Set Up, Verify, and Optimize Bing Webmaster Tools on a WordPress Site

Before you start

A Google or Microsoft account with access to Bing Webmaster Tools matching a Google Search Console property

Key steps 24 steps

1. 1 Open the website in your browser, e.g. https://llmdecode.com.
2. 2 Observe the final URL (protocol and host). See which one automatically redirects to another. The one you end up on is your canonical URL (the preferred version).
3. 3 Right-click anywhere → click "View page source".
4. 4 Press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac), then search for: <link rel="canonical".>
5. 5 Open https://llmdecode.com/wp-sitemap.xml.
6. 6 If 404, open https://llmdecode.com/sitemap_index.xml.
7. 7 Open https://llmdecode.com/robots.txt.
8. 8 Visit Bing and sign in with your Google account.
9. 9 Click "Import" and "Continue".
10. 10 Authorize Google Search Console access with the correct Google account.
11. 11 Select the GSC property matching the canonical URL and click "Import". Click "Done" to proceed. This takes 48 hours to reflect.
12. 12 Come back 48 hours later to verify if your domain has been "Verified".
13. 13 Meanwhile, to speed up the indexing process, you may begin to submit your sitemap by using the "Sitemaps" feature.
14. 14 Click "Sitemaps" in the left navigation, then "Submit sitemap".
15. 15 Paste the full sitemap URL in the "Enter sitemap" field. Click "Submit".
16. 16 Confirm sitemap status shows "Success" or "Pending". If you see an error, check the URL and resubmit. Reports may take up to 24 hours to populate, so it’s normal if discovered URLs display later.
17. 17 Open "URL Inspection" and paste your full homepage URL. Run the inspection to see Bing’s last crawl, index status, and any detected issues such as blocked resources. You should see “Crawled successfully” or similar, along with the latest crawl date.
18. 18 Open "Site Scan" and click "Start new scan".
19. 19 Enter scan name, scope, homepage URL and submit 3-5 page URLs. Tick the box under "Communication" to receive email notifications for crawl errors and site issues. Click "Start Scan".
20. 20 Under "Configuration", open "Crawl Control" and set time preferences. Here, ensure "System default" and "Default" are selected. Click "Save changes".
21. 21 Under "Tools & Enhancements", open "Robots.txt Tester" and test a key URL as "Bingbot". Click "Test" and you should see the result with no blocking directive.
22. 22 Open "Sitemaps" and confirm Discovered URLs > 0 and no errors.
23. 23 Open "URL Inspection" and inspect 1–2 key URLs to confirm "Crawled" or "Indexed".
24. 24 Open "Search Performance" and confirm that data has started populating.

What is inside 29 headings

The document DOC

Related resources