When Bingbot visits a webpage, it retrieves the page and sends information about what it finds back to Bing. Bing then processes that information to understand the page and determine whether it can be included in its search index.
For an SEO beginner, think of the process like this:
Discover → Crawl → Understand → Index → Rank
Bingbot mainly handles the crawling and information-gathering part. Other Bing systems then process and evaluate that information.
1. Bingbot First Requests the Webpage
When Bingbot decides to crawl a URL, it sends a request to the website’s server.
For example:
https://example.com/bing-seo-guideThe server responds with the webpage and its resources.
Bingbot also checks the website’s crawling instructions, including robots.txt, before or during crawling. Bing says Bingbot honors applicable robots.txt directives and webmaster crawl-control settings.
Bing’s URL Inspection tool even provides a Live URL feature that can show what Bingbot sees when downloading a page.
2. Bingbot Retrieves the Page Content
Once Bingbot can access the page, it retrieves information from the webpage.
That information can include:
- Page text
- HTML structure
- Page title
- Headings
- Links
- Images and other media
- Metadata
- Structured data
- Open Graph information
- Other page elements
Bing’s documentation explains that its crawlers process structured markup such as Schema.org, JSON-LD, Microdata, Microformats, RDFa, and Open Graph. This markup can provide Bing with additional information about the type of content on a page.
3. Bing Tries to Understand What the Page Is About
This is one of the most important parts for SEO.
Bing doesn’t simply look for individual keywords. Its systems try to understand the meaning and relevance of the webpage.
For example, suppose your page is titled:
“Beginner’s Guide to Bing SEO”
The page might contain sections about:
- Bingbot
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Keyword research
- XML sitemaps
- Indexing
- Technical SEO
Bing can use these signals together to understand that the page is primarily about Bing SEO for beginners.
Bing says relevance involves how closely the landing page matches the user’s search intent. It can consider terms directly on the page as well as phrases used in links pointing toward the page. It also considers semantic equivalents such as synonyms and abbreviations.
4. Bing Examines the Page’s Structure
A webpage’s structure provides useful context.
For example:
Title: Bing SEO Guide for Beginners
H1: Complete Bing SEO Guide
H2: What Is Bingbot?
H2: How Bing Crawls Websites
H2: How Bing Indexes Pages
H2: Bing Webmaster ToolsThis structure helps communicate the subject and organization of the content.
From an SEO perspective, clear headings and logical page structure make content easier for both users and search engines to understand.
However, don’t think of headings as a simple ranking formula.
Using an H2 does not automatically make a page rank higher. The overall content and its relevance matter much more.
5. Bing Looks at Links
Links provide important information about a webpage.
Bingbot can:
- Discover other URLs through links
- Understand relationships between pages
- Examine anchor text
- Follow internal links
- Encounter external links
Bing’s documentation says relevance can include phrases used in links referring to a page.
For example:
<a href="/bing-webmaster-tools">
Bing Webmaster Tools guide
</a>The anchor text provides additional context about the destination page.
This is one reason descriptive internal linking is useful for SEO.
6. Bing Can Examine Structured Data
Websites can provide additional information using structured data.
For example, an ecommerce product page might contain structured information about:
- Product name
- Price
- Availability
- Reviews
- Other product attributes
Bing supports several structured-data formats, including JSON-LD and Microdata.
Structured data can help Bing understand what type of information a webpage contains.
However, structured data does not guarantee that Bing will display a special search result.
Bing specifically notes that simply adding annotations does not guarantee visually rich search results.
7. Bing May Examine Page Freshness
Bing also considers whether content appears current and useful for a particular search.
Its published ranking guidance lists freshness as one of its main parameters. Bing explains that content freshness matters especially when information can become outdated quickly.
For example, freshness can matter differently for:
“Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?”
versus:
“Latest Bing SEO updates”
The first topic is relatively stable.
The second can change frequently.
Therefore, Bing’s understanding of the page also needs to account for the type of information being provided.
8. Bing Considers Quality and Credibility
Bing doesn’t only ask:
“What keywords are on this page?”
It also evaluates broader quality and credibility signals.
Microsoft describes quality and credibility as including aspects such as:
- Clarity of the site’s purpose
- Usability
- Presentation
- Reputation
- Authority
- Whether information is firsthand
- Transparency about sourcing and ownership
- How clearly fact and opinion are distinguished
These factors form part of Bing’s published high-level ranking guidance.
This means SEO is not simply about inserting keywords into a webpage.
9. Bing May Examine Page Experience
Bing’s published guidance also identifies page load time as a ranking consideration.
Slow-loading pages can create a poor user experience because visitors may leave before the content loads.
