Bing Site Scan: How to Find and Fix Technical SEO Issues

By Emily Redmond, Data Analyst at Emilytics · April 2026

TL;DR: Run Bing Site Scan to crawl your entire site and find technical SEO issues. Fix broken links, mobile problems, and markup errors. Run it monthly.

What Is Bing Site Scan?

Bing Site Scan is a free crawl tool built into Bing Webmaster Tools. It crawls your entire site and reports:

• Broken links (404 errors)
• Mobile usability issues
• Missing or duplicate title tags
• Missing meta descriptions
• Duplicate content
• Poor accessibility
• Page load speed problems
• Crawl errors

It's like running a technical SEO audit without paying for an expensive tool.

How to Run a Site Scan

Step 1: Go to Site Scan in Bing Webmaster Tools (under "Tools & Settings").

Step 2: Click Run scan (blue button).

Bing will crawl your site. The time varies based on site size:

• Small sites (under 1,000 pages): 1–2 hours
• Medium sites (1,000–10,000 pages): 2–8 hours
• Large sites (10,000+ pages): 8–24 hours

Step 3: Check back later for results. Bing emails you a report when the scan finishes.

Understanding Site Scan Results

Issues by Severity

Site Scan categorizes findings by severity:

Focus on Critical and Warning issues first.

Common Findings and How to Fix Them

1. Broken Links (404 Errors)

Bing found pages linking to URLs that don't exist.

Fix:

• Delete the link or fix the URL
• Set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to a new one
• Update the page if the content moved

2. Duplicate Title Tags

Multiple pages have the same title tag.

Fix:

• Make each title tag unique
• Include the primary keyword in each title
• Keep titles under 60 characters

3. Missing Meta Descriptions

Pages don't have meta description tags.

Fix:

• Add a description (120–160 characters) to each page
• Include the primary keyword
• Make it compelling—it appears in search results

4. Slow Page Load Speed

Pages take longer than 3 seconds to load.

Fix:

• Compress images
• Minify CSS and JavaScript
• Use a CDN
• Enable caching
• Remove render-blocking resources

5. Mobile Usability Issues

Pages don't render correctly on mobile devices.

Fix:

• Ensure viewport meta tag is present
• Make sure buttons are clickable on mobile
• Avoid using Flash
• Use responsive design
• Test on actual mobile devices

6. Duplicate Content

Multiple pages have nearly identical content.

Fix:

• Delete duplicate pages or
• Add a canonical tag to point to the primary version or
• Use noindex on duplicate pages

💡 Emily's take: I ran Site Scan on a client site and found 500 pages with duplicate title tags. It was a template issue—their CMS was using the same title on category pages. One template fix solved hundreds of issues at once. Site Scan is great at finding systemic problems.

Site Scan vs. Crawl Errors vs. Page Experience

Bing Webmaster Tools has three separate diagnostic tools:

Use Site Scan for: Finding issues before Bing encounters them.

Use Crawl Errors for: Investigating why Bing can't crawl a page.

Use Page Experience for: Monitoring actual performance metrics.

How to Fix Common Site Scan Issues: Step-by-Step

Broken Link Issue: Example

Site Scan found a link from your homepage to /blog/2020-seo-trends (which returns 404).

Step 1: Log into your site's CMS or HTML editor.

Step 2: Find the page with the broken link (in this case, your homepage).

Step 3: Change the link URL to the correct page (e.g., /blog/2024-seo-trends).

Step 4: Save and publish.

Step 5: Re-run Site Scan in 2–4 weeks to confirm the fix.

Slow Page Speed Issue: Example

Site Scan reports that /products page loads in 4.2 seconds (target: under 3 seconds).

Step 1: Test the page with Google PageSpeed Insights.

Step 2: Implement top recommendations:

• Compress images (use WebP format)
• Minify CSS and JavaScript
• Enable GZIP compression on your server
• Add caching headers

Step 3: Re-test after each change.

Step 4: Re-run Site Scan after fixes are live.

Best Practices for Using Site Scan

1. Run Site Scan Monthly

Set a calendar reminder to run Site Scan every 30 days. This helps you catch new issues early.

2. Prioritize by Impact

Fix Critical issues immediately:

• Server errors (5XX)
• Noindex on important pages
• Blocks on robots.txt

Fix Warning issues within a week:

• Duplicate titles
• Missing descriptions
• Page speed issues

Fix Info issues as part of regular maintenance:

• Missing alt text
• Social tags

3. Create a Spreadsheet to Track Fixes

Log issues from each scan and whether you've fixed them. This helps you see progress and catch recurring problems.

4. Test Your Fixes Before Moving To Production

If a fix requires code changes, test on staging before pushing to production.

5. Check Multiple Tools

Site Scan is great, but supplement with:

• Google PageSpeed Insights (page speed)
• Lighthouse (browser-based audit)
• Web.dev's Core Web Vitals (real-world performance)
• Your own analytics (user experience metrics)

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How often should I run Site Scan?

A: Monthly is ideal. If you publish new content frequently (daily or more), run it bi-weekly.

Q: Does Site Scan crawl pages behind login?

A: No. Site Scan only crawls publicly accessible pages. If you have a membership site or admin area, those pages won't be scanned.

Q: Can I scan a specific section of my site?

A: No. Site Scan crawls your entire site. If you want to audit a subdomain, verify that subdomain separately in Bing Webmaster Tools and run Site Scan on it.

Q: Does fixing issues in Site Scan immediately improve my rankings?

A: Not immediately. Google and Bing need to re-crawl your site to see the fixes. This typically takes 1–4 weeks.

Q: What's the difference between Site Scan and Google PageSpeed Insights?

A: Site Scan audits your entire site for multiple issues (broken links, mobile, markup, etc.). PageSpeed Insights focuses on page speed and Core Web Vitals. Use both.

Q: Can I export the Site Scan report?

A: Yes. Bing emails you a full report when the scan finishes. You can also see results in the dashboard and take screenshots.

The Bottom Line

Bing Site Scan is a free, powerful tool for finding technical SEO issues. Run it monthly, prioritize critical issues, and track fixes over time. You'll catch problems before they impact your rankings.

Emily Redmond is a data analyst at Emilytics — the AI analytics agent watching your GA4, Search Console, and Bing data. 8 years of experience. Say hi →