Set Up Bing Webmaster Tools and Submit a WordPress Sitemap

The practical goal of this article is to complete three tasks: add the website to Bing Webmaster Tools, verify ownership, and submit the correct sitemap URL. You need an account you can sign in to, WordPress administrator access or DNS-management access depending on the verification method. Submitting a sitemap does not guarantee that Bing will crawl or index every URL, or that rankings will improve.

The example uses a hypothetical WordPress website called “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công” at https://example.com/. This website is an example only and has not been tested in practice. When performing the steps on a real website, replace it with your own domain and sitemap; do not submit the example.com URL.

Prepare Before Opening Bing Webmaster Tools

An account that can sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
WordPress administrator access if you choose a method that requires adding a meta tag or uploading a verification file.
DNS-management access for the domain if you choose verification by DNS record.
The correct website URL, including the https:// protocol if the website uses HTTPS, and the correct domain variant, such as with or without www.
The ability to open the sitemap publicly in a browser without signing in.

You do not need to install an SEO plugin just to follow this article. If the website already has WordPress or a plugin generating a sitemap, identify the current sitemap first; do not change important SEO settings before you know the cause of the problem.

What Bing Webmaster Tools Does—and Does Not Guarantee

Bing Webmaster Tools allows website owners to add their websites, provide sitemaps, monitor some crawling information, and view related reports. A sitemap may be an XML sitemap, sitemap index, RSS feed, Atom feed, or a text file containing one URL per line, provided it meets a format supported by Bing (according to Bing Webmaster Tools: https://www2.bing.com/webmasters/help/sitemaps-3b5cf6ed).

Distinguish between the following statuses:

Submitted: you entered the sitemap URL into the account.
Received or processing: the system has received the request or is reading the sitemap.
URLs discovered: Bing knows about some of the URLs listed in the sitemap.
Indexed: Bing has decided to include a URL in its search index.

Therefore, a notice that a sitemap has been received does not mean that every URL in it has been indexed. This article focuses only on setup and sitemap submission; diagnosing a specific URL is a subsequent step.

Add the Website and Choose a Verification Method

Import from Google Search Console or Add the Website Manually?

After signing in, you can usually choose one of two approaches. Button names and interface locations may change; look for a function equivalent to adding and verifying a website.

Option	Suitable when	What to check
Import from Google Search Console	The website has already been verified in Google Search Console and you want to reduce manual data entry.	You need to sign in to the correct account and check the website and sitemap again after importing.
Add the website manually	You have not used Google Search Console, do not want to link the accounts, or want to control each step.	You must enter the URL yourself and complete an ownership-verification method.

Importing from Google Search Console may transfer existing website or sitemap information to Bing, but you should not assume that all imported data is accurate; check it again after importing (according to Bing Webmaster Tools: https://www2.bing.com/webmasters/help/add-and-verify-site-12184f8b).

The main procedure below uses the add the website manually because this does not depend on whether you have already used Google Search Console.

Where to do it: open Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in with an account you control.
Find the function for adding a website. It may have an equivalent English label such as Add a site or Add and verify site.
Enter the full URL, for example https://tenmiencuaban.com/. This is a sample value; replace it with the actual URL and preserve the correct protocol, domain name, and subdirectory, if applicable.
Proceed to the ownership verification screen.

Required result: the website appears in the account and Bing displays verification options. If the URL is incorrect, stop and correct it before proceeding. Do not add the http, https, www and www variants at the same time unless they are websites you actually manage.

Verify website ownership

Verification proves that you have the right to manage the website or domain. Bing may offer different methods depending on your account, website, and DNS provider. Prioritize a method for which you can maintain control later.

DNS method: suitable when you manage the domain

Where to do it: on Bing's verification screen, select the DNS method that Bing displays.
If automatic verification is available, sign in to your DNS provider as instructed on screen.
If manual setup is required, open the DNS management page for the correct domain.
Create the exact record type, host name, and value provided by Bing. Do not substitute values from an example or add characters yourself unless Bing requires them.
Save the DNS changes, return to Bing Webmaster Tools, and select the equivalent check or verify button.

Expected result: Bing marks the website as verified. If verification fails, recheck the record type, host name, value, and the DNS provider you used; do not create multiple identical records before determining what was wrong with the original record. If the record has not yet been detected, wait for DNS propagation according to the provider's process and try again. Do not delete DNS records that are serving the website.

XML file: suitable when you can place a file in the site root

On Bing's verification screen, select the XML file upload method.
Download the exact file generated by Bing; do not rename it or edit its contents.
Where to do it: use the file manager, FTP, or the server's deployment process to place the file in the website's root directory, not in /wp-content/ or an administrative directory.
Open the file URL at the exact address provided by Bing, using a private window if necessary.
Only after the file URL is publicly accessible should you return to Bing and select Verify.

Expected result: the browser displays the file or its contents instead of a 404 error, a login page, or a different HTML page. If it does not open, check that you uploaded it to the correct website and root directory and that the file is not being blocked by a firewall, access permissions, or caching.

