Bing SEO: How to Rank on Bing and Copilot in the UK
By Amit Saini, founder of Vimana Digital · Updated 11 November 2026
The short answer: to rank on Bing, import your site into Bing Webmaster Tools from Google Search Console, switch on IndexNow so Bing hears about changes straight away, claim your Bing Places listing if you serve local customers, and keep building the same useful, well-structured pages you'd build for Google. Bing's own guidelines now cover its AI assistant, Copilot, too, so the same work helps you get cited there.
Most Bing advice is out of date
Bing rewrote its Webmaster Guidelines around Copilot and AI answers this year. We read the current version and seven of the guides that rank for "bing seo" on Google UK (11 November 2026). Six of the seven say Bing rewards exact-match keywords more than Google does, and six say social media signals help you rank on Bing. Bing's guidelines say neither. They mention social media once, as spam ("artificial social promotion schemes that simulate popularity"), and they warn that "loading pages with irrelevant keywords can reduce visibility or lead to removal". None of the seven gave a UK figure for how many people use Bing.
Does anybody use Bing anymore?
More than you'd think, and mostly at a desk.
| UK search share, October 2026 | Bing | |
|---|---|---|
| All devices | 90.59% | 6.76% |
| Desktop computers only | 73.22% | 20.78% |
Source: Statcounter Global Stats, UK search engine market share, October 2026.
On UK desktops, Bing's share is about three times its overall share: roughly one search in five. That's partly because Bing is the default search engine in Microsoft Edge, and Windows search shows Bing results. If your customers search at work, as most B2B buyers, office managers and procurement teams do, Bing matters more than its headline figure suggests.
Bing also reaches further than bing.com:
| Product | How it uses Bing | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Copilot | Copilot sends searches to Bing and builds answers from the results | Microsoft Learn; Bing Webmaster Guidelines |
| Yahoo | Yahoo's web results are generated by Bing | Yahoo Help |
| DuckDuckGo | Regular links come "largely" from Bing, alongside its own crawler | DuckDuckGo help pages |
| Ecosia | Uses Bing, Google and its own European index, depending on location | Ecosia support, August 2026 |
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI says it "partners with other search providers" and links Microsoft's privacy statement; it doesn't name Bing | OpenAI Help Center |
Step 1: set up Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools is free, Bing's equivalent of Google Search Console. If your site is already in Search Console, it takes minutes. We imported our own site this way in November 2026.
- 1Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account.
- 2Choose Import from Google Search Console and sign in to your Google account.
- 3Select the sites to import. Imported sites are verified automatically, so you don't need a separate code.
- 4Check the Sitemaps section to confirm Bing has your sitemap.
- 5Run Site Scan to find crawl and on-page problems Bing can see.
When we imported vimanadigital.com in November 2026, Bing showed two years of search history straight away. Its first recommendation on the dashboard was to set up IndexNow, which is Step 2.
Step 2: switch on IndexNow
IndexNow lets your website tell search engines the moment a page is added, changed or removed, instead of waiting to be crawled. Bing's guidelines recommend it: "Streaming submissions provide faster updates, reduce server load, and improve indexing accuracy."
- Who receives it: Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, Yep, the Internet Archive and Amazonbot. A submission to one is shared with all of them. Google doesn't take part, so keep your XML sitemap up to date for Google.
- On WordPress: Rank Math and SEOPress include IndexNow in their free versions. Yoast and All in One SEO include it only in paid plans. Or install Microsoft's own free "IndexNow" plugin.
- Elsewhere: Shopify, Wix and Cloudflare offer it too.
It speeds up discovery; it doesn't guarantee a ranking. For WordPress sites we look after, see WordPress SEO.
Step 3: claim Bing Places (local businesses)
Bing Places is Bing's version of Google Business Profile. It's free, and it controls how you appear in Bing Maps and local results. It now lives at bing.com/forbusiness.
- Claim your listing. Bing Places offers an import from Google Business Profile, which saves retyping.
- Match your name, address, phone number, hours and categories to your Google profile exactly.
- Add real photos and your main services.
It's about an hour's work. Consistent details across Google, Bing and directories also help AI tools describe your business correctly. See local SEO.
Step 4: watch the AI Performance report
In February 2026 Bing added an AI Performance report to Webmaster Tools. According to Microsoft, it shows how your content appears "across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations":
- Total citations: how often your pages are cited as sources in AI answers
- Cited pages: which of your pages get cited
- Grounding queries: a sample of the questions the AI was answering when it cited you
It's one of the few places anywhere you can see AI citations for your own site, and only one of the seven guides we read even mentioned it.
