How do you submit a sitemap to Bing Search Console?

To submit a sitemap to Bing Search Console, open your verified site in Bing Webmaster Tools, select Sitemaps, enter the complete URL of your XML sitemap or sitemap index, and select Submit. Bing will then use the submitted file as a discovery reference when it crawls your website; submission does not guarantee that every URL will be crawled or indexed.

Before submitting, check that your sitemap:

• Is available at a public HTTPS URL, such as https://www.example.co.uk/sitemap.xml.
• Uses a supported XML sitemap format and returns a successful server response.
• Contains the canonical, indexable URLs you want search engines to discover.
• Does not include redirected, blocked, duplicate or noindex URLs unless there is a specific technical reason.
• Matches the verified site property, including the correct protocol and hostname where relevant.

A sitemap may be a single XML file or a sitemap index containing links to several sitemap files. If your website generates an index file, submit the index URL rather than each individual sitemap. This allows Bing to find the associated files from one submission and is generally easier to maintain.

To submit the sitemap:

1. Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
2. Choose the verified website you want to manage.
3. Open the Sitemaps section from the site’s navigation.
4. Enter the full sitemap or sitemap index URL in the submission field.
5. Select Submit and review the status shown in the sitemap list.

Use the complete URL rather than entering only the filename. For example, enter https://www.example.co.uk/sitemap.xml, not sitemap.xml. If the sitemap is generated by your content management system or SEO platform, confirm its current location before submitting it. Some websites use a sitemap index or separate files for posts, pages, products and other content types.

You can also add the sitemap location to your website’s robots.txt file using a line such as Sitemap: https://www.example.co.uk/sitemap.xml. This gives crawlers another way to discover the file. It does not replace the need to check that the sitemap is accessible, correctly formatted and associated with the intended website.

After submission, Bing Webmaster Tools may show the sitemap as pending while it processes the file. Review any reported errors, including inaccessible files, invalid XML, unsupported URLs or server response problems. Correct the source sitemap and resubmit it if necessary. A sitemap can be submitted again when its structure or URL set changes, but routine updates do not usually require creating a new sitemap URL.

If Bing cannot read the sitemap, open its URL in a browser or use a technical audit to confirm that it returns the XML file rather than an HTML error page, login screen or redirect chain. Check server permissions, firewall rules, caching, DNS settings and any robots.txt directives that could prevent crawling. Also confirm that the sitemap is not blocked by an accidental noindex setting at page level and that the listed URLs are accessible to Bingbot.

Submitting a sitemap helps Bing discover URLs, but it does not override crawl restrictions or indexing decisions. Keep the file accurate and up to date, use internal links to support important pages, and inspect individual URLs in Bing Webmaster Tools when a page is not being discovered or indexed as expected.