Bing Webmaster Center

Contents

Sitemap XML File Help & Strategies

Bing Webmaster Center

Bing (formerly Live Search) Webmaster Center is a set of tools that allow you to perform certain functions and track various statistics about your site. These tools are completely optional. Don't feel that you need to set up an account with Bing or use any of these tools.

You first need to set up an account before you can access any of the tools. To set up the account...

  1. Go to http://www.bing.com.
  2. In the top right corner, click on Extras and then select Webmaster Center.
  3. On the next page, click on the Sign in to use the tools button.
  4. On the next page, click on the Sign up button.
  5. Complete the information until your account is set up.

Add Your Site to Webmaster Center

Directions for Use
  • Go to the Webmaster Center.
  • Click on the Webmasters tab. Click on the Bing™ Webmaster Center Tools link.
  • Click on the Add a site button.
  • In the Type the URL of your homepage text field, enter your domain name, starting with "http://www."
  • Enter the Characters in the image that you see.

Submitting your site is very straightforward. Click on the Webmasters tag and then click on the Bing™ Webmaster Center Tools link...

managed site list button

Click on the Add a site button. Enter your site's URL (starting with www.) in the Web address: text box. Add your sitemap URL if you want. Uncheck the signup check box unless you want to receive mail from Bing.

Click on the Submit button.

You'll end up at the Authenticate Ownership of Website page.

(After you set up this first site, future visits should show you the following on the right of the Webmasters page inside the Toolbox...

managed site list button

Click on it to go to the list of sites you have submitted.)

Authenticate Your Site URL Using the XML File Method

You must select the XML method if you're using SiteBuilder. If you're uploading your own pages, you have the option of using a meta tag. However, we recommend that you use the XML method outlined below, using either of the two options.

Directions for Use
  • Download the XML file.
    • Or

  • Highlight and copy the XML code inside the File contents field on the Bing page.
  • Open a text editor (NotePad, TextEdit) and paste in the code.
  • Save the text file, pasting in this file name -- LiveSearchSiteAuth.xml
    • Then

  • In the WebFTP section of Site Central, click on XML It!.
  • Click on the Browse button (Choose File if using Safari) and select the downloaded or saved file. Do nothing in STEP 2. Click on XML It!.
  • Return to the Bing page and click on Return to Site List button. Click on your site's URL. Bing will then attempt to authenticate ownership.

Option 1

1) Download the file that Bing provides. Its name is LiveSearchSiteAuth.xml.

2) Upload this file by using SBI!'s XML It! module. Follow the Directions for Use to the right.

Option 2

1) Select and copy the XML code from the Bing page. It will look like this...

Bing XML code

2) Open your text editor (Notepad in Windows or TextEdit on a Mac) and paste in the source code you just copied.

Important Note for Mac Users: If you use TextEdit in RTF (Rich Text Format), click on Format in the menu, then select Make Plain Text. Then paste in the code.

3) Copy this file name -- LiveSearchSiteAuth.xml (ensure that you copy the entire name, including ".xml" and do not add any spaces before or after the file name). Note: The file name still contains "LiveSearch" instead of "Bing."

Back in your text editor, select Save As and select All Files as the file type to save the text file that contains the XML code (Mac users: you can use Save or Save As). Name it by pasting the authentication file name that you just copied into the text box where you normally type in a file name. Save the file to your desktop.

Important: Double-triple-quadruple-check again that your file name is identical to what is above, or else Bing will not be able to verify your site. Ensure you have included the ".xml" extension, and have no spaces before or after the name.

4) Upload this file by using SBI!'s XML It! module. Follow the Directions for Use just above.

Click on the Return to Site List button. You'll see your site's URL listed there. Click on it. Bing will then attempt to authenticate ownership. If it succeeds, you'll be taken to a page with several tools on it. If it fails, you'll see a warning that Bing could not find the authorization code. If you see that message, repeat the above process, ensuring that you named the file correctly and that it has the authorization code inside.

You can now check out the various pages that Webmaster Tools provides. Note that most statistics will not be available immediately, or will show as 0, since your site is new. If you waited to verify your site, you may see some stats.

Checking Stats

Bing lets you check several things once you've authenticated your site ownership.

Follow the login instructions above and click on your site's URL. You'll be taken to a Summary page that lists when your site was last crawled, along with how many pages are indexed.

At the top of the page are links to...

Click on each one to learn what Bing knows about your site.