Why Bing can't find your site: blockers people miss

Your site is on Google but not on Bing. These Bing-only blockers are the usual reason: firewalls, crawl-delay, a missing sitemap, and more.

Where you see it

Most of these don't show as one status. You find them in robots.txt, your firewall's log, and Bing Webmaster Tools' Sitemaps, Block URLs, and Crawl Control pages.

What it means

Google and Bing crawl on their own. A site can look fine on Google and still be invisible on Bing. The causes below are specific to Bing, or are easy to miss when you only watch Search Console.

Bing also feeds Microsoft Copilot. Bing's guidelines say Copilot uses the same crawling and index as Bing search. So a site Bing can't crawl is missing from Copilot answers too.

Common causes

Most likely first.

A firewall, CDN, or bot rule blocks Bingbot. "Block AI bots" settings and strict bot protection can catch it.
A Crawl-delay line in robots.txt. Bing follows it, and Bing's "Discovered but not crawled" message asks you to remove it.
A User-agent: bingbot group in robots.txt that blocks pages, often left from years ago.
The site is not added in Bing Webmaster Tools, so you can't see Bing's view of it, and no sitemap reaches Bing.
No sitemap submitted in Bing, and no Sitemap: line in robots.txt.
Pages added to Block URLs in Bing Webmaster Tools and forgotten.
No links from other sites. Bing's help says it needs at least one link pointing to your site to find it.
Main text that loads only with JavaScript. Bing's guidelines warn against hiding key content behind client-side rendering.

How to tell which cause applies

Search Bing for site:yourdomain.com. No results means the whole site is missing. Some results means some pages are.
Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Look for Crawl-delay and any bingbot group.
In your firewall or CDN, search the event log for bingbot. Blocks or challenges there are the problem.
In Bing Webmaster Tools, check Sitemaps for a processed sitemap, Block URLs for entries, and Crawl Control for a very low rate.
Run the Live URL test on your home page. Open the HTML Bingbot got and check your main text is in it.

How to fix it

Add your site in Bing Webmaster Tools. The fastest way is Import from Google Search Console: Bing adds and verifies your sites and copies your sitemaps.
Submit your sitemap under Sitemaps, and add a Sitemap: line to robots.txt.
Delete Crawl-delay from robots.txt. Use Crawl Control if you need to slow Bingbot at busy hours.
Delete old bingbot groups, or make them match your * rules.
Allow verified Bingbot in your firewall and bot settings. Keep blocks for training crawlers separate.
Clear any Block URLs entries you no longer want.
Set up IndexNow, so Bing hears about new and changed pages right away.
Get a few links from relevant sites, and make sure your main text is in the server HTML.

With CrawlCoach

CrawlCoach covers several of these for you. On paid plans it reads your robots.txt and flags rules that block Bingbot. When you connect Bing Webmaster Tools, it tells you if your site is missing there, with the steps to add it, and lists the pages on Google that Bing has not crawled. On Pro and Agency, it tells Bing about new pages and sends the uncrawled ones too.

Questions

Why is my site on Google but not on Bing?

Bing crawls on its own and is often slower with new and small sites. Bing-only blockers are common too: Crawl-delay, a firewall that blocks Bingbot, an old bingbot rule, or no sitemap in Bing. Check those first.

How do I get my site on Bing?

Add it in Bing Webmaster Tools with Import from Google Search Console. Submit your sitemap. Set up IndexNow. Then check URL Inspection for your home page. Bing's help says data can take 48 hours to appear after you add a site.

Does submitting my site make Bing crawl it?

It helps Bing find your pages. Bing's help says it still crawls and assesses each page before it shows it. Links and useful content decide the rest.

Related guides

"URLs with crawling issues (server errors)" in Bing
"URLs that are robots.txt disallowed" in Bing
"Discovered but not crawled" in Bing
Bingbot (Microsoft's crawler)
OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI's crawler)
"Blocked by robots.txt" (the Google Search Console reason)
"Blocked due to access forbidden (403)" (the Google Search Console reason)
"URL is unknown to Google" (the Google Search Console reason)
IndexNow setup guides (tell Bing when pages change)

Sources

Checked on October 8, 2026. Vendors change their tools and docs, so check the source if something looks different.

Why Bing can't find your website: 8 blockers people miss