The short answer: open Bing Webmaster Tools, select the correct verified website, and use URL Inspection to check a specific URL. Read two sections separately: the URL status Bing has recorded and the live URL test result, if the tool provides one. Then compare the HTTP status code, robots.txt, the noindex, the canonical tag, and redirects before asking Bing to crawl the URL again.
In this article, I use the hypothetical WordPress website “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công” at https://example.com/ for illustration only. This is not a website that has been tested in practice. When following the instructions, replace it with your actual URL and do not submit example.com to Bing.
Distinguishing URL discovery, crawling, and indexing by Bing
These three statuses are often collectively described as “Bing does not know about the website,” but they are not the same:
- URL discovered: Bing knows the URL address, for example through a sitemap, internal links, or another source.
- URL crawled: Bingbot has sent a request to the URL and read the response from the server, including the HTML or other content delivered.
- URL indexed: Bing has evaluated the URL and added it to the index so that it may appear in search results.
Therefore, a URL’s inclusion in a sitemap is only a signal that helps Bing discover or update the URL. A sitemap does not guarantee that the URL will be crawled, indexed, or shown for every query (according to bing.com).
Searching with the operator url: can provide a quick check of whether a URL currently appears in the index, but it does not fully explain the reason. For diagnosis, use URL Inspection rather than relying only on search results.
Prepare the correct URL before opening URL Inspection
You need:
- Access to Bing Webmaster Tools.
- A website verified in the account. This article does not explain how to register, verify a website, or submit a sitemap.
- The publicly accessible URL you need to check, including the correct protocol
https://, domain name, letter case, and path. - Permission to edit WordPress, the server, the CDN, or related configuration if the cause lies there.
Copy the URL from the address bar or from the WordPress page instead of typing it manually. Variations such as http/https, with or without www, a trailing slash, and query parameters may be treated as different URLs.
Check a URL with URL Inspection
1. View the URL version recorded by Bing
Where to do this: in Bing Webmaster Tools, select the correct website, then open the feature named URL Inspection or its equivalent in the current interface.
Input: paste the full URL, for example:
https://example.com/huong-dan-trong-rau-ban-cong/Select the command to inspect it. The tool may display indexing status, SEO errors, markup data, and HTTP information. Button names and locations may vary between interface versions; look for the feature that inspects a URL within the selected website.
The indexing-status section shows how far Bing has progressed in discovering, crawling, or indexing the URL. If an error is present, the tool may suggest related actions, such as checking robots.txt, the HTTP response, or requesting indexing when appropriate (according to bing.com).
Sign that the check succeeded: you see a report associated with the correct URL, not the homepage or a similar URL.
If there is no report: check that the correct website is selected, that the URL belongs to the verified domain variant, and that the URL is publicly accessible without requiring sign-in.
2. Read the important fields instead of looking only at the conclusion
Record the following information in a spreadsheet or notes:
| Information to check | Question to answer |
|---|---|
| Indexing status | Has the URL been indexed, not indexed, or excluded? |
| Crawl status | Has Bingbot accessed the URL? Did an error occur while loading it? |
| HTTP status code | Does the URL return a 2xx, 3xx, 4xx, or 5xx response? |
| Robots.txt | Are the URL or important resources blocked from crawling? |
| noindex directive | Does the HTML or HTTP header instruct search engines not to index the page? |
| Canonical | Does the URL identify itself as the canonical version, or does it point to another URL? |
| Final URL | Is the URL redirected to another address? |
Do not conclude that “canonical is an error” or that “a redirect is an error” merely because the tool displays them. If you intentionally consolidated two URLs, the canonical or redirect may be the correct signal. The problem occurs only when that signal does not match the URL you want Bing to index.
3. Compare it with a live URL test
If the interface includes a tab or option such as Live URL, use it after reviewing the version recorded by Bing. A live test shows whether Bingbot can currently fetch the URL, while the indexing report reflects information Bing processed during the previous crawl.
The two results may differ:
- The live URL loads but is not indexed: the current blocking issue may have been fixed, but Bing may not have crawled the URL again or may still not have selected it for indexing.
- The live URL still returns an error: fix the technical cause before requesting another inspection.
- The live URL loads with unusual content: check the cache, firewall, content delivery network (CDN), anti-bot mechanisms, or whether the server sends different HTML to Bingbot and users.
URL Inspection provides information about the indexed version and whether Bingbot can fetch the URL directly. Therefore, review both perspectives rather than looking only at the search results.
