Why You Should Care About Submitting Your Sitemap to Bing
When we talk about SEO, Google tends to hog the spotlight—not surprising, given its market share. But here’s the thing: Bing isn’t dead. Far from it. It powers search across Microsoft platforms, including Cortana, Edge, Outlook, and even Yahoo. And with the rise of AI chat interfaces like Bing Chat and copilot integrations in Windows 11, neglecting Bing in your SEO strategy means leaving traffic on the table.
Submitting your sitemap to Bing is one of the fastest, easiest ways to ensure your site gets indexed properly. Still haven’t done it? Let’s fix that right now.
What Is a Sitemap and Why Does Bing Want It?
A sitemap is basically a roadmap of your website. It lists all your key URLs and provides metadata about each one (like when they were last updated or how often they change). Think of it as handing a search engine a cheat sheet to understand your site’s structure.
Bing’s bots can technically crawl your site without a sitemap, but by submitting one, you’re controlling the conversation. You’re saying, « Hey Bing, here are the pages I care about. Start here. »
For large websites, dynamic sites, or content that doesn’t always get linked internally (like orphaned product pages), a sitemap is non-negotiable. And for smaller websites, it’s a smart move to get indexed faster and avoid being overlooked.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Submit Your Sitemap to Bing
I promised we’d go straight to the point. Here’s the process, nothing more and nothing less.
Step 1: Create a Sitemap (If You Haven’t Already)
If you’re using WordPress with SEO plugins like Yoast, All in One SEO, or Rank Math, you probably already have a sitemap. You can usually find it at:
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
If not, you can generate one using tools like:
- XML-Sitemaps.com
- Screaming Frog (for bigger sites)
- Sitebulb or other crawling tools
Pro Tip: Always double-check that your sitemap is reachable and doesn’t return a 404.
Step 2: Sign In to Bing Webmaster Tools
Head over to Bing Webmaster Tools.
If you don’t have an account, you can sign in with a Microsoft, Google, or Facebook login (yep, they’ve made life easier).
Step 3: Add Your Website
In the dashboard, click on “Add a Site.” You have two options:
- Manually: Enter your website URL and verify it via one of the provided methods (HTML file upload, DNS, or meta tag).
- Import from Google Search Console: If you’ve already added and verified your site with Google, this can save you time.
Personally, I always recommend the Import feature. It’s painless and effective.
Step 4: Submit Your Sitemap
Once your site is verified on Bing, go to the dashboard, select your website, and click on the “Sitemaps” section from the left sidebar.
Click on “Submit sitemap” and paste the full URL of your sitemap:
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
Click “Submit”—and you’re done. Bing will begin fetching and crawling the sitemap almost immediately.
What Happens After Submitting the Sitemap?
This part’s often overlooked. Too many SEO newbies submit the sitemap and then… forget about it. That’s like sending out job applications and not checking your email for responses.
Here’s what to monitor post-submission:
- Index Coverage: Check how many URLs have been crawled vs. submitted. Red flags? Look for crawl errors or blocked pages.
- Performance: Bing Webmaster Tools has a decent search performance report—track impressions, clicks, and average ranking.
- Crawl Issues: Pay attention to 404 errors, redirect chains, or inaccessible content.
Hot tip: Schedule your sitemap to ping Bing regularly. You can automate this via cron jobs or plugins—or just resubmit it manually every time you push significant content updates.
Make the Most of Bing’s Features
While you’re inside Bing Webmaster Tools, don’t just drop your sitemap and bail. Here’s what else you can optimize:
- URL Inspection Tool: Similar to Google’s version, it lets you check how Bing views a specific page.
- Backlink Data: Surprisingly, Bing often gives backlink insights that Google won’t. Use it as a second opinion for your link profile.
- SEO Reports: Bing provides actionable optimization suggestions—yes, they’re decent and not as generic as expected.
Common Sitemap Submission Issues and Fixes
Even if the process is straightforward, things can go sideways. Here are a few common scenarios I’ve dealt with—and how to resolve them.
- Problem: Sitemap returns a 404.
Fix: Check your robots.txt and server settings. Ensure your sitemap is present and accessible. - Problem: Bing reports “0 URLs discovered.”
Fix: Open the sitemap in your browser. Is it empty? Incorrectly formatted? Or have non-canonical URLs? Run it through a validator (like XML Sitemap Validator online). - Problem: You’re submitting multiple sitemaps for a big site.
Fix: Use a sitemap index (a file that includes links to all your individual sitemaps). It scales better and makes management easier.
Also, don’t forget to keep your sitemap updated. That means dynamically generating it or using plugins that refresh automatically when content is added, deleted, or modified.
Does Submitting a Sitemap to Bing Actually Help SEO?
Yes—and no. Let me break that down.
Submitting a sitemap doesn’t directly improve your rankings. It doesn’t give you a ranking boost per se. But it ensures your pages are actually seen and indexed. And if search engines don’t see your content, it might as well not exist.
In short, think of sitemap submission as an enabling step. It’s about removing friction from the crawling and indexing process. Combine it with quality content and decent technical SEO, and you’re in much better shape than 80% of your competitors.
If You’re Still on the Fence
I’ve worked with startups who got 10-15% of their organic traffic from Bing—without even optimizing for it. In one particular case, we discovered that Bing had ignored half the site due to a missing sitemap and a restrictive robots.txt. Once we fixed both and submitted the sitemap, traffic jumped by 22% over the next six weeks.
Is Bing the be-all-end-all of SEO? No. But skipping Bing is like refusing to collect free money—because you didn’t want to open your wallet.
Submit your sitemap. Monitor Bing Webmaster Tools. Use the data. It takes less than 10 minutes and costs you nothing, but the return can be significant—especially if your competitors aren’t bothering either.
Still wondering if it’s worth that short effort? Let me leave you with this: if Bing represented even a tiny percentage of an untapped audience — wouldn’t you want your content in front of them too?