How to Submit Your Site to MSN
By Ben Richard
Submitting your website to various search engines is time consuming, but increases traffic to your site. MSN uses Bing, the Microsoft search engine, for all search results on their site. To get your site displayed in search results on MSN.com, Bing must crawl your site and index your pages, which you accomplish by submitting your site to Bing. You can submit your site anonymously or with your Windows LiveID. Signing in with your Windows LiveID gives you access to the Bing Webmaster Tools. These tools not only help you get statistics on your site, but also give you more control over the Bing crawler.
Anonymous Submission
Step 1
Browse to the Bing Toolbox (link in Resources).
Step 2
Scroll down to "Type the URL of your homepage" box at the bottom of the page. Type in your homepage.
Step 3
Enter the CAPTCHA in the box above it. Then press "Submit URL."
Registered Submission
Step 1
Browse to the Bing Webmaster Toolbox (in Resources) and click on "Sign in." The main "Sign in" link leads to a Windows LiveID sign in. Sign in with your Facebook account or Windows LiveID. After you sign in, you are redirected to the Bing Webmaster Tools My Sites page, unless you already have a site registered with Bing.
Step 2
Click "Add a Site" on the Bing Webmaster Tools. Type in the URL for your homepage and the sitemap.
Step 3
Click "Add," then click "Verify Now" on the My Sites page.
Step 4
Add the appropriate code to your site -- XML, META or CNAME -- and click "Verify." Copying the provided XML file to your site's root (top-most) directory keeps your site verified with Bing and doesn't increase loading times for browsers. Adding a META tag into your homepage very slightly increases the size of the page. Adding the provided CNAME record involves adding the entry to your DNS records. If your site is hosted externally, contact your Web host to add the record or choose one of the other options.
Step 5
Click your site in Bing Webmaster Tools after verifying it and select "Configure My Site" to configure the sitemap, parameters, crawling times or blocked URLs.
References
Tips
- Submit a sitemap to Bing to ensure that it crawls all of your site's pages -- you can only do this through Bing Webmaster Tools, which requires registration or a Windows LiveID.
Writer Bio
Ben Richard began writing in 1996. He is compiling an anthology of poetry as well as a nonfiction book. Richard studied philosophy and English at Texas A&M University. Richard writes on technology and specializes in web design.