Diagnostic table for URLs that do not appear on Bing
The table below helps you move from a symptom to an action. Fix only the verified cause; do not change multiple settings at once, or you will have difficulty determining which change worked.
| Symptom | How to verify | Safe corrective action | Verify again |
|---|---|---|---|
| New URL not yet discovered | URL Inspection shows no crawl history or reports that the URL is unknown; the URL does not appear in a quick check. | Ensure that the URL is included in the current sitemap, has easily accessible internal links, and returns publicly accessible content. Do not submit it repeatedly simply because you do not see an immediate result. | Open the URL directly, check the sitemap and links from accessible pages, then monitor the URL in URL Inspection again. |
robots.txt URL blocked | URL Inspection or a related tool reports that the URL is Disallow; open /robots.txt and look for the rule that applies to Bingbot or to the general bot group. | Remove the blocking rule only if the URL genuinely needs to be crawled. Carefully check the scope of Disallow so that you do not accidentally expose an administration area or private files. | Review robots.txt, use the robots.txt testing function if available, and then run the live URL test again. |
Contains a noindex | View the HTML source or response headers and look for meta name="robots" content="noindex" or X-Robots-Tag: noindex. | If the page needs to appear in search results, remove noindex at the point where it was added: WordPress settings, an SEO plugin, the template, or the server headers. Do not add noindex to robots.txt. | View the source after making the change, run a live URL test, and confirm that no noindex directive remains. |
| Canonical points to another URL | Check the <link rel="canonical"> tag and determine whether the target URL is the canonical version you want. | If the two URLs contain duplicate content and the destination URL is now the canonical version, you can leave it as is. If it points to the wrong URL, update the canonical to match the preferred URL, sitemap, and internal links. | Check the destination URL, the updated canonical, the sitemap, and internal links; do not request indexing for the secondary URL if you want the primary URL to be selected. |
| Redirected URL | URL Inspection or an HTTP check shows a 3xx status code, and the final URL differs from the URL you entered. | If the redirect is intentional, update internal links and the sitemap to use the final URL. For a permanent change, use the appropriate permanent redirect; do not use a canonical in place of a redirect when users need to be sent to the new address. | Check that the final URL returns a 2xx status code, does not create a redirect chain or loop, and contains the intended content. |
| 404 or 410 error | The HTTP report shows that the URL does not exist or has been removed. | If the URL was permanently removed and there is no suitable replacement, keep the 404 or 410 status. If the content has moved to an equivalent URL, redirect the old URL to the new one; do not redirect every 404 error to the homepage. | Open the old and new URLs, confirm that they return the correct response codes, and then remove the old URL from the sitemap. |
| 403, 5xx, or unstable loading errors | Check the HTTP response in URL Inspection, server logs, the CDN, the firewall, and anti-bot rate limits. | Work with your hosting or CDN provider. Determine whether the error affects all users or only Bingbot before loosening security rules. | Check again from a different network and at a different time, review the server logs, and rerun Live URL once the service is stable. |
robots.txt primarily controls crawlability, whereas noindex is a directive that keeps a URL out of the index. If robots.txt blocks Bingbot, Bing may be unable to read a noindex directive within the page; therefore, do not use robots.txt as a substitute for noindex when your goal is to exclude a URL from search results (according to bing.com).
Hypothetical example: diagnosing an article from “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công”
Hypothetical situation: you want to check the URL:
https://example.com/huong-dan-trong-rau-ban-cong/The URL is included in the sitemap but cannot be found using the url:operator. You proceed in this order:
- Paste the correct URL into URL Inspection and confirm that the tool is checking the “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công” website.
- Read the recorded status: has the URL been discovered or crawled?
- Open the Live URL check. If it reports that robots.txt is blocking the URL, check the robots.txt file before taking any other steps.
- If it is not blocked, check whether the HTML contains
noindex. - If there is no noindex directive, check whether the canonical points to another URL.
- If all technical signals are correct but the URL has not been indexed, check whether the content is genuinely public, has internal links, and duplicates another URL.
This is an illustrative process; it does not establish anything about the actual status of example.com.
When should you ask Bing to index the URL again?
Request indexing only after:
- The URL returns the correct content and is publicly accessible.
- There are no remaining server errors or unintended redirects.
robots.txtdoes not block the URL that needs to be crawled.- There is no
noindexif you want the URL to appear. - The canonical, sitemap, and internal links all point to the URL version you want to keep.
If the tool provides a request-indexing command, use it once after fixing the issue and record the date, the change made, and the result of the check. Do not submit repeated requests without a new change. This request only tells the system to consider or crawl the URL; it does not guarantee that the URL will be indexed or ranked.
Checklist for completing a URL inspection
- The correct website and domain variant have been selected in Bing Webmaster Tools.
- The full URL has been pasted, with no confusion between
http/httpsor an old path. - The status of the URL known to Bing and the most recent crawl, if available, have been recorded.
- A Live URL check or equivalent function has been run.
- The HTTP status code, robots.txt, noindex, canonical, and redirects have been checked.
- One specific cause has been fixed, without changing multiple SEO settings at once.
- The URL has been checked again after the fix, and indexing has been requested only when the URL qualifies.
Exercise and next steps
Choose a real article URL from your website and create a four-column table containing symptom, evidence, required change and follow-up verification resultIf no URL on your site has encountered an error, use a new article instead, but record only the actual results from your own website; do not make assumptions based on the “Vườn Nhỏ Ban Công” example.
After determining which URLs have been discovered, crawled and indexed, the next step is to monitor performance data so you can decide which pages to prioritize for improvement. Site Explorer – Bing Webmaster Tools can help you review URL status, crawl errors and some related data (according to Bing Webmaster Tools). In this series, you can continue to How to Read Bing Webmaster Tools Reports and Prioritize the Right SEO Work learn how to read reports and decide which SEO tasks to prioritize.
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