Nothing is perfect in this world . There are no single program code that without any bugs in it .That goes same to Bing bots too. Bing Bots are software agents that scan and seek content on the internet .So , That search engines can list webpages in their search results according to the search terms entered by the user .These bots not only seek content but also checks your website for any guideline violation. Once they found guideline violations ,It flags and reports it to webmaster tools . Then the system will take the conditioned actions.The penalty for Bing guideline violation is de-indexation . They will remove your entire website from the search results . Thus , Preventing users from accessing your website through Bing search. Here in this article lets see how to get back to the Bing search results if Bing de-index or remove your website from their search results .
As we have mentioned , These are software codes . They may sometimes misread and mistakenly flag your website and it’s content . Software codes can’t see as humans sees your website .It sees the HTML code behind your website. No human eye will see your website and review it . It’s just a computer program that take actions according to given program instructions .However , You can request a manual review (Human review) . This gives us the opportunity to make sure that your website is not de-indexed due to a mistake by Bing bots .But , Some times depending on the work load and the availability of the human reviewers you may or may not get a fair review. In this tutorial let’s look into how to fix , If your website was de-indexed or removed from Bing search results due to a mistake.
Signs of Bing De-index
Since , Bing and Yahoo shares only 20% of web traffic, you will not notice when Bing de-index your website . If you are not super in to the website traffic and monitor it daily or you log into your Bing web masters tools and monitor Bing web traffic to your site .If your site doing alright and all of a sudden you see a slight decrease in traffic. You need to log on to your Bing Webmasters tools and look at the traffic graph. You will see the curve gone down to zero and continuing at zero. This is the first indicator that your site has been de-indexed . Then go to Bing search engine and input this search term “site:[Insert your site name here]” and click on search icon (e.g- site:learnitstepbystep.com) . If you cant see search results that has direct links to pages and posts in your site , Your web site is definitely removed form Bing search results. It doesn’t mean that it remains in that state . But there are certain actions you need to take immediately to avoid any damage this cause to your website.
How to Know ?
The short answer is , There is no quick way to know if the de-indexing is due to a mistake . But , If you are certain that you didn’t violate any Bing Webmaster Guidelines and didn’t make any major changes to your website at the time of the de-indexation . This de-indexing may due to a mistake by Bing bots.The only way to know for certain is by contacting Bing support .If you didn’t made a major changes to your website , your site may de-indexed. However , even you didn’t violate any Guideline at the time , Bing bots may flag your site due to guidelines update that happened after . It’s good to check Bing Webmaster Guidelines often to prevent any future guideline violation.
How to fix If Bing De-index or remove a website ?
The only way to fix de-indexing is by contacting Bing webmaster support and let them know that your site has been de-indexed by mistake .Here is how to do it.
Step 1 – Go to Bing Webmaster Help and How to page and click on Email support.
Step 2 – Sign in using one of the given options .
Bing webmaster support contact form
Step 3 – Fill out the contact form .
– In the “Select an option” drop down list select “My site is not in the Index” or “My site suddenly dropped ” options.
– Type the URL of your site in the “Site(s) on which action needs to be taken” text input field.
– In the multi line text field describe the problem you are facing .It should be short and specific .
E.g – “My website has been removed from Bing search results. I cannot index new pages either . No reasons were given . Kindly , Take a look into this issue . Thank you !” .
Step 4 – Type the characters in the box , inside the text field . (captcha verification) .
Step 5 – Click on “Submit” Button .
Now wait until you get a email from Bing webmaster support .Check your Email that was entered in the form regularly .
The response from Bing support
Bing webmaster support 2nd email
The first email you will get is a copy of your complaint form. The second Email is a holding email . It’s a email stating that they are looking to this matter and will reply as soon as possible .What happens here is that the technical support person receives your compliant and forward your complaint to the relevant department. Then they will send you this initial common Email . So that , you will hold on until the next response.
Bing webmaster support reinstate email
If everything went well , After few days you will receive a email like above stating that they have remove the block and indexing will be reinstate within few days .They will not admit their mistake and they are unable to provide any reasons why they have blocked your site from indexing in the first place.
However , If they tell you that you have indeed violated the Bing guidelines and this is not due to a mistake . Please , Refer to this article where we discuss how to re-index after Bing remove your website due to policy violation.
Bing De-index remove website Aftermath
Doesn’t matter who’s fault cause the de-indexing , The damage already been done. Do you get your pages listed in the places they were listed before the de-indexing ?. Well , Yes and No . Some of the pages will be listed as they were before but some of them will be listed below the places they were before.
Because of the no organic search traffic through Bing and yahoo SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) damage your ranking during the blocked period ,Your site SERP listing position can be affected . This may take months to recover .
Conclusion
Unlike Google , Bing will not inform you with an email or any other method .This is why its goes unnoticed . The best way to know is to monitor your Bing Traffic graph periodically. First step you need to take is to contacting Bing webmaster support. As quick as possible. The only way to know for sure if your site has been removed from SERP is by contacting the Bing webmaster support . The whole process of reinstating will take about two days to two weeks . They will not give any reasons for why they de-indexed your website .However, If its due to a mistake , Then they will admit it (in a different way) and reinstate your website on their SERP. The damage done to your website ranking depends on the time taken to reinstate your website . Less time taken to reinstate , less damage has been done . So , Immediate action need to be taken to restore your site in the Bing SERP. But , If your site is removed from Bing search results due to policy violation you need to read this article now .
Frequently Asked Questions
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Can a Website update cause de-index ?
Yes , It can . Any update that change the layout of your website and improve your S.E.O rankings can cause de-index . If you are using a WordPress S.E.O plugins make sure use medium S.E.O settings . If you push too much S.E.O , Bing will de-index your website .
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What are the Safe S.E.O WordPress plugins ?
Almost all the top rated S.E.O plugins are good . But , Make sure that they have over S.E.O protection (The plugin will warn you when you try to over S.E.O your webpage). We cannot recommend a specific plugin . Try all of the top rated S.E.O plugins and use what suit you . Choose a plugin that gives you more control over your site S.E.O settings.
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What if its not due to a Mistake ?
This means that they have manually review your problem and decided that you have violated Bing webmaster guidelines .Please , Checkout this tutorial where we discuss how to re-index if your site was removed due to Bing guideline violation .
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How long it will take to reinstate ?
We cannot tell you certainly . Because the time it take to reinstate your site in Bing and Yahoo search results depend on many factors . The time that taken to review your complain manually , Time it takes to remove the de-index flag and the time it takes to bots to re crawl your site . Each of these steps take different amount of time . It range from one or two days to three or four months .
Disclaimer – The content of this article may change over the time . The methods that we used in this article may or may not work in future . This tutorial does not provide any hacking or illegal activity nor teach anything that violate Bing webmaster terms and conditions (At the time of this article published). However , These terms and conditions may change over the time . We are not responsible for any future terms and condition violation that caused by following this tutorial .
Author : Janaka Jayathilake
21/04/2021]