Bing Webmaster Tools: SEO Tools for Websites
What is Bing Webmaster Tools? As the name implies, Bing Webmaster Tools is an SEO tool for the Bing search engine. You could say Bing Webmaster Tools works like Google Search Console, it's just that the search engine used is Bing.
Even though Bing is only used for 2.88% of online searches, that doesn't mean it can be ignored. Targeted optimization for all search engines will certainly have a positive impact on your website.
How to Register and Verify Bing Webmaster Tools
In this section, we will discuss how to use Bing Webmaster Tools. Starting from how to register to how to read reports from this SEO tool.
Before you get started, you will need a Bing account. They offer 3 choices of registration methods: Microsoft account, Google account, or Facebook account.
Register your website with Bing Webmaster Tools
If you have verified your website in Google Search Console, you can import it directly into the Bing Webmaster Tool, so you don't need to re-verify it. But you can also register your website manually in the column provided.
Website Verification
If you add a website manually you need to verify the website first. After adding the website and pressing 'Add', you can start the verification process.
- XML File Verification: Download the BingSiteAuth.xml file and put it in the root directory of the website.
- Meta Tag Verification: Enter the code given by Bing into the main page code (homepage) of your website.
- DNS Verification: Enter your DNS configuration into the DNS directory on your website's control panel page.
After the verification process, you may need to wait 1-2 days for Bing to analyze and provide complete data about the SEO of your website.
How to Use Bing Webmaster Tools
If you've never used Bing Webmaster Tool before, don't fear. The interface in this tool is very simple and easy to digest.
After you have successfully verified the website, you will be able to access all the information related to SEO that you are looking for. Let's discuss the menus found in Bing Webmaster Tool.
Home
The Site Dashboard provides a summary of your website's recent activity on Bing. On this page, you can see the number of clicks, views, Click-Through Rate (CTR), average website position, crawl requests & errors, and the number of indexed pages.
Search Performance
In the search performance menu on Bing Webmaster Tool, you can see details on what keywords are pointing to your website. The graphic shown is the same as the one on the main page, only that here you also get a list of keywords below it.
URL Inspection
You can use this menu to inspect website pages. The inspection results will display two data:
- Indexing status
- SEO problems
Apart from that, you can also request indexing if the inspected page is not registered in the Bing library.
Site Explorer
Site explorer is a menu where you can browse URLs and sub-URLs on your website. As of January 2021, this feature is still in the testing phase (beta).
In the site explorer view, you can see a list of domains and sub-domains, crawl information, a summary of the URL and number of clicks, and several other important statuses.
Sitemaps
In this menu, you can see a summary of the sitemap that is currently in use and upload a new sitemap if there is a structural change on the website. This sitemap will be used by Bing as a 'map' to explore your website. Of course, a sitemap will speed up the process of crawling and indexing your website on Bing.
URL Submission
URL Submission is a menu where you can request Bing crawl bots to crawl one page of the website so that it can be included in the search engine indexing. You can browse 1000 URLs every day.
Using the SEO Optimization Tool in Bing Webmaster Tool
Under the SEO menu which can be found in the Bing Webmaster Tool sidebar, you can find four menus. Let's discuss each menu and its uses.
Backlinks
As the name suggests, you can use this menu to view reports related to backlinks that point to your website. Apart from the number and origin of backlinks, you can also see what anchor text points to your website.
Keyword Research
Apart from providing analytical features, Bing Webmaster Tools also offers keyword research features. This feature is very useful for determining what content you can create next or improve existing content.
SEO Report
The SEO Report menu in Bing Webmaster Tool contains reports about the SEO of your website. Here, you can see your website's SEO problems by type, level of complexity, and which pages are problematic.
Site Scan
Site Scan in Bing Webmaster Tool is a feature that can be used to find common SEO problems on your website. You can set the scan to a single page or an entire website with a limit on the number of pages you want.
Configuration menu in Bing Webmaster Tool
In this menu, you can set crawl controls and Block URLs. Let's discuss further what each of these menus is used for.
Crawl Control
Crawl Control in the Bing Webmaster Tool is a menu that can be used to control when Bing browser robots can explore your website. Here you can set when Bing crawlers enter your website fast and slow. You can choose from several presets provided by Bing or set your preferences.
Block URLs
You can close Bing search engine access to a page or directory on your website. The Block URLs feature on the Bing Webmaster Tool has two options, namely, block completely or block from cache. Apart from that, they also provide export options to assist in conducting website audits.
Tool & Enhancements menu in Bing Webmaster Tool
This menu contains additional tools and features that you can use as additional parameters in managing and optimizing your website.
Robots.txt Tester
In this menu, you can test the robots.txt installed on your website. Apart from that, you can also test a page to see if it is blocked from the Bing index.
Verify Bingbot
The Bing Webmaster Tool verify bingbot feature is useful for finding out whether an IP address belongs to the Bing robot or not. This will be very useful if there are unknown robots who want to browse your website so you can do the blocking.
Microsoft Clarity feature in Bing Webmaster Tool
Microsoft Clarity in Bing Webmasters Tool is a new add-in tool that can be used to view useful data such as recorded visitor sessions on websites, heatmaps, and insights. Even greater, this tool can be used for free. Let's discuss the features.
Session Playback
This feature serves to record several visitor sessions to see what they did while on your website and how they interacted with your website.
Of course, this feature is very useful for seeing which parts of your website are ineffective or receiving less attention from visitors.
Heat Map
The heatmap feature in Bing Webmasters Tool is to show you which parts of your website visitors click the most. The data obtained from the heat map is very useful for increasing CTR and conversion rates on your website.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed in full about Bing Webmaster Tools. Even though Google is indeed the most used search engine, there is nothing wrong with optimizing website SEO for other search engines.
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