Therefore, technical SEO and content SEO are connected.
A webpage needs useful content, but users also need to access that content effectively.
10. Bing Processes the Information for Its Index
After Bingbot gathers information, Bing processes what it has found.
Bing explains that as Bingbot crawls the web, it sends information back to Bing. Bing then analyzes those pages and determines which content can be included in its search index.
This gives us an important distinction:
Crawling
Bingbot accesses and retrieves the webpage.
Processing
Bing analyzes the information collected from that webpage.
Indexing
The page may be included in Bing’s searchable index.
Ranking
When someone searches, Bing’s ranking systems determine which relevant indexed pages should appear and in what order.
What Information Is Bing Trying to Understand?
As an SEO intern, you can organize the information into several categories.
| Information | What it helps Bing understand |
|---|---|
| Page text | Main subject and meaning |
| Title | Page’s primary topic |
| Headings | Content organization and subtopics |
| Links | Relationships between webpages |
| Anchor text | Context about linked pages |
| Structured data | Type and attributes of content |
| Images/media | Additional content and context |
| Metadata | Additional page information |
| Freshness | Whether information may be current |
| Site/page quality | Quality and credibility signals |
| Page experience | Usability-related signals |
This isn’t a complete list of everything Bing’s systems consider. Search engines use many signals, and their systems evolve over time.
Does Bingbot Understand the Page Like a Human?
Not exactly.
It’s better to say that Bing uses automated systems and machine learning to process and interpret signals from webpages.
Bing explains that its search systems use machine learning to help determine useful and relevant results from the enormous amount of content available online.
So don’t imagine Bingbot reading an article exactly like an SEO professional would.
Instead, think of it as:
Bingbot collects information → Bing’s systems interpret signals → Bing builds an understanding of the page.
What If Bingbot Cannot Properly Access the Page?
If Bingbot encounters technical problems, Bing may not be able to process the page correctly.
Possible problems include:
- Robots.txt restrictions
- Server errors
- DNS problems
- Access restrictions
- Incorrect redirects
- Missing or broken resources
- Other crawling constraints
Bing’s URL Inspection tool can help identify crawling, indexing, SEO, and markup problems. It also provides a Live URL test showing what Bingbot sees when it accesses the page.
This is why technical SEO matters.
A perfectly written article isn’t very useful for Bing search if Bingbot cannot access or properly process it.
A Simple Example
Imagine you publish this page:
URL:example.com/bing-seo-guide
Title:Bing SEO Guide for Beginners
H1:Complete Bing SEO Guide
The page contains sections about:
- Bingbot
- Crawling
- Indexing
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Keyword research
It also contains relevant internal links and properly implemented structured data.
Bingbot discovers the URL and retrieves the page.
Bing then receives information about the page and analyzes its content, structure, links, markup, and other available signals.
If the page meets Bing’s requirements for inclusion, it may be added to the index.
Later, when someone searches for a relevant query, Bing’s ranking systems can evaluate that page against other indexed pages.
What Should an SEO Intern Focus On?
When creating or improving a webpage, think about whether Bing can clearly answer these questions:
1. What is this page about?
Use clear, useful titles and content.
2. What questions does this page answer?
Cover the actual search intent rather than simply repeating keywords.
3. How is the information organized?
Use logical headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, and links.
4. What other pages are related?
Use useful internal links with descriptive anchor text.
5. Is the information trustworthy and useful?
Provide accurate, transparent, and valuable information.
6. Can Bingbot access the page?
Check robots.txt, server responses, redirects, and other technical issues.
7. Can Bing understand additional page information?
Use appropriate structured data where it genuinely describes the content.
Bing’s URL Inspection tool can help you examine crawling, indexing, SEO, and markup issues for individual URLs.
The Complete Process
You can now connect this topic with the previous lessons:
1. Discover
Bing learns that a URL exists.
2. Crawl
Bingbot visits and retrieves the webpage.
3. Understand
Bing processes the page’s content, structure, links, markup, and other signals.
4. Index
Bing determines whether the page should be included in its index.
5. Rank
Bing’s systems compare relevant indexed pages for a user’s query.
6. Display
The appropriate results can appear on the Bing search results page.
Bing describes its overall search process as crawling the web, building an index, and then using algorithms to rank content for users’ queries.
Final Takeaway
When Bingbot visits a webpage, it isn’t simply checking whether the page exists. It retrieves information that Bing can process to understand the page’s content, structure, links, markup, relevance, freshness, and other signals.
For an SEO intern, the key lesson is:
Make your webpage easy for Bing to access, understand, and connect with the right search intent.
That principle connects technical SEO with content SEO and explains why both areas matter when optimizing a website for Bing.