing lets site owners submit URLs directly instead of waiting for a crawl (Bing Webmaster Tools, URL submission). In Content History, each article shows Submitted, then Crawled ✓ once Bing has fetched it, or Error.

“IndexNow is an easy way for websites owners to instantly inform search engines and web crawlers used for information retrieval (“search engines”) about latest content changes on their website.”

Submission tells Bing a page exists. Indexing stays Bing's decision, so keep your pages useful and readable (lesson 3.1).