Our own figures show why it's worth a look. In the six months to November 2026, Bing Webmaster Tools counted 608 citations of vimanadigital.com in Copilot and partner AI answers. Over the previous two years, Bing search sent us 58 clicks from 20,100 impressions. So AI citations outnumbered Bing search clicks by about ten to one, in a quarter of the time. Citations come in bursts, too: one day in early September accounted for about 135 of them.
What Bing actually says: myths vs the guidelines
| What you'll read | What Bing's guidelines say (accessed 11 November 2026) |
|---|---|
| "Bing rewards exact-match keywords in titles and URLs" | They ask for a proper title, meta description and logical headings, and to "align titles, heading, and content intent". Keyword stuffing "can reduce visibility or lead to removal". |
| "Social signals are a Bing ranking factor" | Social media appears only as abuse: "artificial social promotion schemes that simulate popularity". |
| "Bing is desktop-first" | The guidelines don't mention mobile or desktop. Bing crawls with both desktop and mobile Bingbot. Microsoft hasn't announced mobile-first or desktop-first indexing. |
| "Buy links to rank faster" | "Links should be earned organically through high-quality, useful content." Link buying is listed as abuse. |
| "AI content gets you into Copilot" | "Content should be created for users, not to manipulate ranking systems or trigger citations or AI responses." Automatically generated content at scale without oversight "may be excluded from indexing". |
Two newer points most guides miss:
- NOARCHIVE stops your content being used in Copilot answers, and NOCACHE limits Copilot to your URL, title and snippet. Check your site isn't sending either by accident.
- "Thin, ad heavy, or affiliate-only URLs may lose ranking eligibility."
How to measure Bing traffic
- Bing Webmaster Tools, Search Performance: clicks, impressions and average position on Bing, like Search Console's Performance report.
- Google Analytics 4: go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition, and look for bing / organic. Compare enquiries, not just visits: buyers searching at work often convert well.
- Your enquiry form: if you ask "how did you find us?", add Bing and "an AI assistant" as options. Treat the answers as a rough guide.
If Bing sends almost nothing after a few months, check Webmaster Tools for crawl errors and unindexed pages before spending more time on it.
Should you advertise on Bing?
Microsoft Advertising can import campaigns straight from Google Ads, so a test costs little set-up time. It's worth trying if your buyers search from desktops at work. Start small and compare cost per enquiry with Google Ads. Our PPC management service runs both.
Bing SEO checklist
| Task | Time |
|---|---|
| Import your site into Bing Webmaster Tools from Search Console | 10 minutes |
| Check your sitemap is listed and processed | 5 minutes |
| Switch on IndexNow (SEO plugin, Microsoft's plugin or your platform) | 15 minutes |
| Run Site Scan and fix what it reports | 1–3 hours |
| Claim and complete Bing Places (local businesses) | 1 hour |
| Make sure no page sends NOARCHIVE or NOCACHE by mistake | 15 minutes |
| Check the AI Performance report monthly | 10 minutes |
Times are our estimates for a small business site.
Bing SEO questions, answered
Is Bing SEO different from Google SEO?
Mostly no. Bing's guidelines reward the same things as Google's: useful content, clear structure, a sound site and earned links. The differences are the tools (Webmaster Tools, IndexNow, Bing Places) and the audience, which leans towards desktop users at work.
How do I get my website listed on Bing?
Import your site into Bing Webmaster Tools from Google Search Console, check your sitemap is there, and switch on IndexNow. Local businesses should also claim a free Bing Places listing at bing.com/forbusiness.
Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
Yes. It's free from Microsoft, and you can sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. If your site is already in Google Search Console, you can import it and skip verification.
Does Google use IndexNow?
No. Google isn't one of the participating search engines listed on indexnow.org. Keep your XML sitemap up to date for Google, and use IndexNow for Bing and the others.
Does ranking on Bing help with Copilot and ChatGPT?
For Copilot, yes: Microsoft says Copilot builds web answers from Bing searches, and Bing's guidelines cover Copilot directly. ChatGPT search partners with other search providers but doesn't name Bing, so treat any link as likely rather than certain.
Does anybody use Bing anymore?
Yes. Bing had 6.76% of all UK searches in October 2026, but 20.78% on desktop computers, about one in five (Statcounter). It's also the default search engine in Microsoft Edge.
Get Bing and Google checked together
Our free website SEO audit looks at your key pages and names the three things costing you the most enquiries. For a full technical review across Google and Bing, see our SEO audit, or SEO services for ongoing work.
Request a free audit or call 0115 647 0444.