Fabrice Canel has announced he has retired from Microsoft as of today. This comes after almost 30 years of service at Microsoft. Fabrice was most well-known in our community for his work on Bing and all of Microsoft's search services.
Fabrice Canel was responsible for what Bing indexed, the documents Microsoft Bing used to provide its search results on Bing.com and on its partner sites. Fabrice was responsible for and owned the end-to-end process for crawling, URL discovery, content selection, and content processing. Yes, he pushed the IndexNow initiative and was instrumental in Bing Webmaster Tools, but he was also responsible for the foundation of Bing Search.
Fabrice posted this news on LinkedIn and X - saying, "Today marks nearly 30 years with Microsoft... I am retiring from Microsoft, effective today July 1st."
Not only that, Fabrice Canel often contributed his knowledge and the inner workings of Bing through his writing on the Bing blog, at conferences around the world and on many podcasts. Heck, I even interviewed him in three different videos:
- Microsoft Bing Indexing Quality
- Generative AI Content & IndexNow
- Sitemaps & Next Big Thing In Search
Fabrice wrote on LinkedIn and X:
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)
I assume we will be getting more of our Microsoft Bing updates now from his colleague, Krishna Madhavan, going forward.
Fabrice - thank you for all your contributions to the industry and search - we deeply appreciate it all and wish you all the best in retirement. Although, for some reason, I suspect we will see a lot more of you in the future.
Here are a couple of photos with Fabrice and myself (there is also Frederic Dubut who worked with Fabrice at Microsoft for some time):
Thanks for the Bing hat!
My dear followers,
— Fabrice Canel (@facan) July 1, 2026
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.… pic.twitter.com/487BSBiEdK
