Bing Webmaster Guidelines

1. SEO Fundamentals Still Apply to Grounding and AI Experiences

Bing and Copilot search experiences rely on the same core crawling, indexing, and ranking foundation as traditional search. SEO best practices that support discovery, indexing accuracy, and content clarity also support eligibility for AI-generated experiences, grounding results, and citations.

Practices that support:

Crawl efficiency

Indexing accuracy

URL consolidation

Content clarity and structure

Authority and trust signals

Also support:

Eligibility for grounding results

Long‑term visibility across Bing, Copilot, and AI‑powered search experiences.

Content that is discoverable, accurate, well-structured, and created for users performs best across all search experiences.

2. Make URLs Easy for Bing and Copilot to Discover

Bing relies on clear discovery and crawl signals to find, render, and index content accurately. Strong discovery practices help keep indexed content fresh, reliable, and eligible across Bing search and grounding experiences.

Ensure Bing can reliably discover your URLs using:

IndexNow URL submission

XML sitemaps

Crawlable internal links

External links from relevant websites

Clear discovery signals improve crawl efficiency, indexing accuracy, and grounding eligibility.

3. Use Sitemaps to Signal Importance and Freshness

Use XML sitemaps to indicate which URLs matter and when content changes.

Sitemaps should:

List only canonical URLs

Reflect current site structure

Remove deleted or redirected URLs promptly

Include freshness signals (such as lastmod) where applicable

Proper sitemap usage helps Bing maintain accurate, up‑to‑date indexing and reliable grounding eligibility. Sitemaps do not guarantee visibility, but they significantly improve accuracy and freshness across Bing search experiences. Additionally, freshness signals like accurate lastmod values and HTTP validation headers such as ETags help Bing detect content changes more reliably.

4. Notify Bing and Copilot quickly when URLs Change

Use IndexNow to notify Bing when:

URLs are added

Content is updated

URLs are removed

Timely notifications help Bing refresh the index and reduce outdated or incorrect URL references in Copilot responses and grounding results. Avoid batch submissions when possible. Streaming submissions provide faster updates, reduce server load, and improve indexing accuracy.

5. Use Links to Establish Structure and Authority

Ensure each important URL is reachable through crawlable internal links.

Links should:

Use standard <a href> links

Include relevant anchor text or image alt attributes

Strong internal and external linking supports discovery, authority evaluation, and grounding eligibility.

6. Consolidate Duplicate URLs

Avoid serving the same content across multiple URLs. Duplicate URLs dilute signals and reduce Bing’s confidence in selecting a URL for grounding results or citations. Use canonical URLs, parameter controls, and consistent URL structures to consolidate signals and improve grounding visibility.

7. Handle URL Moves with Proper Redirects

When content moves:

Use 301 redirects for permanent URL changes

Use 302 redirects only for very short-term changes (less than 2 days)

Use redirects instead of canonical tags

Proper redirects preserve visibility, traffic, and grounding continuity.

8. Allow Efficient Crawling and Rendering

Allow Bingbot to crawl and render content efficiently.

Avoid:

Blocking important URLs unnecessarily

Hiding critical content behind client-side rendering

Excessive or unnecessary HTTP requests to render the content

Outputting excessive or low‑value URLs, such as duplicate content or URLs with numerous parameters

Blocking Bingbot in your robots.txt file

Content that cannot be reliably rendered may not be indexed or selected for grounding results.

9. Remove URLs Cleanly When Content is Deleted

When content is permanently removed:

Return a 404 status code

Use Bing’s Content Removal tools when appropriate

Update deleted or changed URLs via IndexNow

Proper removal prevents outdated URLs from appearing in search or being referenced in grounding results.

10. Use robots.txt and Meta Directives Correctly

robots.txt controls crawl access, not indexing. Use NOINDEX when a URL should NOT appear in Bing search, Copilot experiences, or grounding API results.