Meta tag: suitable when you can edit the `<head>`

In Bing, select the meta tag method and copy the tag provided by Bing exactly.
Where to do it: add the tag to the <head> of the homepage by editing the source code or using an appropriate website administration tool.
Save the changes, open the publicly accessible homepage, and view its source code to confirm that the tag is still present in the <head>.
If the website uses caching, refresh or clear the relevant cache layer according to your administration process before returning to Bing for verification.
Select Verify in Bing.

Do not paste the tag into post content, a text editor, or the <body>section. If verification fails, first inspect the publicly accessible source code of the homepage rather than checking only the screen while logged in to the administration area.

Find and check the actual sitemap on WordPress

There is no single sitemap URL that applies to every WordPress website. The URL depends on WordPress's built-in sitemap, an SEO plugin, or another system generating the sitemap. Therefore, check your own domain instead of copying a URL directly from an example.

Where to do it: open the WordPress administration area and check the settings for the system or plugin generating the sitemap, if you know which one it is.
If you do not know where the sitemap is, open the following commonly used paths one by one on the actual domain, such as /wp-sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml. These are only addresses to check, not universal rules.
Note which address opens publicly and returns XML, a sitemap index, RSS, Atom, or a supported URL file.
Do not select an address that returns a 404 error, a login page, an HTML error page, or content that is not a sitemap.
If it is a sitemap index, also open the child sitemaps listed inside it to verify that they are accessible.

Hypothetical example: if your website opens at https://tenmiencuaban.com/wp-sitemap.xml and this document lists child sitemaps, use that index address when the system identifies it as the primary sitemap. Do not use https://example.com/ in an actual submission.

Before submitting, check the following:

The sitemap is publicly accessible and does not require a login.
The sitemap URL uses the correct domain and HTTPS if the website uses HTTPS.
The content is not an error page or an ordinary HTML page.
The listed URLs are canonical URLs that you genuinely want the search engine to discover.
The website does not block access to the sitemap through server configuration, a firewall, or a security layer.

Submit the sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools

Where to do this: In Bing Webmaster Tools, select the correct verified website.
Open the section called Sitemaps or an equivalent sitemap-management function.
Select the sitemap submission action, which may be labeled Submit sitemaps.
Enter the full URL of the sitemap you opened to test, such as https://tenmiencuaban.com/wp-sitemap.xml; replace the entire address with your actual URL.
Confirm the submission and retain the URL you entered for reference.

What to verify: The sitemap appears in the list for the correct website, along with a processing status, submission or discovery time, URL count, and any warnings provided by the interface. If the property is reported incorrectly, recheck the selected website, protocol, domain, and directory path.

If the interface displays an error or warning, open the details for that specific sitemap entry and compare them with the result of opening the sitemap in a browser. Do not submit it repeatedly before determining whether the URL, access permissions, or sitemap content is causing the problem.

Troubleshoot errors without changing critical configuration settings indiscriminately

Website verification fails

DNS: Check the record type, host name, value, and the correct DNS management location. Do not delete records that are currently serving the website.
XML file: Open the file URL directly; if you see a 404 error, check that you are using the correct root directory, file name, and website.
Meta tag: View the public source code of the homepage to ensure that the tag is inside <head>; clear the cache if the source code has not changed.
Website URL: Compare http/https, with or without www and any subdirectory.

The sitemap returns a 404 error, requires a login, or cannot be read

Open the sitemap in a private browsing window. If the error persists, return to WordPress or the system that generates the sitemap to identify the active URL. If a firewall, security layer, or access restriction is blocking the sitemap, identify the specific blocking layer before changing any configuration; do not disable security for the entire website just to test it.

The sitemap was submitted but shows a warning or zero URLs

Open the sitemap and check its content, its child sitemaps, and whether the URLs are accessible. Then review the warning details in Bing. If it is a sitemap index, check each listed child sitemap. Resubmit only after correcting an identifiable cause.

The sitemap was submitted but the website has not appeared on Bing

This does not by itself prove that the sitemap is broken. Submitting a sitemap helps Bing discover URLs, but Bing still needs to crawl them and decide whether to index each page. Do not delete and recreate the website in Bing simply because you have not yet seen it in search results.

In the next article in this series, you can use the URL Inspection tool to see how Bing has recorded a specific URL: Why Your Website Isn’t Appearing on Bing: Diagnose the URL

Completion checklist

You signed in with an account under your control.
You added the correct website, protocol, domain, and subdirectory, if applicable.
You successfully verified ownership using a method you can continue to maintain.
You opened the actual sitemap in a browser in public-access mode.
You verified that the sitemap does not return a 404 error, login page, or error page.
You submitted the sitemap URL for the correct selected website.
You recorded the processing status, warnings, or errors displayed by Bing.
You understand that acceptance of a sitemap does not mean that every URL has been indexed.

Exercise and next steps

Choose one real article URL on your website and record three details: the exact URL, the sitemap or child sitemap containing the URL, and the sitemap status currently shown in Bing Webmaster Tools. This exercise requires inspection only; it does not require changing the article or submitting an indexing request.

If you have not verified the website, complete verification first. If the website is verified and the sitemap has been submitted, the next step is to inspect a specific URL to distinguish between Bing not having discovered the URL, not having crawled it, and not having indexed it.

Set Up Bing Webmaster Tools and Submit the Right WordPress Sitemap