What is Bing Webmaster Tools?
Bing Webmaster Tools is the Bing version of Google Search Console. Microsoft says it gives you "your site's performance data" and "free SEO/GEO tools" (Bing Webmaster Tools, read 1 November 2026). The about page lists these tools, among others:
- Search performance reports: what leads people to your site and what they search for.
- Backlinks: the pages, domains and anchor texts that link to you.
- Keyword Research: phrases searchers use, with search volumes.
- Site Scan: "an on-demand site audit tool" that checks for technical SEO/GEO issues.
- URL submission: an API and a WordPress plugin to tell Bing about new or changed pages.
What is the AI Performance report?
On 10 February 2026 Microsoft launched AI Performance as a public preview. It shows how often your content is cited in generative answers across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations (Bing Webmaster Blog). The metrics are Total Citations, Average Cited Pages, Grounding queries, Page-level citation activity and Visibility trends over time.
On 16 June 2026 Bing added four views in preview: Intents, Topics, Citation share (the part of all citations for a grounding query that go to your site) and Compare (Bing Search Blog).
The launch post does not name ChatGPT. Many SEO guides say ChatGPT search uses Bing; we could not confirm that on an OpenAI page, so treat it as unconfirmed (see ChatGPT search).
Why does Bing Webmaster Tools matter for B2B SaaS?
It is first-party AI citation data, from the company that runs the answers. Google counts traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode inside the normal Performance report in Search Console, under the "Web" search type (Google Search Central). Bing shows the grounding queries: the questions for which Copilot used your pages.
For a B2B SaaS team that tells you two things. Which buyer questions already pull your pages in. And which ones do not, where the cited pages are probably someone else's guide or "best X" list. That second group is a list of pages to improve, or of third-party lists you are missing from.
How do you set up Bing Webmaster Tools?
- Sign in at bing.com/webmasters with a Microsoft or other supported account.
- Add your site and verify that you own it.
- Submit your XML sitemap.
- Set up IndexNow so changed pages are reported right away.
- Check the Search Performance and AI Performance reports once data comes in.
What does that look like? (hypothetical example)
A hypothetical example: a customer support SaaS opens AI Performance after a month. It sees 40 citations, most on its pricing page. The grounding queries are mostly questions about price. Questions like "best help desk for small teams" do not show up at all. So the team writes a fair comparison page and starts asking list publishers in its category to review the product.
Bing Webmaster Tools vs Google Search Console vs IndexNow
- Google Search Console covers Google Search. AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is counted in the normal Performance report.
- Bing Webmaster Tools covers Bing, and through AI Performance, citations in Copilot and Bing AI summaries.
- IndexNow is a protocol, not a dashboard. Bing Webmaster Tools is one place where you see its effect.
For the full picture of how AI answers choose sources, see our guide to LLM SEO.