Important display considerations:

DATA-NOSNIPPET and NOSNIPPET prevent Bing from displaying captions and may limit Copilot citation quality.

To control the text Bing may display or cite, use the data-snippet attribute to specify allowed content.

Important grounding considerations:

NOARCHIVE prevents content from being used in Copilot responses and grounding results.

NOCACHE limits Copilot to using only the URL, title, and snippet, reducing citation depth and answer quality.

To allow richer citations and answers, avoid using NOCACHE on content intended for Copilot or grounding experiences.

11. Create Content that is Clear, Focused, and Useful

Grounded answers and citations depend on content that Bing can clearly interpret and verify. Well‑structured, accurate, and focused content improves retrieval quality, grounding reliability, and citation accuracy.

Content should:

Fully satisfy user intent

Be original and authoritative

Be easy to understand without external context

Thin, ad heavy, or affiliate-only URLs may lose ranking eligibility and grounding visibility.

12. Optimize Images and Video for Understanding

Images and video should reinforce the primary text on the page and should not be the sole source of information required to understand the topic. Clear, accessible multimodal content improves grounding accuracy, citation quality, and reliability across Bing and Copilot experiences.

To support understanding (rather than replace text), provide:

Descriptive file names

Alt text

Captions, transcripts, or structured data

13. Structure Content Clearly Using HTML

Use clear structure to improve comprehension.

Follow best practices for:

<title> and meta descriptions

Logical <H1> – <H6> heading hierarchy

Semantic HTML elements

Missing, duplicate, or overly short title tags and meta descriptions may reduce indexing reliability, ranking, and eligibility for grounding results and citations.

14. Use Structured Data Accurately

Structured data may support clearer grounding but does not guarantee visibility or grounding traffic. Markup must accurately reflect visible content.

15. Ensure Content can be Verified Independently

URLs are more likely to be selected for grounding queries and citations when content stands on its own.

Ensure:

Facts and definitions are explicit

Key statements do not rely on implied content

Important information is visible on the URL itself

16. Define Entities Clearly and Consistently

Use clear and consistent naming for people, organizations, products, and locations. Avoid ambiguous references. Clear entity definition improves grounding visibility and citation accuracy.

17. Focus Each URL on a Single Topic

URLs focused on a primary topic are more likely to be selected for grounding results. Avoid mixing unrelated concepts on a single URL. Align titles, headings, and content intent.

18. Surface Key information early

Place essential information near the top of the URL. Avoid long introductions before addressing the main topic. Early clarity improves grounding visibility and reliability.

19. Keep Content Accurate and Up to Date

Update content when facts or guidance change. Use freshness signals appropriately. Remove or revise outdated information to prevent incorrect information from surfacing. Notify IndexNow when content is added, updated, or deleted.

20. Preserve URL Stability Over Time

Avoid unnecessary URL changes. When changes are required, use proper redirects and preserve meaning and intent. Stable URLs support long-term visibility and continuity.

21. Manage Crawl Efficiency and Reduce Crawl Waste

Bing allocates crawl capacity based on site health, efficiency, signal quality, and crawl value. Excessive crawl waste, duplication, or low‑value URLs can directly limit indexing, delay discovery, and reduce grounding visibility for important content.

Excessive low-value URLs, duplication, or crawl waste can:

Delay indexing of important content

Reduce grounding visibility for priority URLs

Best Practices:

Eliminate duplicate or low-value URLs

Use canonicalization consistently

Block unnecessary crawl paths with robots.txt

Keep site structure logical and accessible

22. Crawl Efficiency, Visibility, and Measuring Beyond Clicks

Content may surface across Bing search experiences without a traditional click. Managing crawl efficiency and URL quality helps ensure important content remains indexed, retrievable, and visible as impressions, citations, or grounding references.

Content may appear as impressions, citations, or grounding references in Copilot responses.

A decline in clicks does not always indicate a loss of visibility.

Monitor:

Impressions

Indexing status

Grounding and citation eligibility