The short answer: read Search Performance first to find pages or queries with room for improvement, then use Site Scan to check technical issues that could affect crawling and visibility. Do not fix every warning at once. Each week, choose up to three tasks based on four questions: How many pages does the issue affect? How strong is the evidence? How much effort will the fix require? And how will you check the result?
This article uses the hypothetical website “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công,” which shares advice on growing plants at home. The website has a home page, one category, and three published how-to articles. This is an illustrative example, not a website that was tested in practice; all figures below are hypothetical.
To follow along, you must have already set up Bing Webmaster Tools and know how to inspect a URL. If you need to review the preparation steps, use the shortcode Set Up Bing Webmaster Tools and Submit the Right WordPress Sitemap. This article does not repeat the registration, verification, or sitemap-submission process.
Distinguish missing data, limited data, and declining performance
This is the most important step before deciding what SEO changes to make. A low chart does not automatically mean that the website has a problem.
- No data: the website was recently added, the report has not collected enough data, or the selected date range has no meaningful activity.
- Limited data: the website has a few impressions or clicks, but the sample is too small to establish a stable trend.
- A genuine performance decline: a metric falls when comparable periods are compared, the decline is practically meaningful, and it can be correlated with a specific page, query, or change.
Bing states that Search Performance may not show data immediately after a website is added, and that no data is available from before data collection began. Therefore, check the date when data starts appearing before concluding that the website has lost impressions.
Safety principle: do not draw conclusions from a single day, query, or URL. For a small website such as “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công,” prioritize comparisons covering the same number of days in both periods, and clearly note that the data is limited if total impressions or clicks are very low.
Read Search Performance to find opportunities first
Where to do it: sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools, select the correct verified website, and open the report named Search Performance or an equivalent name in the current interface.
Button names, filter locations, and report groupings may change. Identify the function by its data fields for clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position rather than relying only on the menu location.
Choose a consistent date range and data source
Before examining individual pages, choose a date range long enough to provide data and use the same range for comparisons. If the website is new or has very few impressions, record “insufficient data” rather than extending the conclusion beyond what the evidence supports.
Do not mix data sources if your goal is to evaluate web search results. Depending on the report and account, Search Performance may separate data by source, such as Web, Chat, News, Images, Videos, or Knowledge Panel. Keyword and page tables may apply specifically to Web traffic; check the active filters before interpreting the data.
Understand the four key metrics
| Metric | What does it tell you? | What should you not infer? |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions | The number of times a website link appeared in the reported search areas. | It does not mean that users read the content or that the website held a high position. |
| Clicks | The number of times users clicked a link to the website. | It does not show whether users completed their intended goal on the page. |
| Average CTR | The proportion of impressions that resulted in clicks. | Do not apply one fixed threshold to every query, position, and result type. |
| Average position | The average position of the page when it appears in web results. | It is not a fixed position that every user sees. |
In Search Performance, you can view data by page or keyword, then drill down to see the relationship between a query and the page that appeared. Bing also lets you download data for spreadsheet analysis if that feature is available in your account (according to bing.com).
Identify three noteworthy signals
- Many impressions, few clicks: this may be an opportunity to review search intent, the title, the displayed description, or how well the content matches the query. It is not conclusive evidence that changing the title alone will increase CTR.
- Clicks but a low average position: You need to check whether the page addresses the query appropriately, whether the content is clear enough, and whether any technical issues are limiting its accessibility.
- Impressions and clicks both decline: check the comparison period, individual pages, query groups, and crawling issues before making site-wide content changes.
Hypothetical example: a page with impressions but few clicks
Suppose the report for “Small Balcony Garden” shows that the article How to Grow Herbs on a Balcony has the following illustrative data:
| Time period | Impressions | Clicks | CTR | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous 7 days | 1,000 | 18 | 1.8% | 12.4 |
| Most recent 7 days | 1,100 | 20 | 1.8% | 12.1 |
This is a hypothetical example, not actual website data. A reasonable interpretation is that the article still has the potential to appear in search results, but its average position is not yet high and its CTR does not indicate that many users are choosing the result. There is not enough evidence to conclude that the title alone is responsible.
Open the list of queries associated with the page and ask:
- Do the queries match the topic “growing herbs on a balcony”?
- Are searchers looking for step-by-step instructions, advice on choosing herbs, solutions for limited sunlight, or somewhere to buy supplies?
- Does the current title accurately describe the article’s benefit and scope?
- Does the introduction answer the main question quickly?
- Does the page have relevant internal links from a category page or related articles?
If you decide to revise the title or introduction, make the change in the WordPress post editor. Record the previous version and the date of the change before clicking Update. Then open the public URL to verify that the new title and content are displayed correctly. You do not need to change the slug just because you changed the title. Changing the URL is a separate decision that can require redirects and create a risk of losing signals; consider it only when there is a clear reason and a complete implementation plan.
Use Site Scan to add technical evidence
Search Performance shows how your site appears in search results; Site Scan is an on-demand technical auditing tool that can check for common website issues. The two reports address different questions: “How are users responding to the site’s search results?” and “What technical issues on the website need review?”
Where to do it: open Site Scan in Bing Webmaster Tools and select the option to start a new scan, or its equivalent in the current interface.
Choose a small, safe scan scope
For a sample website with only a few pages, you can start with a small scope suited to your objective:
- Website or directory: use this when you want to review part of the website structure and allow the tool to follow links within that scope.
- Sitemap: use this when you want to check the URLs listed in a sitemap without expanding to every link on the site.
- URL list: use this when you want to check only a defined group of URLs.
