In short. Check the Index card in Bing Webmaster Tools’ URL Inspection for indexing status, then use Live URL to investigate current crawl problems.
Definition: Bing Webmaster Tools' URL Inspection checks a page's status in Bing's search index, the collection of pages Bing selects for search. Its Index card reports indexing details and errors, while Live URL tests what Bingbot, Bing's main crawler, can retrieve from the website.
Key facts
- As of 17 October 2026, Bing's URL Inspection documentation describes an Index card with the URL's discovery, crawl and indexing details, plus access to the returned page code and server response.
- Bing's tool announcement describes Live Check as a way to test whether a page can be crawled without requesting indexing.
- Bing's indexing troubleshooting documentation says that even submitted pages require crawling and assessment before inclusion in the index.
How does the inspection workflow work?
The URL Inspection help article limits inspection to URLs under the selected domain. The workflow starts by selecting a domain already added to Bing Webmaster Tools and entering the page's URL in URL Inspection. The documentation also allows selection from recent inspection history.
The help article links to this tool path:
/webmasters/urlinspection?src=help
The result contains an Index card, an SEO card and a Markup card. SEO means search engine optimization; its card reports errors, warnings and notices. The Markup card examines structured annotations in the page's source code. The Index card supplies the indexing status and the discovery and crawl details needed to investigate a missing URL.
What do the reported results mean?
Bing's inspection documentation describes these results and the evidence available for each:
| Reported result | Meaning and next check |
|---|---|
| The URL is indexed successfully. | The Index card provides the server response and page code for inspection, copying and searching. |
| The URL is not indexed or has indexing errors. | The card shows the error and an associated action, such as requesting indexing, contacting support or editing robots.txt, the website's crawler instruction file. |
| Live URL cannot crawl the page. | The test reports details of the blocks or constraints encountered during retrieval. |
| Live URL encounters a redirect. | The test displays the destination URL. The destination requires a separate inspection. |
Discovery, crawling and indexing appear as separate steps in the Index card. Reading those details alongside the error identifies which stage the report describes. The SEO card adds diagnostic information: its “How to fix” option explains an issue, and selecting an error highlights the corresponding page code.
How does Live URL help after a change?
The URL Inspection documentation describes Live URL as a view of what Bingbot sees while downloading a page. It supports searching for changed content and also checks SEO issues and markup. Bing's announcement identifies a specific use: investigating a compromised website that sends different page code to crawlers and visitors.
Live URL stops at redirects. The help article's Inspect redirect destination option starts the separate fetch needed to examine the destination page.
What happens when a URL is missing?
Bing's indexing troubleshooting article lists crawl problems, robots.txt restrictions, index-exclusion instructions and content quality among possible reasons. A noindex instruction tells the engine to exclude a page from its index. Diagnosis therefore starts with the reported error and the relevant website setting.
After corrections, the inspection help article allows an indexing request subject to the available submission quota. Bing still assesses submitted pages before including them in the index.
Related terms
FAQ
Can I inspect a URL from any website?
Bing's inspection help describes inspection for URLs under a domain already added to your account and selected in the tool.
Does a successful live check confirm indexing?
The tool announcement describes Live Check as a crawl test without an indexing request. Read the Index card for the URL's recorded indexing status.
Does submitting the page ensure inclusion?
Bing's troubleshooting documentation says submitted pages still require crawling and assessment before inclusion. Use the inspection result to follow the page's status.
Sources
- Bing Webmaster Tools, "URL inspection", undated, accessed 17 October 2026
- Microsoft Bing Blog, "Introducing the Bing Webmaster Tools URL Inspection Tool", 10 September 2020
- Bing Webmaster Tools, "Why is my site not in the index?", undated, accessed 17 October 2026
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