Later this year, Microsoft has announced that there will be a public beta of "Live Search Webmaster Portal," a collection of tools and information for site owners akin to the Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer offerings from those respective search engines. A private beta of these tools is about to begin.

The new portal will consolidate existing submit links such as:

• Web search submission
• Local listing control
• Live Product Search Upload
• Video submission
• Book submission

It will also consolidate existing tools such as the Live Search Box and introduce new tools with reporting on:

• Linking data
• Indexing data
• Crawling data

The portal will also offer new technical support tools such as:

• Expanded and consolidated site owner help pages
• A dedicated site owner forum running through the Microsoft Developer Networks forum area
• A dedicated blog for site owners
• More feedback forms

As said, there’s a public beta planned for later this year. However, a private beta is starting for publishers who meet key criteria (mainly those with mid-sized to large web sites). Send an email to lswmp@microsoft.com if you want to participate in the private beta.

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Microsoft: Bing SEO

About The Author: Danny Sullivan is a Founding Editor of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also serves as Chief Content Officer for Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He has a personal blog called Daggle (and keeps his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan

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