Set a page limit appropriate to the scope you need to check. Do not begin with a full-site scan if your question concerns only three articles. Bing states that Site Scan has a page limit based on the site’s quota; the tool also includes settings such as crawl depth and crawl rate, so keep the scope small while you are learning or when you do not yet understand the website structure (according to bing.com).
Completion check: the report should show the scope, scan time, and the URLs or URL groups that were checked. If the scope is incorrect, stop there and create a new scan with a smaller scope; do not use the total number of issues from an incorrectly scoped scan to decide on site-wide changes.
Interpret issue severity
Reports typically group issues by severity, such as errors, warnings, and notices. Use these levels to organize your review, not as an instruction to fix every item immediately.
| Result | Initial action |
|---|---|
| Error affecting crawling or indexing | Check the affected URLs, identify the cause, and prioritize the issue if the URLs are important. |
| Warning affecting multiple pages | Review a sample of several URLs first; make site-wide changes only after confirming that they share the same cause. |
| Notice or recommendation | Record it for later review after higher-impact issues have been addressed. |
If the report flags robots.txt, noindex, server response codes, redirects or canonical issues, compare them with the specific URL and the page’s purpose. Do not change important configuration merely because an alert is not yet understood. When the issue concerns the indexing of a specific URL, use the shortcode Why Your Website Isn’t Appearing on Bing: Diagnose the URL to review the URL inspection process.
Create a priority table to choose the right three tasks
You can use the following table in Google Sheets, Excel or a WordPress note. Complex scoring is unnecessary; the goal is to make you state the evidence and effort clearly.
| Task to review | Impact | Confidence | Effort | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fix an issue that prevents an important URL from being crawled | High | High if the URL and issue have been identified | Low–medium | Prioritize soon |
| Revise the title of a page with many impressions but few clicks | Medium–high | Medium | Low | Usually a good fit for the top three tasks |
| Fix a notice that does not affect an important URL | Low or unclear | Low–medium | Medium | Defer |
Practical rules:
- Prioritize issues that could prevent users or Bing from accessing an important page.
- If there are no critical errors, choose a page with many impressions but a remaining opportunity to increase clicks.
- Choose one low-effort task that can produce a clear change, but do not treat it as a guarantee of improved rankings.
- Do not choose more than three tasks in one cycle if you do not yet have a process for measuring and reviewing the results.
For example, for the “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công” website, three reasonable tasks for one week might be:
- Review a post with many impressions but a low CTR; reassess the search intent, title and opening section.
- Review important URLs that Site Scan has flagged with errors that could affect crawlability.
- Check the internal links between the homepage, categories and the three how-to articles so readers have a clear path through the site.
This is an illustrative plan, not a conclusion that the example website has these issues.
Set up a weekly review schedule
| Session | Task | Result to record |
|---|---|---|
| Session 1 | Review Search Performance for the same date range; record the page, query, impressions, clicks, CTR and position where available. | The pre-change data table. |
| Session 2 | Choose one issue; inspect the URL or run Site Scan over a small scope. | Evidence, affected URLs and the suspected cause. |
| Session 3 | Implement up to three selected changes; record the date, person responsible and details of each change. | The change log. |
| Session 4 | Review the results using the same type of report and a comparable date range. | The post-change results and the decision to keep, adjust or revert the change. |
In the log, also record what did not change. If CTR does not improve, that does not necessarily prove the change failed; the data may be insufficient, the monitoring period may be unsuitable, or the issue may lie in search intent and average position. Conversely, if a metric increases, you should not conclude that a single change caused the entire result if you also changed several other factors during the same period.
If a title or content change causes a clear display problem, return to the WordPress editor, restore the version recorded in the log, and update it. Then open the public URL to confirm that the page is working normally. Do not revert changes or change URLs in bulk merely because of a small fluctuation in the report.
Exercise: Create a priority table from hypothetical data
Create four columns: signal, evidence, proposed action and how to verify it. Fill in at least three rows using the “Small Balcony Garden” example. For instance, the row “1,100 impressions, 20 clicks, 1.8% CTR” might lead you to review the search intent and title; verify the change by comparing the same page, the same query group, and a comparable time period afterward. Clearly label this as hypothetical data, not the result of a real website.
Successful outcome: you have up to three tasks, each with a URL or URL group, supporting evidence, an assignee, a change date, and verification criteria. If there is not enough data, the correct outcome is to mark the item “monitor further” rather than forcing a conclusion.
Seven-day practice plan
- Day 1: confirm that you have selected the correct website and time period, and that the report contains data.
- Day 2: export or record the pages with notable impressions and clicks.
- Day 3: choose a page with many impressions but few clicks, then review the queries associated with that page.
- Day 4: run Site Scan on a small scope, such as a sitemap or a list of important URLs.
- Day 5: create a prioritization table, select only three tasks, and record the supporting evidence.
- Day 6: make safe changes; do not change a URL without a valid reason and an appropriate redirect plan.
- Day 7: save the change log, identify the metrics to review, and schedule a comparison using the same conditions.
Completion checklist
- You selected the correct website and time period.
- You know whether the report contains enough data for a conclusion or is still data-deficient.
- You distinguished impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position.
- You reviewed both pages and queries when necessary.
- You did not draw a conclusion from a single day or an overly small sample.
- You used Site Scan as supporting evidence rather than mechanically fixing every warning.
- You recorded the URL, the hypothesized cause, the required effort, and how to verify the change.
- You selected no more than three priority tasks for the current cycle.
- You did not change the slug merely because you edited the title.
- You set a review date and comparable conditions for the comparison.
To expand the process, you can also explore an SEO process for beginners to connect report data with improvements to content and user experience. The next step is not to search for as many additional errors as possible, but to maintain a short feedback loop: read the data → choose an issue → record the change → verify it.
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