Fabrice Canel

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

My dear followers,

My dear fellow Microsoftees, engineers, attorneys, marketers, webmasters, publishers, SEO champions, product leaders, journalists, and all the brilliant minds across search, AI, and yes, even my friends at Google.

Today marks nearly 30 years with Microsoft. Thirty years… far too short a time to spend among such excellent and admirable people. As Bilbo once said, “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve”.

I stand before you for three purposes.

First, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all. These three decades have been a wonderful adventure: from solving real business problems with IndexNow to helping webmasters and publishers thrive in the ever-changing world of SEO and AI. It has truly been an incredible journey.

Second, to celebrate this milestone and to thank every one of you: the colleagues I worked alongside daily, the partners and publishers I collaborated with, and especially the talented people I’ve trained and mentored over the past two years. You are ready, like young hobbits setting out with Sting and courage, to carry the team and our mission forward with excellence.

Third and finally, after many evenings by the fireside with my family and friends (who wisely reminded me that even the longest journey must eventually turn toward home), I have decided to take advantage of Microsoft’s Voluntary Retirement Program.

So, though thirty years is far too short a time to spend among such excellent and admirable people… this is the end.

I am going.
I am retiring from Microsoft, effective today July 1st.

GOODBYE!

As Bilbo said, the road goes ever on… but for me it now turns west, toward a place of rest, starlight, song, and new tales after many adventures. I leave with a heart full of gratitude, memories brighter than mithril, and complete confidence in the bright future of the team.

Thank you, Microsoft.

Thank you to every colleague, partner, and webmaster who made this journey so special.

Stay curious. Keep innovating. And may your content always be found; swift as eagles and sure as the stars.

Fabrice Canel
Retiring after 30 wonderful years at Microsoft (Bing)

[Manoj Ahirwar @manoj_ahi]

Please submit your sitemap to bing webmaster and indexnow.

You will thank me later

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

Huge mahalo to the @TeslaSolar, @Starlink teams, @elonmusk🙏 Here on Hawai‘i Big Island we’re the only ones for miles with power and internet thanks to our Tesla Solar Roof and Starlink after devastating Hurricane Lala. Neighbors stopped by to discover the tech that truly helps.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Grok Imagine

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@ethanspotts @VeryWellVersed ❤️ And so, Bing Webmaster Tools.
During all these years at Bing I pushed back on renaming the tool.
Pleased to see “webmasters” back.

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@patrickstox Wait, Patrick, you work for Ahrefs? 🤔 All these years, I thought you were at TSHIRT. 😉

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

🐾 Happy 4th of July from me and my patriotic little Westie, Gangalf! 🇺🇸🎆

This little guy is ready to celebrate freedom with stars, stripes, and all the belly rubs. Wishing everyone a patriotic Independence Day!
❤️🤍💙

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

Why isn’t IndexNow everyone’s default yet? Great question! IndexNow (https://t.co/c002KEF4Sr) instantly pushes fresh content to not only Bing and Yandex but also Amazon, Naver, https://t.co/eSjWATwXrO & Yep giving you blazing-fast indexing across major search engines and AI solutions. Adopt today.

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@rustybrick @sametozsuleyman @kmadhavan77 We support all countries and regions worldwide 🌐This specific Bing Webmaster report will be extended soon to reflect that. We're also keeping a close eye on things and will report quickly on 👽 Grey, Nordic, Insectoid, and Reptilian territories too when this will be disclosed 😉

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@rustybrick @sametozsuleyman @kmadhavan77 Well, we are now actively considering expanding this to show more individual countries. Appreciate you checking across so many accounts!

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

Excited to announce 4 new AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools ! Intents, Topics, Citation Share & Compare ! Gain deeper insights into where & why your content is cited in AI. More transparency for the AI web. Learn more: https://t.co/mvnzpjnhTB

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

Thx @DarwinSantosNYC. Freshness is the real game-changer in Web IQ. Semantic-first hybrid search is smart, but useless if the data is stale. In the agentic web, agents act one outdated fact and everything breaks. Bing’s Web IQ nails it by treating freshness as first-class. Real-time signals + long-lived index = reliable grounding. Without it, you’re just reasoning over yesterday’s web. @kmadhavan77 and I gave you the tool : adopt IndexNow, take control of your SEO and GEO game with real-time indexing !

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@programmerByDay @GohilHardy Ping IndexNow when pages are added, updated, or removed. Limit submissions to actual, meaningful content updates only. Read https://t.co/6PnouY024Q

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@Algocattech @GohilHardy https://t.co/ZRuRwnwVbU
https://t.co/U3mptGfHqu
https://t.co/TGgg45yAEk
https://t.co/ivSseaeqUP

If you have issues, just reach out or contact Content Management Systems or the ones not supporting IndexNow yet.

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@rustybrick Well, SEOs… did you notice that both Googlebot and Bingbot are explicitly allowed on X’s https://t.co/DDFbIzddb0 shortener ? Time to do some "proper" link building replying SEO tweets. 😉

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@timetravel_ai @bing Please reply or chat me the ticket IDs.

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@rustybrick Great pick ! SEO was easier when Microsoft Clippy asked: “It looks like you’re trying to rank a webpage. Need help?” 📎

Now we have dozens of AI assistants, dozens of GEO frameworks, and hundreds of LinkedIn experts explaining SEO, GEO, AEO, *EO "optimization" 🤪

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

@lilyraynyc Typical issue from over-relying on LLMs. They’re smart, but they’re just snapshots of the past. SEOs, GEOs Want to control LLMs? Push fresh content and remove outdated pages fast ideally with IndexNow. Take back control of your content game with real-time indexing!

[Fabrice Canel @facan]

Bing hitting 1 billion monthly active users is HUGE. More growth in 5 years than the prior 10. #SEOs pay close attention. The search landscape is shifting fast. Time to optimize for Bing Search and Bing Grounding API alongside Google. Congrats to the entire Bing team and partners driving this momentum! Excited for what’s next for our customers. 🚀

[Jordi Ribas @JordiRib1]

Bing just reached a major milestone: 1 billion monthly active users, as @satyanadella shared on today’s earnings call. We’ve added more users in the last 5 years than in the previous 10.

I’m so grateful for everyone in Bing and our partners across Microsoft and beyond who have contributed over the years to this achievement, driving advances in fundamentals, differentiation, and growth with passion and tenacity.

Few products reach the 1 billion user mark, and few technologies in history have been as transformative as web search. I am excited for our team to continue to drive innovation and competition in this critical area for society.