Bing Webmaster Tools and Bing Places for AI search
By the Pickgap team · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · 3 min read
Bing's index feeds more than Bing: Microsoft Copilot runs on it, and other AI assistants and search engines use Bing as one of their sources. Verifying your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submitting your sitemap, turning on IndexNow and claiming your Bing Places listing takes under an hour and makes sure those systems can find your current details.
Why bother with Bing
Most local businesses ignore Bing because few of their customers use it directly. For AI search that's a mistake:
- Microsoft Copilot answers questions using Bing's index.
- ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers alongside OpenAI's own crawler, and Microsoft is OpenAI's long-standing partner. See does ChatGPT use Bing?
- Other search engines and assistants license Bing results as one of their sources.
If Bing has an old version of your site, or none at all, every system that leans on it is working from bad information. Setting it up properly takes less than an hour.
Step 1: Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools
- Go to Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
- Choose Import from Google Search Console if your site is already verified there. It copies your sites and sitemaps in a few clicks.
- Otherwise, verify with a DNS record, an HTML file or a meta tag.
Step 2: Submit your sitemap
Add your sitemap URL (usually yoursite.com/sitemap.xml) under Sitemaps. Bing will crawl the pages listed there and report errors.
Step 3: Turn on IndexNow
IndexNow is a protocol that lets your site tell participating search engines the moment a page changes, instead of waiting for a crawl. Bing supports it, as do several other engines. Many website platforms and SEO plugins have an IndexNow setting; turn it on. When you update your hours or add a service page, Bing hears about it within minutes.
Step 4: Check what Bing sees
- URL Inspection: confirm your homepage and main service pages are indexed.
- Site Scan: a free crawl that flags broken links, missing titles and other basics.
- Search Performance: the queries you appear for on Bing. It's a useful second opinion next to Google Search Console.
Step 5: Claim Bing Places for Business
Bing Places is Microsoft's version of a business listing, used across Bing Maps and Microsoft's products.
- Search for your business on Bing Places and claim it, or create a new listing.
- If you have a Google Business Profile, use the import from Google option to copy your details.
- Verify by phone, email or mail, depending on what Bing offers you.
- Check that the name, address, phone, hours, categories and website match your Google profile exactly.
Step 6: Allow Bing's crawler
Make sure your robots.txt and firewall don't block Bingbot. If your CDN has a bot-blocking setting, check that verified search crawlers are allowed. See robots.txt for AI crawlers.
A short maintenance routine
- Once a month, glance at Bing Webmaster Tools for crawl errors.
- Whenever you change hours, phone or address, update Bing Places the same day you update Google.
- After a site redesign, resubmit your sitemap in both Google Search Console and Bing.
What to expect
Bing alone won't make ChatGPT or Copilot name you. It removes one reason they might not: missing or stale information. The rest of the work, reviews, listings on the sites AI cites, clear pages, is covered in how to get recommended by ChatGPT.
Questions
- Does Bing Webmaster Tools show ChatGPT traffic?
- No. Bing Webmaster Tools reports Bing search. Visits from ChatGPT show in your website analytics as referrals from chatgpt.com, often tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com.
- Is Bing Places free?
- Yes. Claiming and managing a Bing Places listing is free, like Google Business Profile.