ChatGPT Search runs on Bing's index, not Google's. Most sites optimize for Bing without realizing it matters.
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's free equivalent of Google Search Console: site verification, sitemap submission, and search performance reporting for Bing. It is worth setting up even for sites whose traffic is overwhelmingly Google, because Bing's index quietly powers more of the search landscape than its market share alone suggests.
3 free articles · No fabricated stats · Cancel anytime
Bing is usually treated as an afterthought by site owners focused on Google, and for direct search traffic alone, that is not an unreasonable read of the numbers. What changes the calculation: Bing's index does not only power Bing.com. ChatGPT Search uses Bing's index for its live web results, and both Yahoo and DuckDuckGo rely substantially on Bing's infrastructure. Being well-indexed in Bing has a direct effect on visibility in places that are not labeled "Bing" at all.
Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's free platform for managing that visibility: site verification, sitemap submission, indexing status, and its own performance reports, along with a free keyword research tool and backlink report that some sites find more useful than paid third-party alternatives.
Why Bing matters beyond Bing.com
The clearest practical reason to care about Bing indexing: ChatGPT Search, one of the fastest-growing AI search surfaces, is built on Bing's index for its real-time web results. A page that is well-indexed in Google but poorly indexed or entirely absent from Bing may be invisible to a meaningful share of ChatGPT Search users, a gap most sites never notice because they only check Google.
Setting it up
Setup follows the same basic pattern as Google Search Console: verify ownership of the site (via a meta tag, DNS record, or file upload), then submit a sitemap so Bing's crawlers can discover your pages efficiently. Bing also offers an "Import from Google Search Console" option that can auto-verify a site already verified in GSC, which removes a manual step for sites that already have Google set up.
The reports worth checking
Bing Webmaster Tools includes a Performance / Search Performance report similar to GSC's, an SEO Reports feature that flags on-page issues automatically, a backlinks report, and a free keyword research tool that shows Bing-specific search volume data, useful context since Bing's user base skews slightly differently than Google's.
IndexNow: submitting instantly instead of waiting to be crawled
IndexNow is a protocol, originally introduced by Microsoft and Yandex, that lets a site push a notification the instant a page is published or updated, rather than waiting for a search engine's crawler to discover the change on its own schedule. Bing, Yandex, and a growing list of other engines participate in IndexNow, which means a single push can speed up discovery across several search engines at once, not just Bing.
In the product
How InkSTR handles Bing and IndexNow automatically
This is one of the more overlooked technical steps in most content workflows, and InkSTR runs it without requiring a separate Bing account.
- InkSTR maintains a single agency-level Bing Webmaster account. Adding hello@inkstr.co as an Owner in your Google Search Console property lets InkSTR verify your site with Bing automatically, no separate Bing signup or manual verification required on your end.
- Once connected, your sitemap is submitted to Bing on a schedule through Bing's SubmitFeed API.
- Every new article is pushed to IndexNow the moment it publishes, which also covers DuckDuckGo, Yandex, and other IndexNow-participating engines in the same submission.
Go deeper
Related reading
This page is the overview. These posts go deep on one specific part of it.
ChatGPT Search vs Google SEO: Do You Need a Different Strategy?
Why ChatGPT Search runs on Bing, and what that means for a Google-first content strategy.
Read on the blogTechnical SEO Fundamentals: What You Need to Know
The crawlability basics that apply to Bing just as much as Google.
Read on the blogGet more guides like this
New SEO and AI-search guides, straight to your inbox. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Frequently asked questions
Also in this guide
Related concepts worth understanding alongside this one.
Google Search Console
Google's free tool for seeing exactly how your site performs in search. Every site owner should have it connected.
ExploreSEO
What search engine optimization actually means in 2026, and why it is still the foundation everything else builds on.
ExploreKeyword Research
How to find the queries your buyers actually search, and why volume alone is the wrong number to chase.
Explore
See this run automatically on your own site.
Point InkSTR at your site and get a real content strategy in minutes. Your first 3 articles are free.
3 free articles · No fabricated stats · Cancel anytime