Before a search engine can potentially show a webpage in its search results, it first needs to discover and process that webpage.
This discovery process is called website crawling.
For an SEO intern, crawling is one of the most important concepts to understand. It explains how search engines such as Bing discover new pages, find updated content, and decide which URLs can move toward indexing and eventually search visibility.
Bing specifically uses a web crawler called Bingbot. Microsoft describes crawling as the process Bingbot uses to discover new and updated pages and content for possible inclusion in Bing’s search index.
What Is Website Crawling?
Website crawling is the process of using automated software to discover and visit webpages across the internet.
The software responsible for this activity is commonly called a crawler, bot, or spider.
For Bing, the crawler is called Bingbot.
You can think of Bingbot as a visitor that continuously travels across the web. It visits known webpages, follows links, discovers new URLs, and checks existing pages for changes.
For example, imagine you publish this page:
example.com/bing-seo-guide
Bing needs to discover that URL before it can properly process the page for its search systems.
It may discover the page through:
- Internal links
- External links
- XML sitemaps
- Previously known URLs
- Other discovery signals
- IndexNow notifications for new or updated URLs
Bing explains that Bingbot crawls both new and updated content and uses algorithms to determine what to crawl and how frequently to revisit pages.
How Does Bing Crawling Work?
A simplified crawling process looks like this:
Discover URL → Visit URL → Fetch page → Follow useful links → Process content → Potentially add to index
Let’s understand each stage.
Step 1: Bing Discovers a URL
First, Bing needs to know that a URL exists.
Suppose your website contains:
example.com/services/inventory-counting
Bingbot might discover this URL through an internal link from another page.
An XML sitemap can also help Bing discover URLs across a website.
Bing recommends using sitemaps to support comprehensive URL discovery, particularly for larger websites.
Step 2: Bingbot Visits the Page
After discovering a URL, Bingbot requests the webpage from the website’s server.
The server then responds with information about that URL.
Bingbot can process the response and examine the available content and resources.
However, website owners can provide instructions that affect how crawlers access or process pages.
For example, robots.txt can provide crawling instructions for Bingbot.
Step 3: Bingbot Processes the Page
Bingbot can examine the page’s content and discover additional URLs.
For example, your webpage might contain links to:
- About Us
- Services
- Blog
- Contact
- Product pages
Those links can provide additional discovery paths for Bing.
This is one reason internal linking matters in SEO.
Step 4: Bing Decides What to Crawl and When
Bing does not simply crawl every URL constantly.
The crawler uses systems that determine which URLs to crawl, how frequently to revisit them, and how many pages to request.
Bing says it aims to minimize its impact on websites while keeping its index fresh.
For example, a frequently updated news website may need different crawling patterns from a small website that rarely changes.
Why Does Bing Need to Crawl Websites?
The internet contains an enormous number of webpages.
Bing cannot simply rely on website owners to manually tell it about every page.
It needs automated systems to discover and revisit content at scale.
Microsoft explains that Bing begins its search process by crawling the web and building an index of available webpages.
Crawling therefore helps Bing answer fundamental questions such as:
What pages exist?
Which pages are new?
Which pages have changed?
What content is available on those pages?
What other URLs can be discovered from those pages?
Without crawling, keeping a search index updated would be extremely difficult.
Crawling Is Not the Same as Indexing
This is one of the most important concepts for an SEO beginner.
Crawling and indexing are different processes.
Crawling
Bingbot visits and processes a URL.
Indexing
Bing evaluates the crawled content and may add the page to its search index.
Ranking
When someone searches, Bing determines which indexed results are most relevant and useful for that query.
You can remember it like this:
Crawling → Indexing → Ranking
However, this does not mean every crawled page will automatically be indexed or rank well.
Bing explicitly separates crawling, indexing, and ranking in its description of how search results are produced.
Does Crawling Guarantee That a Page Will Appear on Bing?
No.
This is a very important point for an SEO intern.
A page being crawled does not guarantee that it will appear in Bing’s search results.
A simplified example:
Page published
↓
Bing discovers page
↓
Bingbot crawls page
↓
Bing processes and evaluates page
↓
Page may be indexed
↓
Page may become eligible to appear in search results
↓
Ranking determines its visibility for relevant queries
So, SEO professionals should never assume:
“Bing crawled my page, so it must rank.”
Crawling is only an early part of the overall search process.
What Can Prevent Bing From Crawling a Page?
