---
title: "Bingbot User Agent, Verification and robots.txt Rules"
description: "Bingbot is Microsoft's search crawler. See its user agent strings, how to verify it by reverse DNS, robots.txt rules, and why it matters for Copilot."
url: https://seenlens.com/bots/bingbot
last_updated: 2026-11-06
---

# What is Bingbot?

Bingbot is the standard web crawler of Microsoft Bing. Microsoft says Bing and Copilot search experiences rely on the same crawling, indexing and ranking foundation. Bingbot's robots.txt token is `Bingbot`, and its user agent contains `bingbot/2.0`. Microsoft also says a page that is not crawled will not be indexed. Verified 2026-11-06.

By SeenLens. Last updated: 2026-11-06

## Bingbot fact sheet

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Operator | Microsoft (Bing) |
| Purpose | Microsoft calls Bingbot its standard crawler. It handles most of Bing's crawling needs each day. |
| User agent string | Several forms, all containing `bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm`. See the list below. |
| robots.txt token | `Bingbot` |
| Published IP list | [bing.com/toolbox/bingbot.json](https://www.bing.com/toolbox/bingbot.json). Microsoft says to refresh it daily. |
| Reverse DNS | The host name ends with `search.msn.com` |
| Verification tool | [Verify Bingbot](https://www.bing.com/toolbox/verify-bingbot) |
| Crawl rate controls | A `Crawl-delay` line in robots.txt, and the Crawl control tool in Bing Webmaster Tools |
| Other Bing crawlers | AdIdxBot (Bing Ads quality checks), BingPreview and MicrosoftPreview (page snapshots), BingVideoPreview (video previews) |
| Last verified | 2026-11-06 |

Microsoft lists three forms of the Bingbot user agent string. `W.X.Y.Z` stands for the Microsoft Edge version that Bing's renderer uses. Microsoft says it updates this renderer to the latest stable Edge version regularly.

```text
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm)
```

## Why does Bingbot matter for AI search?

Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Guidelines say Bing and Copilot search experiences rely on the same core crawling, indexing and ranking foundation as traditional search. The same guidelines list "Blocking Bingbot in your robots.txt file" among the practices to avoid, and say content that cannot be crawled and rendered may not be indexed or selected for grounding results. Grounding means the retrieval step that gives an AI answer its source pages.

Microsoft also reports AI citations in Bing Webmaster Tools. Its AI Performance report, announced as a public preview on 2026-02-10, shows how content appears across Microsoft Copilot, AI generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations. See the [Bing AI Performance report guide](https://seenlens.com/guides/bing-ai-performance-report).

Bing's page controls reach Copilot too. The guidelines say `noindex` keeps a URL out of Bing search, Copilot and grounding API results. `noarchive` prevents use of the content in Copilot responses and grounding results. `nocache` limits Copilot to the URL, title and snippet. From 2027-03-01 Bing stops honoring those two directives for AI use; see [Bing AI grounding and AI training](https://seenlens.com/guides/bing-ai-grounding-and-training).

## Does ChatGPT search use Bing?

OpenAI does not say so in the documents checked on 2026-11-06. OpenAI's help article on web search says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers. It links to Microsoft's privacy statement and to Shopify's privacy policy for how those providers handle queries. It does not describe what role Bing plays. OpenAI's crawler documentation does not mention Bing.

A press report of 2024-11-04 by Search Engine Roundtable said ChatGPT Search appears to draw most of its web index from Bing. It cited a statement by OpenAI's VP of Engineering in a Reddit AMA that Bing is an important service among those OpenAI uses. This is a press report. OpenAI's own pages do not confirm the share.

What OpenAI does document is the way to become eligible. OpenAI says to allow `OAI-SearchBot` to crawl your site and to confirm that your host or CDN allows OpenAI's published searchbot IP addresses. See the [OAI-SearchBot page](https://seenlens.com/bots/oai-searchbot). Allowing Bingbot is a separate step that Microsoft documents for Bing and Copilot.

## How do I verify that a request really comes from Bingbot?

Microsoft says user agent strings are easy to spoof. To verify an IP address from your logs, use two lookups:

1. Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP address. The host name must end with `search.msn.com`.
2. Run a forward DNS lookup on that host name. It must return the same IP address.

```text
host <IP address from your log>
<reversed IP>.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer msnbot-<digits>.search.msn.com.

host msnbot-<digits>.search.msn.com
msnbot-<digits>.search.msn.com has address <same IP address>
```

You can also paste the IP address into Microsoft's Verify Bingbot tool, or match it against the bingbot.json list. Microsoft advises against hardcoded IP ranges. It says to refresh the list daily because the list can change at any time.

