Bing Webmaster Tools: the search engine you should also keep in mind

Google has long dominated the search engine scene - after all, it's the name that comes to mind when you think of doing any kind of Internet search. 

However, there’s another player in this field - Bing, the search engine developed by Microsoft. While it may not have the same market share as Google, Bing has gained ground over the years and offers website owners an opportunity to increase their online visibility.

But whether you're looking for new traffic opportunities, want to improve your SEO strategy or just want to better understand how Bing sees and crawls your website, we'll walk you through the key concepts and provide valuable information to optimize your site in Bing Webmaster Tools. 

What is Bing Webmaster Tools?

Bing Webmaster Tools is a platform provided by Microsoft Bing, which is an online search engine. This tool is designed to help website owners and administrators understand how their sites are indexed and appear in Bing search results.

In essence, Bing Webmaster Tools provides information and statistics on how Bing  crawls and indexes your website. It provides the following data for developers to improve and/or understand how they are ranking on Microsoft's search engine:

• Keywords driving traffic to your site.

• How often Bing crawls your pages.

• The overall health of your site in terms of indexing problems.

• Broken links.

• Information on how to improve your site's visibility in Bing search results.

Users can use Bing Webmaster Tools to submit and verify their sitemaps; detect indexing problems; identify opportunities for SEO improvement, better known as search engine optimization; and get information about how other users interact with their website through Bing. 

What features does Bing Webmaster tools offer?

It offers a variety of features and tools designed to help website owners improve their visibility on the Bing search engine. Some of the key features include:

• Crawling and indexing control: allows users to see how Bing crawls and indexes their website. You can check the number of pages indexed, identify crawling problems, and monitor how often Bing visits your site.

• Submit and verify sitemaps: You can submit a sitemap of your website to help Bing understand its structure and content. You can also verify the authenticity of your website to gain access to more detailed information.

• Performance data: provides information on how users find your site through Bing. This includes data on keywords that generate traffic, average position in search results, and number of clicks and impressions.

• Link reports: it provides details about inbound links to your site. This lets you know who links to your site and which pages are linked to the most.

• SEO diagnostics and tools: identifies SEO problems on your website, such as broken links, duplicate content issues and markup errors. It also offers suggestions for improving your site's optimization.

• Notifications and alerts: informs you about critical issues, updates and important events related to your website on Bing.

• Geographic targeting: allows you to set up geographic targeting for your site, which is useful if you want to target your content to specific audiences in different regions.

• Device and platform information: provides information on how users access your site from different devices and platforms, which can help in optimizing the user experience.

• Link disavow tools: allows website owners to disavow low-quality or spammy links that may negatively affect their site's ranking on Bing.

• Crawl control tools: allows you to control Bing's crawl speed on your website to avoid overloading your server.

Why should you use Bing Webmaster Tools?

Using this tool offers several benefits and reasons for website owners, even if most of your focus is on other search engines like Google. Here are some reasons why you should consider using Bing Webmaster Tools:

• Bing reach: although Google is the most popular search engine, Bing still has a significant market share. By using Bing Webmaster Tools, you can optimize your site for Bing and increase your visibility on this search engine, which could potentially attract additional traffic.

• Traffic diversification: depending on your niche or industry, Bing could be an important source of traffic. By diversifying your traffic sources, you can reduce dependence on a single search engine and mitigate risks in case of changes in search algorithms.

• SEO Tools: Bing Webmaster Tools offers tools that can help you improve your site's SEO. You can identify crawl problems, optimize your content and receive recommendations to increase visibility in search results.

• Keyword information: You will get information about the keywords that generate traffic from Bing to your site. This allows you to adjust your content and SEO strategy to take advantage of the keywords that are working.

• Visibility in the Microsoft ecosystem: Bing is not only a search engine, but is also integrated into Microsoft products such as Windows and Microsoft Edge. Optimizing your site for Bing can increase visibility in this ecosystem.

• Geographic targeting: if your business has a regional or local focus, Bing Webmaster Tools allows you to set up geographic targeting so that your site appears in location-specific searches.