Several technical problems can interfere with crawling.
For example:
1. Robots.txt Restrictions
A website can use its robots.txt file to provide crawling instructions.
If important URLs are incorrectly restricted, Bingbot may not be able to crawl them as intended.
2. Poor Internal Linking
If an important page has very few discoverable links pointing toward it, finding that page can become more difficult.
This is why a logical website structure matters.
3. Server Problems
If your website repeatedly returns server errors, crawlers may have difficulty accessing its pages.
4. Very Large Websites
Large websites can contain millions of URLs.
Search engines therefore need to prioritize which URLs should be crawled and when.
5. Incorrect Technical Configuration
Issues involving redirects, blocked resources, or other technical configurations can create crawling problems.
For an SEO intern, identifying these problems is part of technical SEO.
What Is Crawl Budget?
You may eventually hear the term crawl budget during your SEO work.
In simple terms, it refers to the amount of crawling attention or resources a search engine allocates to a website.
You should not think of it as a simple fixed number of pages that Bing guarantees to crawl every day.
Bing determines crawling patterns algorithmically and tries to balance freshness with the impact its crawler has on websites.
For large websites, managing crawl efficiency becomes especially important.
An SEO professional therefore wants search engines to spend their crawling resources on useful, important, and accessible URLs.
How Can You Help Bing Discover Your Pages?
There are several useful SEO practices.
Create Good Internal Links
Link important pages from relevant pages on your website.
This gives crawlers additional paths for discovering content.
Maintain an XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap provides search engines with a structured list of URLs that you want them to know about.
Bing recommends XML sitemaps as an important discovery signal and says accurate lastmod information can help it understand when content was actually updated.
Use IndexNow
IndexNow allows websites to notify Bing and participating search engines when URLs are added, updated, or deleted.
This can help search engines become aware of changes faster.
However, there is an important distinction:
IndexNow does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
It is a notification mechanism, not a guarantee that a page will appear in search results.
Keep Important Pages Crawlable
Make sure important pages are not accidentally blocked by technical settings.
For example, check:
- Robots.txt
- Internal links
- Server responses
- Redirects
- Canonicalization
noindexdirectives- Sitemap configuration
Bing also notes that it needs to be able to crawl a page to see certain robots directives, such as noindex.
A Simple Example for an SEO Intern
Imagine you work on an ecommerce website with 10,000 product pages.
You publish 100 new products.
Your first question should not be:
“Why aren’t these products ranking?”
Instead, follow the search engine process.
Question 1: Can Bing discover them?
Check internal links, sitemap coverage, and IndexNow notifications.
Question 2: Can Bingbot access them?
Check robots.txt, server responses, and technical restrictions.
Question 3: Are they being processed for indexing?
Check indexing information through Bing Webmaster Tools.
Question 4: Are they actually indexed?
If not, investigate why.
Question 5: If indexed, why aren’t they ranking?
Now investigate content quality, relevance, search intent, competition, authority, freshness, and other ranking considerations.
This approach prevents you from treating every SEO problem as a keyword problem.
Crawling vs Indexing vs Ranking
| Process | What Happens? | Simple Question |
|---|---|---|
| Crawling | Bingbot discovers and visits URLs | Can Bing find and access it? |
| Indexing | Bing processes and may store the page | Can Bing include it in its index? |
| Ranking | Bing orders relevant indexed results | Where might it appear for a query? |
Remember this distinction because you will use it constantly in SEO.
Why Is Crawling Important for Bing SEO?
As an SEO intern, you may initially spend most of your time on keywords and content.
Those areas are important, but they cannot compensate for basic discoverability problems.
Imagine creating an excellent article that nobody can discover.
Its content may be fantastic, but search visibility can still suffer.
That is why technical SEO starts with a basic question:
Can search engines discover and access the important pages on this website?
Bing’s own documentation emphasizes crawling as the first step in building its search index.
Final Takeaway
Website crawling is the process through which search engine crawlers discover and visit webpages.
For Bing, this job is performed by Bingbot.
Bing crawls websites to discover new pages, find updated content, and gather information needed for its search index. But crawling does not guarantee indexing, and indexing does not guarantee high rankings.
As an SEO intern, remember this simple sequence:
Discover → Crawl → Process → Index → Rank → Display
Once you understand this process, technical SEO becomes much easier to understand.
Instead of blindly changing keywords or publishing more content, you can first identify where the search engine’s journey is being interrupted.