Bing Webmaster Tools and Bing Places: the Microsoft setup most local businesses skip

The short answer: a short setup, and a second view of AI search

Most small businesses set up Google Search Console and a Google Business Profile, then stop. Microsoft's equivalents, Bing Webmaster Tools and Bing Places for Business, usually get skipped because Bing feels like a small slice of search.

That's worth rethinking, because Bing's index now does more than rank links. Microsoft's webmaster guidelines describe how Bing finds and surfaces content "across Bing search experiences, Copilot, and grounding API results", and say Bing and Copilot "rely on the same core crawling, indexing, and ranking foundation as traditional search." If Bing can't find or trust your pages, Copilot has less to work with when someone asks it about your kind of service.

Both tools are free, both can copy most of their setup from the Google accounts you already have, and Bing Webmaster Tools now includes a report showing when Microsoft's AI answers cite your pages. For a local service business, that's a lot of value for a short setup. It won't guarantee you appear anywhere, and nothing here should replace the work of having clear, useful service pages.

What Bing Webmaster Tools gives you

Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's version of Search Console. It shows how your site performs in Bing search, lets you inspect individual URLs, submit sitemaps and review backlinks, and runs SEO reports. Microsoft's getting started checklist says those reports run automatically on verified sites "every alternate week".

The newer part is AI Performance, which Microsoft introduced in February 2026. It shows how your content appears "across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations": how many times your pages were cited, which pages, the phrases the AI used when it went looking, and how that changes over time. Microsoft added intent and topic groupings, a Citation Share measure and a period comparison in June 2026, and a Topics Portfolio view in October 2026.

Google gives you a similar view of its own AI features in Search Console. Bing's report is the Microsoft half of the picture: Microsoft's own record of when Copilot cites you.

Set up Bing Webmaster Tools by importing from Search Console

If your site is already verified in Google Search Console, the quickest route is Bing's import. Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools, choose Import on the My Sites page, sign in with the Google account that has Search Console access, and pick the site. Microsoft says imported sites are "automatically verified", and your sitemaps come across too. It can take up to 48 hours before data appears.

Two details are worth knowing. Bing keeps checking ownership through that Google connection, so if the Search Console access is later removed, you'll need to verify again using a DNS record, meta tag or XML file instead. And any new sitemap Bing finds in your Search Console account is imported automatically, so there's nothing extra to maintain.

Sign in with an account your business controls, not a freelancer's or agency's personal login. You can sign up with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account, and the same ownership rules apply as for any other marketing account: the business owns it, and anyone helping you gets their own access.

Keep readingSet up Google Search Console first

Claim your Bing Places listing as well

Bing Places for Business is Microsoft's version of a Google Business Profile, and it's available in Australia. Microsoft describes it as a free service for claiming or adding the listing shown for your business in local Bing results. Its February 2026 AI Performance announcement also points local businesses to Bing Places to keep key details such as address, hours and contact information "current and eligible for inclusion in AI-generated responses."

If you already have a verified Google Business Profile, you can import it. In Bing Places, choose Import from your Google Business Profile, pick how often to sync (weekly, every two weeks or monthly), and sign in to Google. Bing says an imported listing that's already verified on Google is verified automatically, then publishing "typically takes 7-12 days".

Read the fine print before you sync. Microsoft warns that syncing "may create duplicate listings" if Bing already has a listing for you, and that some fields, including categories, may not sync exactly. Once a listing is linked to Google, you can't edit it directly in Bing Places: you update Google, then let it sync. If you travel to customers, Bing lets service businesses hide their street address and show just the city and postcode, although you still need a valid address for verification.

Keep readingGet your Google Business Profile right before you sync it

Turn on IndexNow so Bing hears about changes quickly

IndexNow is an open protocol that lets your website tell participating search engines when a page is added, updated or removed, rather than waiting to be recrawled. Bing's guidelines recommend it, saying timely notifications help Bing "reduce outdated or incorrect URL references in Copilot responses and grounding results." That matters when you change prices, hours or the services you offer.

You probably don't need a developer. IndexNow.org lists platforms including WordPress, Shopify, Wix, GoDaddy, Joomla and Drupal as supporting it natively or through plugins, and says Cloudflare offers it too, so check your website platform's settings or plugins first. A manual setup uses a small key file on your site and a request each time a page changes.

Keep expectations realistic. IndexNow.org says "Submitting a URL does not guarantee immediate indexing", and its list of participating endpoints covers Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam, Yep and Amazon, not Google. Keep your sitemap and Search Console for Google, and treat IndexNow as the Bing side of the same job.

Read the AI Performance report without overreading it

Start with the cited pages. If Copilot cites your hot water service page and never your contact or pricing page, that tells you which pages it finds useful. Look at the grounding queries too, which are the phrases the AI used to retrieve your content. Microsoft notes they're a sample of overall citation activity, not a complete list.

Then remember what the numbers aren't. A citation isn't a visit, an enquiry or a ranking. Microsoft says Citation Share is "designed as an observational metric", not a ranking system or a scoreboard, and that it "does not expose competitor domains". Its new Topics Portfolio is labelled beta, and Microsoft says smaller sites "may see a shorter list or may not even see this feature." Treat it as Microsoft does: "directional signals for planning, not as a precise ledger."

If you see few citations or none, that's a baseline, not a verdict. Some views only appear once there's enough data, so a small site may have little to show at first. Note the figures, keep the same date range each month and look for direction over a few months.

Keep readingCheck whether other AI tools mention your business

Check you're not hiding from Bing and Copilot by accident

Some website settings quietly limit what Bing and Copilot can use. Bing's guidelines list blocking Bingbot in robots.txt as something to avoid, and spell out what several page-level directives do. It's worth asking whoever manages your site to confirm none of these is switched on for pages you want customers to find:

• NOINDEX keeps a page out of Bing search, Copilot experiences and grounding results altogether.
• NOARCHIVE "prevents content from being used in Copilot responses and grounding results."
• NOCACHE "limits Copilot to using only the URL, title, and snippet", which reduces how much of the page it can draw on.
• NOSNIPPET or data-nosnippet stops Bing showing captions and "may limit Copilot citation quality".
• A robots.txt rule that blocks Bingbot stops Bing crawling the pages it covers.

Keep readingDecide which AI bots to allow on your site

A worked example: one afternoon for a local plumber

This is a hypothetical example. A two-van plumbing business in Ballarat already has Search Console and a verified Google Business Profile, set up in the owner's business Google account. The owner has never logged in to anything from Microsoft.

In one afternoon they open a Bing Webmaster Tools account with the same business Google login, import the site from Search Console, and confirm the sitemap came across. In Bing Places they search for the business first, find no existing listing, then import from Google with a monthly sync and hide the street address because the business works from home. Their website platform has an IndexNow option in its SEO settings, so they switch it on.

A month later they check both tools. Bing shows a modest number of search clicks, the Bing Places listing has published, and the AI Performance report shows a few citations of the blocked drains page and none for the gas fitting page. That doesn't prove anything about enquiries. It does tell them which page to improve next, and gives them a starting point to compare against.

Add Bing to your monthly search check

Once it's set up, Bing needs only a few minutes a month. Fold it into the check you already do for Google rather than creating a new routine:

• In Bing Webmaster Tools, read any messages and check your important pages are still indexed.
• In AI Performance, note total citations and which pages were cited, using the same date range as last month.
• Glance at the grounding queries for questions your service pages don't answer well yet.
• Check your Bing Places listing still matches your Google Business Profile, and fix the Google side if it doesn't.
• Review who has access to both tools, and remove anyone who no longer works on your marketing.