• Diagnostics and troubleshooting: The tool helps you identify issues on your site that may be affecting its performance on Bing. This includes crawl problems, broken links, duplicate content, among others.

• Crawl control: you can control Bing's crawl speed on your site to avoid overloading your server.

• Notifications and alerts: you will receive notifications about critical issues and updates related to your Bing site.

• Inbound link analysis: you can find out which sites link to your website, which can be useful to evaluate your link profile and improve your backlink strategy.

How to set up Bing Webmaster Tools?

Just as you may be familiar with setting up your site on Google, you need to do the same with the Bing search engine. While in theory it's the same procedure, it's worth clarifying that you need to do this and there are a number of steps to follow:

1. Log in to Bing Webmaster Tools

Visit the official Bing Webmaster Tool website: https://www.bing.com/webmasters, and log in with your Microsoft account. If you do not have an account, you can create one for free.

2. Add and verify your site

After logging in, click on Add website and provide the URL of the website you own that you want to add. Note that if you have several, you will need to go through the process several times. 

Next, you must verify that you are the owner or administrator of the site. There are several verification options available, such as adding a meta tag to your site, uploading an XML file to your server, or using your Google Analytics account. Choose the method you prefer and follow the instructions.

3. Submit your sitemap

Once you have verified your site, you can submit a sitemap to help Bing understand the structure of your website. This facilitates the indexing process and you can provide the URL of your sitemap in the appropriate section of the tool.

4. Explore the features

Once you have verified and linked your site, explore the different sections of Bing Webmaster Tools to take full advantage of its features. This includes different options:

• Viewing performance data.

• Inbound links.

• Crawl issues.

5. Set up notifications

One of the best options is the alert setting. You can make sure you set up notifications to receive alerts about important issues, updates and events related to your website on Bing.

6. Use SEO tools

Exploit SEO and diagnostic tools to identify issues on your site and to receive recommendations for improvement. This can include detecting broken links, duplicate content issues and more.

7. Monitor performance

One thing you should consider is checking performance data to understand how users are finding your site through Bing. This includes information on keywords, impressions and clicks.

8. Adjust geographic targeting

If your site is targeting a specific audience in a specific region, you can adjust the geographic targeting in the tool to improve your website's performance.

What should you keep in mind when using Bing Webmaster tools?

When using this tool offered by Microsoft, there are some key considerations to keep in mind to get the most out of the tool and optimize your site's presence on the Bing search engine:

• Frequency of use: it’s not enough to set up the tool once and then forget about it. You should review and update your account regularly to be aware of any new issues and take advantage of opportunities for improvement.

• Performance monitoring: Pay attention to performance data such as impressions, clicks and keywords. This will help you understand how users interact with your site through Bing and adjust your strategy accordingly.

• Content optimization: Use keyword information to optimize your content. Create relevant, quality content that resonates with users' search queries.

• Troubleshooting: Use diagnostic tools to resolve crawl issues, broken links, duplicate content and other issues that may affect your site's performance on Bing.

• SEO and best practices: Follow the SEO recommendations provided by Bing Webmaster Tools. Be sure to maintain good search engine optimization practices and avoid black hat tactics that may penalize your site.

• Notifications and alerts: keep an eye on the notifications and alerts that the tool sends you. This will allow you to address critical issues in a timely manner and stay on top of important updates.

• Testing on different devices: make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices and different browsers, as this can influence how it appears in Bing search results.

• Tool evolution: keep in mind that Bing Webmaster Tools features and functions may change over time due to updates. Stay informed about what's new and adapt your strategy accordingly.

• Benchmarking: Take advantage of the option to compare your Bing performance with other search engines. This will help you understand the differences in visibility and traffic.

• Security and privacy: Make sure to protect your account and site data. Keep your login credentials secure and follow proper privacy practices.

However, the most important recommendation to keep in mind is the marketplace Bing has. Yes, we have highlighted its strengths, which to tell the truth, are quite a few. You should keep in mind that it has little market share at present, since Google dominates in that sector.

Is this an impediment for you to use and optimize your website for Bing? No, but in the end the decision is up to you, so tell us, do you plan to do so? We will be reading you in the comments.