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The AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools shows how often your pages are cited as sources in Microsoft Copilot, Bing’s AI-generated summaries and some partner AI experiences. It lists total citations, which of your pages get cited, and the “grounding queries” the AI used to find your content. It’s free, and it’s one of the few official citation reports any search engine offers.
Most AI visibility tools estimate citations by running sample prompts. Bing’s report is different: it’s first-party data from Microsoft about its own AI surfaces. That makes it limited in scope but reliable for what it covers. Here’s what it shows, how to set it up and how to turn it into content decisions.
What the AI Performance report is
Microsoft launched AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools as a public preview on 10 February 2026. On 16 June 2026 it added four more views: Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare.
The report covers:
- Microsoft Copilot
- AI-generated summaries in Bing search results
- Select partner integrations that use Bing’s grounding
It doesn’t cover ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews or AI Mode, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity. For Google, see our guide to Search Console’s generative AI report.
The metrics, explained
| Metric | What it means | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Total citations | How many times your site was shown as a source in AI answers over the period | Your headline trend line. Is it going up? |
| Average cited pages | The daily average number of unique pages from your site cited | Tells you whether citations come from a few pages or many |
| Grounding queries | Key phrases the AI used when retrieving your content (a sample, not a full list) | A free list of the questions AI associates with your pages |
| Page-level citation activity | Citation counts for individual URLs | Find your most-cited pages and your pages that are never cited |
| Visibility trends | Timeline of citation activity | Spot changes after updates or new content |
| Intents (added June 2026) | Groups grounding queries into types such as informational, commercial, navigational, local and research | See whether you’re cited for “learn” questions or “buy” questions |
| Topics (added June 2026) | Clusters related grounding queries into broader themes | Check topical authority at a glance |
| Citation Share (added June 2026) | Your citations as a percentage of all citations shown for the same grounding query | Rough measure of how much of an answer “belongs” to you |
| Compare (added June 2026) | Overlays a previous period on the current one | Before-and-after checks for content changes |
What the report doesn’t tell you
Microsoft is clear about the limits. The report doesn’t show:
- Where your citation appeared in the answer (first source or fifth)
- How the answer presented your content
- A ranking, authority score or measure of page importance
- Clicks from AI answers to your site
It measures how often you’re cited. For the traffic side, you still need analytics. Our GA4 guide to tracking AI traffic shows how to see visits from Copilot and other assistants.
How to set it up
Step 1: Add and verify your site
Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools with a Microsoft account. The quickest way to add a site is to import it from Google Search Console, which verifies it automatically and brings in your sitemaps. You can also verify with a DNS record, an HTML file or a meta tag.
Step 2: Submit your sitemap
If you didn’t import from Search Console, submit your XML sitemap under Sitemaps. On WordPress, your SEO plugin usually creates one at /sitemap_index.xml or /sitemap.xml.
Step 3: Check that Bing can crawl your site
Make sure robots.txt doesn’t block Bingbot. The AI Performance data respects robots.txt and other content controls, so if Bing can’t crawl a page, it won’t be used for grounding.
Step 4: Open AI Performance
Find AI Performance in the left-hand menu. New sites may show little or no data at first. Citations depend on Bing indexing your pages and those pages being relevant to real questions.
Speed things up with IndexNow
IndexNow is a protocol that tells Bing (and other participating search engines) the moment you publish or update a page, instead of waiting for a crawl. Microsoft points to it as a way to help AI systems work from the current version of your pages.
On WordPress you have a few options:
- Microsoft’s official IndexNow plugin, which submits URLs automatically when you publish or update
- Your SEO plugin’s built-in option, if it has one (several popular SEO plugins include IndexNow settings)
- Your host or CDN, as some offer IndexNow at server level
Use one method, not several, so you don’t submit the same URLs repeatedly.
Five ways to use the data
1. Mine grounding queries for content ideas
Grounding queries show the phrasing the AI used to find your content. Export them and look for three things:
- Questions you answer only partly. Expand the section or add an FAQ.
- Questions you don’t answer at all but that are close to your topic. These are ideas for new posts.
- Wording you don’t use. If people ask about “Copilot citations” and your page says “Microsoft AI references”, align your language.
2. Find pages that should be cited but aren’t
Compare your page-level citations with your list of important pages. A detailed guide with zero citations is a signal to check: is it indexed in Bing? Is the answer buried under a long introduction? Is it out of date?
3. Study your most-cited pages
Look at the structure of pages that get cited often. Many sites find their cited pages open with a direct answer, use clear headings and include specific facts. Apply the same pattern to similar pages. Our guide to answer engine optimization has before-and-after rewrites.
4. Use Topics to check topical authority
If the Topics view shows citations in only one or two themes, that’s where Bing sees your expertise. Decide whether to go deeper there or build out the topics you’re missing.
5. Use Compare after content updates
When you refresh a page, note the date. Four to six weeks later, use Compare to check the change in citations. Keep a simple log so you learn which kinds of updates actually help.
What Microsoft recommends for getting cited
In its launch post, Microsoft suggested:
- Building real depth of expertise on your topics
- Clear structure, with headings and FAQ sections
- Supporting claims with evidence
- Keeping content fresh
- Being consistent across formats (text, tables, images)
None of this is a trick. It’s the same advice that helps with Google and with readers. That’s worth remembering, because ranking well in one place doesn’t guarantee citations in another.
Bing AI Performance vs other citation data
| Source | Covers | Type of data | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance | Copilot, Bing AI summaries, some partners | First-party citation counts and grounding queries | Free |
| Google Search Console | Google Search including AI features | First-party impressions and clicks | Free |
| GA4 (or other analytics) | Visits from any AI assistant that passes a referrer | Traffic, engagement, conversions | Free |
| AI visibility tools | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and others | Estimates from sample prompts | Paid |
Used together, these give you a fair picture. None of them alone does.
Frequently asked questions
How can I see whether Microsoft Copilot cites my website?
Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and open the AI Performance report. It shows citation counts, cited pages and grounding queries for Copilot, Bing’s AI summaries and some partner integrations.
What are grounding queries?
They’re the key phrases an AI system used to retrieve your content when building an answer. Bing shows a sample of them, not every query.
Is the Bing AI Performance report free?
Yes. It’s part of Bing Webmaster Tools, which is free.
Does the report show clicks from Copilot?
No. It shows citation activity, not clicks. Use your analytics tool to measure visits from Copilot.
Does it include ChatGPT citations?
No. It covers Microsoft’s own AI surfaces and some partners that use Bing grounding. For ChatGPT and others, you’ll need analytics referral data or a third-party visibility tool.
Why does my report show no data?
Usually because the site is new, pages aren’t yet indexed in Bing, or your content isn’t being used for grounding yet. Check indexing first, then submit key pages via IndexNow.
The bottom line
Bing’s AI Performance report won’t tell you everything about AI search, but it’s free, official and specific. Set it up today, check it monthly, and use the grounding queries as a steady source of content ideas. For a new site, it’s also an early signal of which topics AI systems already trust you on.
Sources
- Bing Webmaster Blog, Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools (public preview) (Feb 2026)
- Bing Search Blog, New AI visibility insights: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare (16 Jun 2026)
- Bing Webmaster Tools Help, AI Performance
- IndexNow, IndexNow protocol documentation