## How do I allow or block Bingbot in robots.txt?

Bing reads the `Bingbot` token. This block lets Bingbot crawl everything:

```text
User-agent: Bingbot
Allow: /
```

This block stops Bingbot from crawling the whole site. Microsoft says a page that is not crawled will not be indexed, so your pages can leave Bing and Copilot answers:

```text
User-agent: Bingbot
Disallow: /
```

Microsoft documents a `Crawl-delay` line to slow the crawler, and an hourly Crawl control tool in Bing Webmaster Tools:

```text
User-agent: Bingbot
Crawl-delay: 1
```

Microsoft gives one warning that causes many mistakes. When Bingbot finds a group that names it, Bingbot ignores the generic `User-agent: *` group. Repeat the general rules inside the Bingbot group. Microsoft also says search engines cache robots.txt for at least a few hours, so changes can take a few hours to show.

robots.txt controls crawling and does not control indexing. To keep a URL out of Bing search, Copilot and grounding results, Microsoft says to use `noindex`. The [robots.txt guide for AI crawlers](https://seenlens.com/guides/robots-txt-for-ai-crawlers) covers the other AI bots.

## How do I tell Bing when my pages change?

Microsoft's guidelines recommend IndexNow, XML sitemaps with accurate `lastmod` values, and crawlable internal links so Bing finds new and changed URLs. They say IndexNow submissions help Bing refresh its index and reduce outdated URLs in Copilot responses. See the [IndexNow guide](https://seenlens.com/guides/indexnow).

## How do I check whether my site blocks Bingbot?

Use the [AI crawler checker](https://seenlens.com/tools/ai-crawler-checker) above, preselected for Bingbot. It reads your robots.txt and shows the group and rule line that match your page path for Bingbot. Its firewall test requests the page as a browser, GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, and does not use the Bingbot user agent.

In your server logs, search for `bingbot`. Verify addresses with the reverse DNS steps above before you act on log counts. Bing Webmaster Tools offers the Crawl control tool to set crawl rates by the hour.

## What are the common Bingbot mistakes?

- **A firewall that blocks Bingbot.** The robots.txt file can allow Bingbot while a bot rule returns 403. See [AI crawlers blocked by a firewall](https://seenlens.com/fixes/ai-crawlers-blocked-by-waf).
- **A Bingbot group without the general rules.** Bingbot ignores the `*` group once a group names it.
- **Trusting the user agent alone.** Anyone can send the Bingbot string. Verify the IP.
- **Content that needs client side rendering.** Microsoft lists hiding critical content behind client side rendering as a practice to avoid.
- **Expecting an AI citation after allowing Bingbot.** Microsoft says GEO does not guarantee grounding or citations.

## Which other AI bots should I know about?

Each AI company runs several bots with separate robots.txt tokens. The [bots hub](https://seenlens.com/bots) lists them all.

- [OAI-SearchBot](https://seenlens.com/bots/oai-searchbot): OpenAI's crawler for ChatGPT search.
- [GPTBot](https://seenlens.com/bots/gptbot): OpenAI's training crawler.
- [Claude-SearchBot](https://seenlens.com/bots/claude-searchbot): Anthropic's search crawler, plus Claude-User.
- [PerplexityBot](https://seenlens.com/bots/perplexitybot): Perplexity's search crawler, plus Perplexity-User.
- [Google-Extended](https://seenlens.com/bots/google-extended): Google's robots.txt token for Gemini training and grounding.

## Bingbot FAQ

### What is the Bingbot user agent?

Microsoft lists several forms. The desktop form is `Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36`, where `W.X.Y.Z` is the Edge version Bing uses.

### How do I verify Bingbot?

Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP address and check that the name ends with `search.msn.com`. Then run a forward lookup on that name and confirm it returns the same IP. You can also use Microsoft's Verify Bingbot tool or the bingbot.json list.

### Does blocking Bingbot remove my site from Copilot?

Microsoft says Bing and Copilot search experiences use the same crawling and indexing foundation, and that a page that is not crawled will not be indexed. Microsoft lists blocking Bingbot as a practice to avoid for grounding eligibility.

### Does ChatGPT use Bingbot?

OpenAI documents OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search. OpenAI's help article says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers and does not describe Bing's role. A 2024 press report says Bing supplies much of the index.

## Sources

- [Microsoft: Overview of Bing crawlers (user agents)](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/which-crawlers-does-bing-use-8c184ec0) (Bingbot, AdIdxBot, BingPreview, MicrosoftPreview and BingVideoPreview user agents, robots.txt and Crawl control; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Microsoft: Verifying Bingbot](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/how-to-verify-bingbot-3905dc26) (reverse and forward DNS steps, search.msn.com, bingbot.json, daily refresh; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Microsoft: Bing Webmaster Guidelines](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a) (Bing, Copilot and grounding, blocking Bingbot, noindex, noarchive, nocache, IndexNow; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Microsoft: How to create a robots.txt file](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/how-to-create-a-robots-txt-file-cb7c31ec) (Bingbot group ignores generic group, Crawl-delay example, robots.txt cache time, page not crawled is not indexed; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Microsoft: Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview) (Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and partner integrations, published 2026-02-10)
- [OpenAI: Searching the web with ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt) (search providers, Microsoft privacy statement link, OAI-SearchBot eligibility; checked 2026-11-06)
- [OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) (OAI-SearchBot and no mention of Bing; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Search Engine Roundtable: ChatGPT Search Is Powered By Bing's Index](https://www.seroundtable.com/bing-powers-chatgpt-search-38345.html) (press report, 2024-11-04)