Google tells you how humans find you. Bing increasingly tells you how AI does. Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT search, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia all pull from Bing, so showing up there is fast becoming the same thing as showing up in AI answers. And because almost no founder ever checks Bing, the clicks sitting there are uncontested. Five minutes buys you a whole search engine your competitors are ignoring.
What you'll need
- A site you've already verified in Google Search Console (this makes the Bing import a single click). New to that? See the connect-GA4-to-Search-Console capsule first.
- A Google, Microsoft, or Facebook login. Any one works.
- Five minutes.
Connect Bing, step by step
- Open Bing Webmaster Tools and sign in. Go to bing.com/webmasters and click Sign in. Pick Google if you like, you don't need a Microsoft account. Microsoft and Facebook logins work too.
- Add your site. The fastest route is "Import from Google Search Console." One click pulls in every site you've already verified with Google, no fiddling. If you'd rather verify by hand, Bing also takes an XML file upload, a meta tag in your page's head, or a CNAME DNS record. Import is quicker if Search Console's already set up.
- Copy your API key. Click the Settings gear in the top-right, open API access, then API Key, and copy it. It's not under your site's own settings, which is exactly where everyone looks first. Bing also shows an OAuth option on this screen. Ignore it. You want the plain API Key. One key covers every site in your Bing account, no matter how you signed in.
- Paste it into Holy Bucket. Open the Visibility tab, tap Connect Bing, paste the key, and hit Connect. It's read-only, and you can regenerate or revoke the key in Bing whenever you want.
- Give it a day. Like Google, Bing's data lags a few days, so don't judge an empty first screen. Once it flows, your Bing numbers show up right next to Google's.
Do it with AI
Want Bing to find your pages faster? Get a sitemap in front of it. Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT and submit the result in Bing Webmaster Tools under Sitemaps.
Generate a valid sitemap.xml for my site. Framework: [e.g. Next.js / plain HTML / Webflow / Shopify]. My pages are: [list them, or describe how routes are generated]. Make it serve at /sitemap.xml, include lastmod dates, and if my framework can, build it automatically from my routes. Then tell me exactly how to submit the sitemap URL inside Bing Webmaster Tools so Bing crawls my pages faster.
How to check it worked
Back in Holy Bucket, the Visibility tab now shows your Bing clicks, impressions, and top Bing queries alongside Google's. If it's still empty, jump to the mistakes below. It's almost always one of two things: the site isn't verified in Bing yet, or the data's just lagging and needs a day.
Common mistakes
- Hunting for the key under your site's settings. It lives under the top-right Settings gear, then API access, not in the site config. This trips nearly everyone.
- Trying to connect before the site is verified. Verify first (the Search Console import is one click), then the key actually returns data.
- Assuming you need a paid Microsoft account. You don't. Bing Webmaster Tools is free, and a Google login gets you straight in.
- Pasting the OAuth secret instead of the API key. Same screen, different thing. Holy Bucket wants the API Key, not OAuth.
FAQ
- Do I need a Microsoft account to use Bing Webmaster Tools?
- No. You can sign in with Google or Facebook. Bing doesn't make you create anything new.
- Is Bing Webmaster Tools free?
- Yes, completely. There's no paid tier, and nothing to buy to connect it to Holy Bucket.
- Is my API key safe, and what can Holy Bucket do with it?
- It's read-only and stored encrypted. Holy Bucket can read your Bing search data and nothing else, and you can regenerate or revoke the key in Bing at any time.
- Why bother with Bing if Google is so much bigger?
- Because Bing feeds the AI engines. Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT search, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia all pull from it, so Bing visibility is increasingly AI visibility. And since almost no founder checks Bing, the clicks waiting there are uncontested.
- How long until I see Bing data in Holy Bucket?
- A few days. Bing lags like Google does, so an empty first day is completely normal.
- Where exactly is the Bing API key?
- Settings gear in the top-right, then API access, then API Key. Not under your site's own settings.
You connected Bing. Now read it next to Google.
Holy Bucket pulls your Bing and Google search side by side and tells you, in plain English, where each one's winning and where it's leaking. No second dashboard to babysit. Start your 14 days free.